The British aren't coming! The British aren't coming!

Did the UK strike a pact with the Mahdi Army to sit out Basra? The American Prospect links to conflicting reports in the Times and Guardian, both citing British defence officials. The distinction hinges on whether the British had a "secret deal" to stay on the sidelines, which would (somehow?) thereby encourage the Shia militia to move toward the mainstream—as the Times has it—above and beyond the known "accommodation" between Moqtada al-Sadr and the UK, which the Guardian says had no bearing on their military (in)action during Basra. I have no instinct one way or the other—frankly, I am here merely to submit the hed above—but I will bet you that Spencer Ackerman will have something to say about these stories.

An unrelated but much, much better hed comes courtesy of one of my editors, who observes with respect to this NYT story: "Mladic Was a Hero to Most, but He Never Meant Shit to Me".