Moqtada al-Who?

Presented for your reading ?pleasure?, an extract from yesterday's White House Press Briefing, emphases mine:

Q On behalf of both Jim and myself -- (laughter) -- did the President talk about al Sadr at all with Prime Minister Maliki? Any discussion of his whereabouts or the impact of the changes?

MR. SNOW: No, none of that.

Q None at all?

MR. SNOW: No.

Q That seems surprising, doesn't it, since that --

MR. SNOW: Well, it seems surprising to you guys, but -- again, for the Prime Minister, here's a guy who has already made the step of staying -- both to the Mahdi army, to Sunni insurgents, to people who have been misbehaving -- we're coming after you. If you are trying to bring this government down through acts of violence, if you're operating -- his phrase is "outside the law" -- we are going to apply the law, no matter who you are. And we have seen evidence of that in new Baghdad, which is a Shia neighborhood. We've seen it in Haifa Street. We've seen it in operations that are ongoing in Baghdad now.

So I really think -- and the Prime Minister has made it very clear that people who are on board with the unity government need to get on board and stay on board.

Q Wouldn't the Prime Minister be a good source of information on what al Sadr may be up to?

MR. SNOW: I just -- you know what, right now the most significant political figure in Iraq is not Muqtada al Sadr, it's Nouri al Maliki.

Q Kelly and I have a follow. (Laughter.)

MR. SNOW: See, and you guys thought kumbaya was dead.

Q That said, have you learned -- never mind this phone call this morning, what have you learned in the last 24 hours since we've spoke about al Sadr and whether he's in Iran -- his being in Iran, if he's there, is a good thing or a bad thing?

MR. SNOW: Since we've spoken -- no, we haven't actually heard -- we've got nothing new for you.

Q There's been no intelligence, there's been no questions, you haven't followed up --

MR. SNOW: Not really, no. The President may have gotten something in his intel brief today. It didn't come up. Shock-shock, it didn't.

Q And when you say, "shock-shock," that's --

MR. SNOW: I think you've got to understand that Muqtada al Sadr is one factor who belongs to a party that has 30 members of a parliament of 250 members, and that what you have seen -- if you want to look at the significant players, take a look at what's gone on in Baghdad, and take a look at the fact that you've got a security plan that's operating in districts, including Shia districts, where, at least according to reports, members of the Mahdi militia put down their arms, and in some cases are saying, okay, let's let the Baghdad security plan succeed. That is the significant factor.

Q But that is related to al Sadr -- if they're doing that, that's an important, significant point.

MR. SNOW: I just -- I've got nothing to give you on that. I mean, we don't know where he is. We don't know where he is. The reports are that he's in Iran, but don't know.

And we don't care, seems to be the clear implication.

Why not? Is it because al-Maliki doesn't want us to? Is it because we need to downplay this guy we were once so obsessed with because - like that other fellow, what was his name, Osama bin something? - we can't catch him and so we don't want to talk about him any more?

Why does this administration keep on making up enemies and then getting annoyed when other people don't forget them once they've served their turn?