Maliki is still protecting Sadr

Maliki (remember him?) has a few conditions for the "surge."

Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has created a two-pronged security plan for Baghdad in which U.S. forces would aggressively target Sunni Arab insurgents instead of Shiite militias. At the same time, Maliki would intensify his efforts to weaken Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and contain his Mahdi Army militia, Iraqi officials said Tuesday.

Under these conditions, Maliki would accept a surge in U.S. troops in Baghdad, according to two Maliki advisers with knowledge of the plan.

So, Maliki's condition to allow the surge is that the US forces must fight exclusively on the Shia side of the civil war while he talks Sadr into pulling back, leaving the Mahdi's apparatus intact.

(And, all indications are that the promised Maliki "cabinet reshuffle" will be toothless including only the heads of Health, Transportation, Culture, Women's Affairs and Tourism.)