AL-SADR AIDE ARRESTED: “U.S. and Iraqi forces arrested a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday in Baghdad, an official in his office said.”

Nice, I guess, but Muqtada himself should enjoy no immunity here.

UPDATE: More thoughts from TigerHawk: “Having failed to bail out in time, it is very heartening that al-Maliki is now supporting a severe crackdown on the Shiite extremists. He knows that his personal risk increases with every Shiite militia commander he arrests, and eventually he will pass through a door through which he cannot return. Still, he is going after al-Sadr’s thugs. That means that al-Maliki believes, or at least hopes, that (i) the new plan has a chance for success.”