Say what you want about John Kerry’s supposedly botched joke demeaning the intelligence of American soldiers in Iraq, at least the guy makes you laugh – if only inadvertently. We wish the same could be said about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who also made headlines Tuesday.

Al-Maliki ordered the removal of American checkpoints around a large Shiite Muslim section of Baghdad known as Sadr City.

This area is the stomping ground – and we mean it literally – of Moktada al-Sadr, the volatile Shiite cleric whose militia attacked U.S. troops in 2004. This same militia is believed to have kidnapped an American soldier recently, and it’s believed he’s being held in Sadr City. That’s why the soldiers to whom al-Maliki objected were there in the first place.

The U.S. has leaned on al-Maliki to disarm al-Sadr’s goon squad, but of course he hasn’t. His hold on power depends in part upon the support of al-Sadr, who enjoys the support of many Iraqi Shiites.

By ordering American troops to scram this week, he was, in effect, passing along a message from al-Sadr. Nevertheless, the U.S. complied. Go figure.