shaking the tree

NYT: targeting the Mahdi army in Basra
"The dominant Shiite groups in Mr. Maliki’s government are political and military rivals of Mr. Sadr, and Mr. Maliki is freer now to move against him because Mr. Sadr’s party is no longer a crucial part of his coalition...
Though American and Iraqi officials have insisted that the operation was not singling out a particular group, fighting appeared to focus on Mahdi-controlled neighborhoods. In fact, some witnesses said, neighborhoods controlled by rival political groups seemed to be giving government forces safe passage, as if they were helping them to strike at the Mahdi Army. Even so, the Mahdi fighters seemed to hold their ground."
USAT: Sadr orders strike, effectively shutting down health system
"...the more immediate threat to Iraq's stability may stem not from al-Sadr's military might, but his political power to shut down the ministries and services essential to day-to-day life."
CSM: residents gearing up for violence in Sadr City

LAT: "odd couple" partnership between US Marine and Iraqi general

Slate: Iraqi refugees remain in Damascus

Gdn: new coalition gov't in Pakistan charts different path with US; Sharif says it will no longer be US "killing field"
WP: naturally, US continues to "shake the tree," launch attacks in tribal region until further notice

WP: meanwhile, militants in western Afghanistan target those accused of defection more precisely
"Extremists in the area rely on 'a strong network of informants in every village and town' to find suspected spies, said Malik Mumtaz, a tribal elder in Miram Shah, adding that the Taliban usually releases a DVD of the person being killed."
NYT: US contractor, headed by 22-year-old, supplying degraded ammunitions to Afghans
largest supplier to Afghanistan caught in almost unbelievable web of arms trafficking, incompetence and corruption

ICG: report on drug trade and "drug war" policies in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala flags dire effects on law and order, violence

NYT: North Korea expels South's diplomats

Gdn: weighing jurisdiction in Uganda: who will try Kony? who will capture him or make him surrender?
"...recent developments indicate that the Ugandan government is not, at present, pursuing the arrest and surrender obligation [it has as a signatory to the ICC]. Instead, as part of ongoing peace talks in Juba, the Uganda government signed an agreement with the representatives of the LRA on February 19 2008 to establish a national court to try those alleged to have committed 'serious crimes' during the conflict."
Gdn: UN court prepares to try alleged Hakiri assassins in the Hague
"Lebanon has been paralysed politically since Syria's allies, led by the Shia organisation Hizbullah, quit the Beirut government when it voted to establish the tribunal: one consequence is that the Lebanese presidency has been vacant for months and Fuad Siniora, the western-backed Sunni prime minister, will not attend the weekend Arab summit. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are also demonstratively staying away."

Salon: interview with modern slavery researcher
BBC: Indian men protest enslavement in US

BBC: a beauty pageant for landmine victims in Angola
"Perhaps the "Miss Landmine Survivor" contest will remind the rich and powerful in central Luanda that there is still a lot of work to be done, both in terms of ridding the country of landmines and of improving the lives of their victims."