The Mahdi isn’t going to have much popular support in Sadr City if they keep this up:

Ayman, bleeding profusely from his arm, was rushed to Company B’s stronghold in Sadr City late Sunday afternoon.

A bullet had carved a bloody groove near his left elbow as he was going to fetch some bread from a market.

Seven children had been struck by a burst of gunfire from militia fighters who have been roaming through the streets near the American positions, his distraught father said.

But Ayman, 11, was one of the lucky ones. Four of the children, his father said, were dead.

With no functioning police force and the streets a battle zone, it could not be determined if the children had been caught in cross-fire or had been deliberately shot at by militia fighters, as Ayman’s father suggested.  [Michael Gordon - New York Times]

Make sure to read the rest but notice Michael Gordon wrote the article who is one of the few quality journalists working for the New York Times covering Iraq.  If he continues to report from Sadr city we should continue to get some quality reporting on what is going on in this key fight to delegitimize the Mahdi Army.