Does "Sadr" ring a bell?

For quite some time now, the media has been making "Sadr city" emblematic of the "insurgency", a supposed popular uprising of "the people" to overthrow the "oppressors/occupiers". One has to wonder then, how they will deal with this.

After spending much of the year as a battlefield between militiamen and U.S. forces, Baghdad's Sadr City (search) district is now embracing peace and reconstruction.

Anticipation is high for what the residents of the mainly Shiite (search) district say is their overdue empowerment through elections Jan. 30.

The outdoor markets are busy again and the gridlocked traffic is back. The bands of excited children who walked behind local militiamen heading to battle in the fall now clamor around machinery laying down new water pipes.

Workers in orange jumpsuits are laying asphalt in dozens of potholes dug by the fighters to conceal roadside bombs meant to kill American soldiers. The clerics who replaced their turbans and robes with track suits to join the fight are back in mosques and seminaries.

Reality often trumps fantasy, doesn't it?