One by one, they all fall down:

An aide of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was arrested today by U.S. troops in Iraq, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Fuad al-Turfi, a spokesman for al-Sadr's office.

He was captured in Najaf — where, contrary to the wishful thinking of the press, Shiite leaders are blaming al-Sadr for damage to religious sites. Meanwhile, American troops turn to restoring Karbala to relative normalcy while Khomeinist thugs continue to lose tens of their numbers in Kufa. What's left for Moqtada al-Sadr? Mercy from the Iraqi people, little more. It occurred to me the other day that, lacking any helpful definition from the press, many Americans may not have a clear understanding of how extremist and unpopular al-Sadr and his gangs are. Imagine David Duke summoning and arming every Klansmen he could find within a few hundred miles and trying to take Baton Rouge in the name of brute force dolled up as piety: as politically incomprehensible and personally repugnant as the Iranian lackey who might receive a paragraph or two, under the subchapter "Iran's Subversion Fails," in Iraqi history books.

BETTER THAN IT'S REPORTED, AS USUAL: With a Baghdad leader, Donna Hughes talked Iraq over lunch.

POOR CHOICE OF TIMING, OPPONENTS: More of al-Sadr's louts fall in Najaf. Many more.