Muqtada al-Sadr’s militiamen in Baghdad’s so-called “Sadr City” neighborhood have agreed to hand their weapons over to the interim government, CNN.com reported today. Just like the deal to get Sadr’s thugs out of Najaf, the Iraqi government will offer the militia members amnesty and an open door to enter the political process as long as they “have not been involved in criminality,” says Interim National Security Adviser Kasim Dawood.

According to the proposed plan, first there would be a cease-fire, then the weapons handover, followed by joint U.S./Iraqi forces taking control of Sadr City. These events would pave the way for various companies to start post-war reconstruction in the Baghdad neighborhood.

Does this sound like another concession by the Iraqi interim government to terrorists? Not necessarily. Najaf has been quiet since the peace deal that brought quiet to that once war-torn city. Iraqi security forces helped the U.S. in fighting Sadr’s creeps there. Local citizens protested Sadr’s reign of terror there at least 3 times. Maybe Sadr City will follow the Najaf model? Or… Oh, G#d, am I going soft?

It’s easy for me to armchair quarterback the Iraq war. I’m not a Coalition soldier getting shot at. I’m not a military leader ordering young people to their deaths. I’m not an Iraqi politician risking his or her life by being part of the interim government. I’m not an Iraqi civilian who has to worry about getting incinerated just for taking my kids to school.

While I don’t want to go soft on Iraq’s terrorists, I also don’t necessarily want to second guess the decisions of Coalition and interim government strategists. If I had my druthers, I’d see Coalition forces stomp out Fallujah and Sadr City’s terrorists like cockroaches. But this doesn’t seem to be the way that the U.S. and Iraqi government officials see it. Are they going soft or are they simply “giving peace a chance?” So far, so good for Najaf. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in Fallujah and Sadr City.