US soldiers keeping a low profile in Iraq. What kind of war is this?

Iraqi cleric defies US troops, taunts over abuse

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAC762953.htm

KUFA, Iraq, May 7 (Reuters) - Iraq's rebel Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr defied U.S. troops closing in on his militia forces, vowing in a Friday sermon to drive out an American army he said was discredited by prisoner abuse in Iraq.

Sporadic fighting in the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala left perhaps 20 people dead by various accounts, a day after U.S. troops, spurred by rival Shi'ite leaders, made their boldest move yet against Sadr's month-old insurgency.

But there was no sign of them rushing to make good on a pledge to capture or kill him. American forces kept a low profile to allow Sadr to preach at his usual mosque at Kufa, on the outskirts of Najaf, 170 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad. snip

He scoffed at an apology offered by President George W. Bush and demanded those responsible be tried in Iraqi courts: "Bush stands without shame before the world talking about all this prisoner abuse. What peace can be expected from him?" he said.

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for all their chicken-hawk bravado about using force when neccesary, this white house cuts and runs when "the boys" (and girls, of course) start coming home via midnight flights into Delaware. we have given up Fallujah, we will give up Najaf, I wager, soon enough. We can't take casualties on the scale that the 'incursionists' can inflict. esepcially not in an election year. al-Sadr knows perfectly well that we won't take 100 casualties to capture him, so why not thumb his nose at us?