Some more political successes for Maliki and for the surge:

Iraq’s main Sunni Muslim political bloc has agreed in principle to return to the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki nearly nine months after quitting the Cabinet, lawmakers from the group said Thursday.
[…]
Salim Abdullah, a lawmaker and chief spokesman for the Sunni Accordance Front, said that after “positive negotiations” with al-Maliki’s government, a deal in principle was reached under which the Front would hold five Cabinet posts, in addition to a deputy prime minister position.
The Front agreed to return in part because of the security offensive that al-Maliki launched last month against Shiite militiamen in the southern port city of Basra, said Omar Abdul-Sattar, another Accordance lawmaker.
The operation has targeted in particular fighters from anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, a militia that is hated by many Sunni Arabs, who blame it for sectarian killings.
Abdul-Sattar did not elaborate, but the offensive appeared to have signaled to the Accordance Front that al-Maliki was willing to go after the Sadrists, whose support won him the prime minister’s job in 2006.

(via)