Speaking of backbone...

Babble on.

Maybe Tony Blair needs to spend some time with Ayad Allawi. It seems the Iraqi interim Prime Minister might have some backbone to spare.

In addition to disarmament, the Iraqi government demanded that Mr. al-Sadr sign a statement saying he will refrain from future violence and release all civilians and Iraqi security forces his militants have kidnapped. In addition, Mr. al-Sadr must hold a news conference to announce he is disbanding his militia...

I don't want to jinx anything, but it looks like they're not going to let al-Sadr slither out the back door this time, just to start the whole mess all over again. Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Babble off.