Sadrists not as dead as Bush's wishful thinking indicates

Bush, et al, keep writing off al-Sadr and talk about his 'splintered' Mahdi Army. This is just another fallacy in an unbroken series of optimistic assessments and wishful thoughts, and the U.S. media backs it up dutifully.
However, if we look at a news report from China we hear a different tune whistled:

Fierce Clashes also broke out overnight between Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al- Sadr in the southern city of Nassriyah, killing 10 people and wounding some 50 others, local police and official sources said on Wednesday.

"Ten people were killed in the fighting, and up to 50 others were wounded, including civilians and security members," Abdul Karim al-Uqiedy, deputy head of the local government told Xinhua by telephone.
A local police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that the fighting sparked Tuesday night after the Iraqi security forces detained a Sadr's Mahdi Army member who was accused of targeting U.S. and Iraqi forces with roadside bombs and mortars.
Groups of Mahdi's militants armed with machine-guns and rocket propelled grenades attacked the house of the local police commando chief, who was accused by the militants of detaining one of their comrades, the police said.
Residents of Nassriyah, some 375 km southeast of Baghdad, said that sporadic explosions and gunfire could be heard in the noon on Wednesday, whereas the streets in the city were deserted.
They said that several cars were charred on the Habboby Street in central city, where the government building located, and that many police guards of the building were either killed or injured.
Iraqi Army and police forces blocked the entrances of Nassriyah as they moved into the city to quell the violence, they added.

Oh, and something you would never see in the American press:

The latest violence came as a U.S.-led security crackdown entered its third month, which has not achieved substantial progress in neither reducing violence nor realizing national reconciliation between rival factions in Iraq.

What, no vague assertions of "signs of success" that are required here? And the 'surge' is in its third month, you say? But the Republicans say the 'surge' doesn't start until June! It's okay to take credit for any "success" the 'surge' might produce, but not the blame for any lack of success. Hmmm, so the foreign press isn't buying that, eh?