Don't let this story get lost: UPDATED

I want to start by saying that I am profoundly saddened by yesterday's shootings at Virginia Tech. It was all over the radio this morning as I drove teary-eyed to work. It is deeply tragic and on one level or another affects us all.

That said, I think an even more disturbing scenario is beginning to appear in Iraq with Muktada al-Sadr pulling 6 cabinet minister "to make way for new ministers without sectarian agendas" according to a New York Times article. Sadr's move is "motivated by Iraqi nationalism." Hmmm.

The man obviously has a huge influence over the Iraqi government. But if he were truly motivated by "nationalism", why didn't he just tell these ministers to vote with the same sense of nationalism? Instead, he is pulling out for his own (sectarian) purposes, none of which involve some altruistic sense of nationalism, a term he may bandy about to sway an American public intoxicated by the notion that the Iraqi culture values nationalism as highly as we do.

Don't be fooled. This man is loyal to himself and his religion.

UPDATE:
Read an Iraqi's view on this move by Sadr.