Heads up, Sadr City

There is nothing really new in this Sadr statement, except in its timing, coming a day after the mayor of Sadr City was "seriously wounded."

A statement from Sadr that was read out at prayers in Sadr City on Friday repeated his longheld opposition to the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq, and appeared to respond to recent statements by U.S. military officials who have said people in Sadr City were cooperating with them.

"I'm confident that you consider them (U.S. forces) your enemies," said the statement.... "I call upon you all to raise your voices all together and shout with one voice 'No, No, America'."

Certainly, the key is that Sadr is calling for "voices" against the US, however, the need to make this statement tells me that he's feeling pressure from those in the Mahdi that want to go back out on the streets and fight the Americans. In other words, that pressure is building.

(The question is, who tried to kill al-Darruji, the Sadr City mayor who was working with the Americans? Was that someone trying to challenge Sadr's hold on the Mahdi?)