[Kat]
To disband the Mahdi Army or not.
I was going to blog that yesterday as my prediction, but the whole Bellavia thing side tracked me. There are so many reasons Sistani was never going to say "yes" or "no" directly. No the least of which, to do so would have given the impression that Sistani and the rest of the clergy had ordained it in the first place, bringing Sistani's wasta into Sadr's court yard and Sitani is simply not going to do that. It also gives Maliki cover for on going operations (there is no religious edict or other concept preventing him from hacking up Sadr's forces). On the otherhand, he's not going to say anything because he is still working on the goal of an undivided, if sorely cracked, Shia people and government.
Sistani gave a suitably vague edict that would allow operations to continue against Sadr and still give the militia the role of defending the neighborhoods, thus not jeopardizing future elections.
He has done this so many times, it is not really prediction, but statistic probability.
