In the wake of the Thanksgiving Day massacres in Iraq and the carnage in Sadr City and retaliatory violence in other sectors of Baghdad, Moqtada al-Sadr has reiterated his opposition to the ongoing U.S. presence in Iraq:

A spokesman says US President George W Bush is committed to working with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, and a meeting between the two leaders in Jordan next week will go ahead.

Supporters of the prominent Iraqi Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, have threatened to pull out of Iraq's national unity cabinet and parliament if Prime Minister Al-Maliki meets Mr Bush as planned next week.

The group says US troops should be held responsible for attacks in Sadr City because the troops had failed to improve security there.

It claims to have evidence of collusion between US forces and Sunni extremists.

Why are we still here? As Richard Clarke says, it's time to admit it's over:

In The March of Folly, Barbara Tuchman documented repeated instances when leaders persisted in disastrous policies well after they knew that success was no longer an available outcome. They did so because the personal consequences of admitting failure would be very high. So they postponed the disastrous end to their policy adventures, hoping for a deus ex machina or to eventually shift the blame. There is no need to do that now. Everyone already knows who is to blame. It is time to stop the adventure, lower our sights, and focus on America's core interests. And that means withdrawal of major combat units.