Perspective: Shiite Crackdown May Be Risky

U.S. commanders have signaled they will shy away from a Fallujah-style assault on the Baghdad stronghold of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia -- even though President Bush insists that driving armed groups from the capital is key to his plan for success.

The talk from the Bush administration has been tough, with strong assurances that no part of Baghdad is off limits to the new push for control.

But in reality, the risk of killing civilians and outraging the Iraqi government may be too high to launch an all-out attack on the Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in its base of the capital's sprawling Sadr City district -- at least for now.

Read the rest at the Washington Post