The media is starting to acknowledge the successful operations in Basra.
Iraqis shop for dvd’s in Basra, Iraq, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Friday. April 18. 2008.CD shops sell love songs again, women hesitantly emerge from their homes without veils, and alcohol sellers are creeping out of hiding in this southern city where religious vigilantes have long enforced strict Islamic laws. The changes in recent weeks are signs that an Iraqi military crackdown against militiamen, particularly the Mahdi Army loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has succeeded despite the troubles that plagued the offensive launched last month.(AP/Nabil al-Jurani)
Things must be looking sensational in Iraq- the media says Iraq is now only the 4th top issue in a recent poll.
