Well, this is reasonably good news (the uprising, not the Iraqi military targeting of the uprising). For a while it appeared that there would be substantial resistance which was leading towards more and more Urban warfare.

Urban warfare would be a total disaster for the US/UK. Not because they would lose, but because we still have to face the prospect of running this country when the shooting stops. You don't want Iraqi cities turning into Gaza.

Of course, it should also be noted that anything short of popular uprising against the Ba'ath party in Basra would be a staggering defeat. This is the center of the Shi'ite majority that have fought against the regime for decades and suffered most since the Gulf War (the Kurds were better isolated and protected by the no fly zones).

I mean, if Basra didn't rise up and support our efforts at regime change, things were going to be very bleak indeed.

NY Times had an interview with an Iraqi in which they quoted him saying that Saddam had been such a disaster for Iraq that he must have been an American agent. If that kind of sentiment is more popular than we think it is, post-Saddam Iraq could be a very ugly place indeed.