to get their act together sufficiently to garner a respectable number of seats. their militia days seem to be behind them. they seem to have recognized if they re going to have any appeal going forward, it has to be as a political movement, part of a political iraq. let s talk a little bit about that. muqtada al sadr has been in iran for the last couple of years. what concerns you about iran s role? well, iran is going to be influential, but they re not going to be decisive. i don t agree with those that say they are decisive. again, they invited a lot of parties to tehran for talks that is going to happen. allawi is going to go the saudis are going to be there, we re going to be there. but it s interesting, the sadrist appeal is this sunni, arab, nationalist, iraqi appeal. strong roots in iraq, going back hundreds of years. and muqtada al sadr going in iran has tainted that appeal a little bit. sadrists in iran is not a threat. we haven t seen a sign post of
parties to tehran for talks that is going to happen. allawi is going to go the saudis will be there we will be there it is interesting, the sadrist appeal is this sunni, arab nationalist, iraqi apackers strong roots in iraq, going back hundredses of years. and muqtada al sadr going in iran is part of that i agree with ambassador crocker, that is positive. we haven t seen a sign post of deterioration, haven t seen militias take streets to protect neighborhoods, thing we started to see in 2006. we have to watch it every day. it s hearing you both talk about everything so positive and trying to sort of connect the reality with wiyour rhett richt. i know things got better after the surge in 2007 but we have all been stunned at the level of violence that has come up before the election and since the