Heads up, Sadr City

Yesterday there were reports that Muqtada Al Sadr, in a statement read at Friday prayers, called for mass protests on April 9 marking the fourth year of Baghdad's fall. The statement was inflammatory, but, as with recent statements, only called for peaceful measures of protest.

This morning, the NYTimes reports that that statement was joined by "militiamen loyal to Mr. Sadr engag(ing) in street battles against Iraqi Army soldiers in southwestern Baghdad."

I assume this assessment is based upon a statement by a "Mahdi official" that militiamen opened fire on an Iraqi government/Kurdish run checkpoint as they were seeking "to avenge the killing" of a militia leader.

I'm yet to see anything that clearly indicates that the Mahdi is returning to the streets in force, but after all the bombings, the pressure for that return seems to be rapidly building.

Also, after watching Iraq for awhile, I've noticed that discrepancies like this often point to something we should notice.

(NYTimes) "Iraqi police officials said Friday that American helicopters had conducted strikes in the early morning against a gathering of Shiite militiamen in an area east of the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City..... At least 20 people were killed and wounded..... But a spokesman for the American military, Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle, said she had no reports of such an incident."

(AP) "The U.S. military, meanwhile, denied that it was involved in airstrikes over Sadr City on Friday after local officials said 20 suspected militants were killed and 14 others wounded, along with seven civilians, in an airstrike targeting a Shiite militant base in eastern Baghdad."

It may be nothing, just putting it out there.