The fighting in Sadr City is starting to look a lot like Fallujah and the rhetoric, too.

Naturally, civilians -- sorry, "human shields" are taking the brunt of the fighting:

"On Wednesday, al-Maliki accused the Mahdi Army of using civilians as human shields, and vowed to continue the crackdown against militias."

Isn't that what the terrorists in Fallujah were doing, too? Using Mosques and civilians as shields?

"Tahseen al-Sheikhly, the spokesman for the civilian side of Baghdad security operations, said Wednesday that a total of 925 people had died and 2,605 were wounded in Sadr City. But he gave no timeframe or details about how the figure was reached. . . Previous Interior Ministry casualty figures for the past month had indicated that less than 400 people had perished. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the conflicting figures. Officials at the Baghdad military operations center said they could not confirm al-Sheikhly's count."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080430/ap_on_...

Typically, our super duper high tech weaponry is surgically targeting only militants:

"Also in Sadr City, AP Television News footage showed a school that had been badly damaged by an explosion on Tuesday. Parts of the two-floor building had pancaked as the result of the blast. Desks were hanging down from the slanting classrooms where the outer walls were blown out by the blast."

Blast from the past, it could have been yesterday:

globalsecurity.org:

"Some members of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council strongly criticed the US military over civilian casualties in Al-Fallujah. They said the US response has been disproportionate and indiscriminate. US officials insisted they are doing everything they can to minimize civilian deaths. US military spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said insurgents in the city are using Iraqi civilians as human shields and are firing weapons at US forces from inside schools, mosques, and hospitals"

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/wor...

Operation "Phantom Fury begins: Nov. 8 2005:

"Clashes with the insurgents holed up in Fallujah were fierce, with a barrage of rocket, mortar and gunfire raining down as they tried to raise the new Iraqi flag above the hospital. . . The Pentagon said US forces seized the hospital first to provide medical care but also in the expectation that the presence of embedded reporters at the hospital would prevent inflated reporting of civilian casualties."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/11...

As if any civilians in their right minds would cross the battle lines to go to a hospital held by US forces.

How long before the first reports of the use of White Phosphorus show up in the media? If they're using heavy armor, hellfire missiles and fixed wing aircraft, Willy Pete can't be far behind.

Along with the civilian casualties, three more US troops died yesterday, bringing the number of dead this month to 47.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters in Baghdad, "So, the sacrifice of our troopers, the sacrifice of Iraqi forces and Iraqi citizens reflects this challenge," the challenge of . . . what's this all about again?