■"Rebel Shiite Cleric Hints Shift to Politics, Not War," by Richard A. Oppel, Jr., New York Times, 23 May 2005, p. A1.

This was a notion long ago floated by the man and blogged by myself, and when it first surfaced it seemed unthinkable. Now it just seems like an insurgent leader of sorts coming in from the cold.

Can he be trusted? About as far as his militia can be thrown off the field. We can trust Moktada to be Moktada and little else. And yet, if he turns to politics, this will be a serious tipping point in the counter-insurgency effort led by the U.S., so it bears watching.