If we want to talk to bad guys about Iraq,

and I’m not necessarily saying that we should, I’d start with Muqtada al Sadr. According to the ISG report, he now commands a militia of 60,000 and is locking horns with another Shiite militia with close ties to Iran. Thus, the possibility exists that we may have a little common ground with this guy. As John has explained, there’s no reason to think we have any common ground with Jim Baker’s preferred negotiating partners Iran and Syria (the ISG does recommend that we talk to Sadr too). Moreover, Sadr is a partner in the Iraqi government — his faction controls several ministries,
We probably should have killed Muqtada al Sadr and the members of his then much smaller band several years ago, but we didn’t. At this point, a case can be made that he’s someone we should talk to.