The Los Angeles Times sings a paean to Muqtada al-Sadr and his “steadfast defiance:” Steadfast in Defiance, Cleric Gains Stature With Iraq Masses.

BAGHDAD — Militant cleric Muqtada Sadr’s refusal Tuesday to meet with a delegation of Iraqi religious and political leaders is the clearest indicator yet that recent fighting in Najaf has strengthened the anti-American leader, some analysts say.

The snub, which followed last week’s breakdown of talks with envoys of interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, made it clear that Sadr expected any resolution to the two-week confrontation to proceed on his terms and timetable. The message was reinforced by the 1,000 militiamen who greeted the delegation with raised fists and shouts of “Long live Muqtada!”

Although Allawi’s government had decided to resume military operations to oust Sadr’s forces from the sacred Imam Ali shrine they have occupied, he opted to let a new round of talks proceed.

Several observers say Allawi and U.S. forces have no viable options other than trying for a negotiated end to the uprising because attempting to crush Sadr militarily would carry too high a political price.

“In all probability, it would take an unacceptable level of force in and around the shrine,” noted Cliff Kupchan, a Middle East specialist at the Nixon Center in Washington. “Whether Iraqi troops do this or Americans, it would be a generational setback for U.S. legitimacy in the Arab world.”

Never mind that the only reason Sadr can be so “steadfast” in his defiance is that we’re allowing it.

There is a grain of truth here; the more Sadr gets away with his murderous Iranian-backed behavior, the bolder he will get. But if US and Iraqi forces had gone into the mosque and cleaned it out when this first began, the screaming from the Arab world about “unacceptable” damage would already have died down and they would have moved on to their next cause for seething. Every time we go right to the edge, make threats, and then back away out of concern for the enemy’s feelings, the seething gets louder and Sadr gets bolder.