AFP reports:

Three weeks after Iraqi troops swarmed into the southern city of Basra to take on armed militiamen who had overrun the streets, many residents say they feel safer and that their lives have improved.

The fierce fighting which marked the first week of Operation Sawlat al-Fursan (Charge of the Knights) has given way to slower, more focused house-by-house searches by Iraqi troops, which led on Monday to the freeing of an abducted British journalist.

Residents say the streets have been cleared of gunmen, markets have reopened, basic services have been resumed and a measure of normality has returned to the oil-rich city.

I thought that Maliki had asked for a ceasefire and received it after being humiliated by Sadr, so how is it that government operations continue, the militias are disappearing, and life is returning to normal, except this time with law and order. Go read the whole thing.

HT: Ace