Sadr himself is in Qom working on his Islamic studies and has been for many months now.

So no, Sadr was not in Basra himself, 'leading the fight'.

Last weeks fight in Basra was all about Maliki and the SIC (SIIC, SIRCI, SICI whichever initials you like) using the Iraqi Army to attempt to remove Sadrists from 'unofficial' control over Basra prior to the October Provincial elections (where Sadr is expected to kick SIC butt, particularly in places like Basra).

The only reason SIC is the largest party in Iraq right now is because the Sunnis and the Sadrists boycotted the 2006 provincial elections, allowing the SIC to gain control of a majority of the Shi'ite provinces of the central and southern region.

With the Sunnis and Sadrists promising to contest the October provincial elections, that will mean the SIC will very likely lose control over most provincial assemblies. Control over these provincial assemblies is considered critically important for mobilizing financing and support for the next round of national elections.

The failure of Maliki's campaign was a failure for the Iraqi government, failure for the Iraqi Army, failure for the SIC and failure for both US and Iran in their attempts to have Iraq ruled by their chosen puppets.

The only winner last week was Sadr and the Medhi Army.

As far as I see the situation in Iraq, Sadr is the only Iraqi political figure that has risen in stature and popularity in Iraq since Saddam was deposed.

Sadr is looking like he is the one guy who just might be able to patch this mess back together again. Naturally, Iran and the USA seem to be allied in an effort to prevent this. Oddly enough, they are failing at that since Sadr is looking bigger, stronger and more popular than ever.