Friday, November 10, 2006
Who is the Mahdi army?
Security, Politics, Analysis
Whatever policy adjustments U.S. President George W. Bush may make in Iraq, stopping sectarian death squads that kill hundreds of people a week is likely to remain central to Washington's support for the Iraqi government. Yet senior figures in that government believe it may already be too late for the political leadership to curb one of the biggest of the Shi'ite Islamist militias, the Mehdi Army -- largely because it has fragmented and spun out of the control of its notional leader, young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "We have a problem with the Mehdi Army. That is why Moqtada is trying to clean it out," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Reuters two weeks ago as he defended his ally's efforts to hold rogue warlords to account and explained why he was resisting U.S. pressure to crack down more heavily on Sadr's followers. "But," Maliki conceded, "I think he's started late."
Maliki, who owed his appointment as prime minister to Sadr's support, has told Washington that Sunni insurgents are the main threat and Shi'ite militias can be reined in by their leaders. But one senior Shi'ite politician, speaking privately, said some elements were beyond them: "I doubt Moqtada can succeed because it's too late now. I'm not sure he's in control." He described some nominal Mehdi Army factions as criminal warlords and some as agents of Iran or Syria, a charge endorsed by sources close to Sadr, as well as U.S. officials.
Maliki, who owed his appointment as prime minister to Sadr's support, has told Washington that Sunni insurgents are the main threat and Shi'ite militias can be reined in by their leaders. But one senior Shi'ite politician, speaking privately, said some elements were beyond them: "I doubt Moqtada can succeed because it's too late now. I'm not sure he's in control." He described some nominal Mehdi Army factions as criminal warlords and some as agents of Iran or Syria, a charge endorsed by sources close to Sadr, as well as U.S. officials.
Sadr has publicly forsworn violence against fellow Iraqis and said he wants nothing to do with gunmen operating in his name who roam Baghdad, targeting minority Sunnis, driving some from their homes in a form of ethnic cleansing and trying to impose harsh interpretations of Islamic law on Shi'ite areas. He also dissociated himself from fighting between Mehdi Army groups in southern Iraq and rival Shi'ites, which include the Badr movement as well as uniformed police and army units, and he has demanded the arrest of dozens of nominal followers.
A source in the upper reaches of Sadr's political movement said: "The people he wants to get out are the criminals ... They have given the Mehdi Army and the Sadr movement a bad name." The Sadrist source insisted: "There are no splits among the Mehdi Army or the Sadrists. There is only a minority, a very small minority, who are influenced by countries like Syria and Iran. But they do not represent the Mehdi Army." "The word Mehdi Army for us now is confusing. Who is the Mehdi Army?" Maliki said. "Some Sunnis now even operate under the name of Mehdi Army, dressing in black, and there are Baathists doing it too, and foreign intelligence agents." "There are three parts to the Mehdi Army," a senior Shi'ite said. "One is run by Syria under the guise of Arab nationalism, one is run by Iran, and then there are also the criminals." U.S. commanders and intelligence officers in Iraq say they are unsure how far Sadr is in control and how far his public repudiation of sectarian killings is genuine.
