Written by: Beck

It looks like the military finally managed to get close. al-Sadr seems to have played catch with some shrapnel.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and chest during Friday fighting in Najaf, according to spokesman Sayed Hazim al-Arajy in Baghdad.

[...] al-Sadr was treated at the Imam Ali Mosque and is expected to make a full recovery, al-Arajy said.

Next issue, from the same article: how can you tell when members of a religious sect no longer regard that sect's holiest shrine as being especially holy or sacred? Hint: it involves land mines.

The mosque is a holy Shiite Muslim site. Thousands of al-Sadr loyalists are holed up there, Iraqi authorities say, and have been attacking their forces with mortars and laying land mines in the sacred compound.

Naturally, domestic and allied forces recognize the importance of not stepping on anyone's feelings, so Americans won't be doing any actual fighting inside the shrine.

Iraqi forces and not foreigners would be engaged near the shrine, officials said.

Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib echoed that statement, saying, "We will not allow for any foreign forces to enter the shrine of Imam Ali."

Which is good, since I have to imagine there's a step somewhere in the Mehdi Army's defense plans that call for a last stand that turns them into martyrs and the shrine into a smoking crater. The US will be blamed, of course, but at least it won't be our soldiers inside the place when it goes up in one hell of a memorable fireball.

And finally, some good old fashioned UN bashing for you:

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday to extend the U.N. mission in Iraq for a year, The Associated Press reported. Secretary-General Kofi Annan indicated the number of U.N. staff allowed in the country will be limited due to security concerns, the AP said.

Um, guys, before you extend your mission in Iraq, shouldn't you first, you know, be in Iraq?