Monday, September 03, 2007
Al-Sadr aide - Mahdi Army freeze could end if arrests and raids don't stop
Security
(AP) -- Muqtada al-Sadr's surprise decision to stand down his Mahdi Army for up to six months was designed to stop a Shiite-Shiite rift from spiraling out of control and to weed out infiltrators in his militia's ranks, according to aides of the radical Shiite cleric. Al-Sadr issued his surprise declaration last Wednesday following two days of deadly clashes in the holy city of Karbala between his Mahdi Army and the rival Badr militia of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the country's largest Shiite party and a U.S. partner.
Involvement in inter-Shiite fighting has hurt the image of al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army, chipping away at the young cleric's reputation as an uncompromising nationalist leader seeking to restore Iraq's full sovereignty and undermining his bid to become a national leader. Al-Sadr also realizes that a full-fledged fight against Badr and the Iraqi security forces is likely to draw the Americans into battle, threatening his Mahdi Army with a rout similar to that of 2004 when thousands of his militiamen were killed.
For all those reasons, it was better for al-Sadr to take a principled stand for Shiite unity and suspend his militia's activities - at least for the time being. To promote unity, it is better to blame the Americans than rivals in the Shiite community. Sheik Salman al-Feraiji, al-Sadr's chief representative in Baghdad's Sadr City district, said the suspension was meant to foil an "American plot" to sow division within Iraq's majority Shiites.
"They drove a wedge between Shiites and Sunnis and now they want a Shiite-Shiite rift," al-Feraiji said as he sat late Saturday in a large tent to receive condolences for the Karbala victims. Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, al-Sadr's spokesman in Najaf, also said the suspension was aimed at preventing rifts among Shiites, which exploded in Karbala. Al-Obeidi said the freeze would allow time to rid the Mahdi Army of "groups working for foreign security agencies." He did not elaborate. "These groups deliberately left traces that led back to the Mahdi Army. We do not want what happened in Karbala to spread to the rest of the country," he said.
In announcing his decision, al-Sadr did not say explicitly whether his fighters would suspend attacks on Americans. Some aides said they would halt such attacks, but others disputed that interpretation of the order.
Al-Sadr's anti-American policies have kept his movement together as a nationalist force, unlike most other Shiite parties that are closely tied to Washington. To maintain that nationalist stand, al-Sadr apparently avoided an explicit, public ban on attacking U.S. and other foreign troops.
A firebrand who burst on the political scene in 2003, al-Sadr has a track record of making ambivalent statements or leaving out key details. Sometimes that has been interpreted as a sign of his movement's lack of a comprehensive political vision. In some cases, it has been seen as a deliberate bid to give him leeway to change policies. However, in the four days since he made his announcement, Mahdi Army militiamen have been lying low and the number of bodies of sectarian violence victims - often blamed on the militia - has dramatically dropped.
The U.S. military welcomed al-Sadr's move. But it appears the U.S. has no plans to reciprocate, continuing raids to capture suspected Mahdi militants that American commanders say are linked to Iran or involved in sectarian violence. The raids led to a stern warning late Saturday by one of al-Sadr's prominent lawmakers, Bahaa al-Araji, who told Alhurra television that the "freeze" could end "within a day or two" if the raids and arrests did not stop.
Involvement in inter-Shiite fighting has hurt the image of al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army, chipping away at the young cleric's reputation as an uncompromising nationalist leader seeking to restore Iraq's full sovereignty and undermining his bid to become a national leader. Al-Sadr also realizes that a full-fledged fight against Badr and the Iraqi security forces is likely to draw the Americans into battle, threatening his Mahdi Army with a rout similar to that of 2004 when thousands of his militiamen were killed.
For all those reasons, it was better for al-Sadr to take a principled stand for Shiite unity and suspend his militia's activities - at least for the time being. To promote unity, it is better to blame the Americans than rivals in the Shiite community. Sheik Salman al-Feraiji, al-Sadr's chief representative in Baghdad's Sadr City district, said the suspension was meant to foil an "American plot" to sow division within Iraq's majority Shiites.
"They drove a wedge between Shiites and Sunnis and now they want a Shiite-Shiite rift," al-Feraiji said as he sat late Saturday in a large tent to receive condolences for the Karbala victims. Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, al-Sadr's spokesman in Najaf, also said the suspension was aimed at preventing rifts among Shiites, which exploded in Karbala. Al-Obeidi said the freeze would allow time to rid the Mahdi Army of "groups working for foreign security agencies." He did not elaborate. "These groups deliberately left traces that led back to the Mahdi Army. We do not want what happened in Karbala to spread to the rest of the country," he said.
In announcing his decision, al-Sadr did not say explicitly whether his fighters would suspend attacks on Americans. Some aides said they would halt such attacks, but others disputed that interpretation of the order.
Al-Sadr's anti-American policies have kept his movement together as a nationalist force, unlike most other Shiite parties that are closely tied to Washington. To maintain that nationalist stand, al-Sadr apparently avoided an explicit, public ban on attacking U.S. and other foreign troops.
A firebrand who burst on the political scene in 2003, al-Sadr has a track record of making ambivalent statements or leaving out key details. Sometimes that has been interpreted as a sign of his movement's lack of a comprehensive political vision. In some cases, it has been seen as a deliberate bid to give him leeway to change policies. However, in the four days since he made his announcement, Mahdi Army militiamen have been lying low and the number of bodies of sectarian violence victims - often blamed on the militia - has dramatically dropped.
The U.S. military welcomed al-Sadr's move. But it appears the U.S. has no plans to reciprocate, continuing raids to capture suspected Mahdi militants that American commanders say are linked to Iran or involved in sectarian violence. The raids led to a stern warning late Saturday by one of al-Sadr's prominent lawmakers, Bahaa al-Araji, who told Alhurra television that the "freeze" could end "within a day or two" if the raids and arrests did not stop.
Labels: Badr Corps, Bahaa Al-Araji, Mahdi Army, Moqtada Al-Sadr, Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, Sheik Salman al-Feraiji, SIIC
Monday, August 13, 2007
Shiite militia tightens its grip as rogue elements become bolder
Security
(AP) -- A Muslim imam dropped his cloak to the sidewalk. It was a signal for the gunmen to move. They surrounded the top Iraqi security official in a north Baghdad district. Iraqi military vehicles - commandeered by other Shiite militiamen - screeched into a cordon, blocking his exit. A gun was put to his head. Brig. Gen. Falah Hassan Kanbar, a fellow Shiite, managed to escape when his bodyguards pulled him into a vehicle that sped down an alley.
Details of the Aug. 5 ambush emerged this week in interviews with Kanbar, U.S. military and intelligence officials. It remains unclear whether the thugs sought to kill Kanbar or simply intimidate him, but suspicions over the source of the brazen assault pointed in just one direction: the powerful Shiite armed faction known as the Mahdi Army and its increasingly unpredictable trajectory.
The vast Mahdi network - ranging from hardcore fighting units to community aid groups - is emerging as perhaps the biggest wild card as Iraq's U.S.-backed government stumbles and the Pentagon struggles to build a credible Iraqi security force to allow an eventual U.S. withdrawal. Just a few months ago, the Mahdi Army and its leader, firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, were seen as reluctant - but critical - partners with Iraq's leadership. Al-Sadr agreed to government appeals to lessen his anti-American fervor and not directly challenge the waves of U.S. soldiers trying to regain control of Baghdad and surrounding areas. But now, the once-cohesive ranks of the Mahdi Army are splintering into rival factions with widely varying priorities.
Some breakaway guerrillas are accused by Washington of strengthening ties with Iranian patrons supplying parts for powerful roadside bombs - which accounted for nearly three-quarters of U.S. military deaths and injuries last month. The devices suggest that Shiite militias could replace Sunni insurgents as the top threat to American troops.
Other Mahdi loyalists are seeking to expand their footholds in the Iraqi military and police, frustrating U.S. attempts to bring more Sunni Muslims into the forces as part of national reconciliation goals. And in many Shiite strongholds across Iraq, Mahdi crews are trying to shore up their power and influence. The pace has picked up with the sense that the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government could be irrevocably damaged after political mutinies by Sunni and Shiite Cabinet ministers.
The Mahdi Army, meanwhile, appears to be going through its own leadership crisis. Al-Sadr has been unable to rein in the renegade Mahdi factions. On Friday, a U.S. military commander said al-Sadr had returned to Iran, where he spent several months earlier this year. Al-Sadr's top aides called the claim baseless. But there is no dispute that Mahdi Army operatives are busy planning for the future.
The militia is working behind-the-scenes to solidify control of rent markets, fuel distribution and other services in Shiite neighborhoods - taking a page from other influential groups across the region, such as Hezbollah, that have mixed militia muscle and social outreach. For the U.S. military, the gun-wielding attack on the Iraqi brigadier general in Kazimiyah - a main Shiite enclave in northern Baghdad - highlights just how far the Mahdi bosses are willing to go against anyone they cannot control.
"(He) is the cleanest guy you can find in Kazimiyah, and he works with us. That's why they want him dead," said Capt. Nick Kron, 28, a Richmond, Va., native with the Army's 1st Infantry Division. Kazimiyah - home to Baghdad's holiest Shiite shrine - puts the Mahdi Army's strength on full display. U.S. officials believe the head of the Kazimiyah faction is Hazim al-Araji, a Shiite imam and brother of Bahaa al-Araji, a Sadrist member of parliament. Through the al-Araji brothers, the Kazimiyah group has close ties to Iraqi politicians in the Green Zone, as well as to clerics in the holy city of Najaf, home to al-Sadr as well as Iraq's top Shiite religious figure, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
"With that political cover, these guys can get away with anything," said Lt. Col. Steve Miska, head of the 1st Infantry Division's Task Force Justice and the top U.S. officer in Kazimiyah. Each day, militiamen in civilian clothes patrol in the tight cluster of winding streets surrounding the Imam al-Kadhim shrine. U.S. forces keep their distance. They fear an all-out insurrection if they crack down on the Mahdi Army, often called by the Arabic acronym JAM. Also, they acknowledge that the Mahdi presence helps keep Sunni insurgents away.
"We could go downtown and have direct confrontation with JAM, and it'd be a tactical victory for us, but the political backlash would make it not worth it," said Miska, of Greenport, N.Y. The neighboring Shiite enclave of Shula is the base for the Mahdi Army's hit men, who kidnap and kill Sunnis - and increasingly, fellow Shiites - after trying them in impromptu Islamic courts, U.S. officials said.
The surge in Mahdi Army activity in Kazimiyah has also meant increased attacks on U.S. forces. In the past four months, more than a dozen powerful, armor-piercing bombs were found in Kazimiyah. The so-called EFPs - explosively-formed penetrators - are the type the U.S. believes are funneled to the Mahdi Army by Iranian agents. In May, an American soldier was killed by an EFP planted near the gates of a U.S. base in Kazimiyah.
Although U.S. forces have so far avoided full-scale confrontation with the Mahdi Army, strategic strikes appear to be increasing. Last week, American soldiers arrested an Iraqi Army company commander accused of involvement in planting roadside bombs to target U.S. forces. A known Mahdi Army operative, Maj. Ali Farhan, is also suspected of funneling weapons to militiamen and allowing them to pass freely through Iraqi checkpoints. He remains in U.S. custody.
On Tuesday, U.S. aircraft and soldiers attacked a suspected Shiite militia cell accused of importing the bombs and sending members to Iran for training. The U.S. military said 32 suspected militants were killed and 12 captured in raids that coincided with a visit to Tehran by Iraqi prime minister. For now, the Iraqi army officer Kanbar is in hiding. He is the only Iraqi official with a free pass to go unchecked through security at the U.S. military base in Kazimiyah. "He is a rare breed in Iraq ... He's serving his country as best he can in a very, very difficult political situation," Miska said.
Details of the Aug. 5 ambush emerged this week in interviews with Kanbar, U.S. military and intelligence officials. It remains unclear whether the thugs sought to kill Kanbar or simply intimidate him, but suspicions over the source of the brazen assault pointed in just one direction: the powerful Shiite armed faction known as the Mahdi Army and its increasingly unpredictable trajectory.
The vast Mahdi network - ranging from hardcore fighting units to community aid groups - is emerging as perhaps the biggest wild card as Iraq's U.S.-backed government stumbles and the Pentagon struggles to build a credible Iraqi security force to allow an eventual U.S. withdrawal. Just a few months ago, the Mahdi Army and its leader, firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, were seen as reluctant - but critical - partners with Iraq's leadership. Al-Sadr agreed to government appeals to lessen his anti-American fervor and not directly challenge the waves of U.S. soldiers trying to regain control of Baghdad and surrounding areas. But now, the once-cohesive ranks of the Mahdi Army are splintering into rival factions with widely varying priorities.
Some breakaway guerrillas are accused by Washington of strengthening ties with Iranian patrons supplying parts for powerful roadside bombs - which accounted for nearly three-quarters of U.S. military deaths and injuries last month. The devices suggest that Shiite militias could replace Sunni insurgents as the top threat to American troops.
Other Mahdi loyalists are seeking to expand their footholds in the Iraqi military and police, frustrating U.S. attempts to bring more Sunni Muslims into the forces as part of national reconciliation goals. And in many Shiite strongholds across Iraq, Mahdi crews are trying to shore up their power and influence. The pace has picked up with the sense that the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government could be irrevocably damaged after political mutinies by Sunni and Shiite Cabinet ministers.
The Mahdi Army, meanwhile, appears to be going through its own leadership crisis. Al-Sadr has been unable to rein in the renegade Mahdi factions. On Friday, a U.S. military commander said al-Sadr had returned to Iran, where he spent several months earlier this year. Al-Sadr's top aides called the claim baseless. But there is no dispute that Mahdi Army operatives are busy planning for the future.
The militia is working behind-the-scenes to solidify control of rent markets, fuel distribution and other services in Shiite neighborhoods - taking a page from other influential groups across the region, such as Hezbollah, that have mixed militia muscle and social outreach. For the U.S. military, the gun-wielding attack on the Iraqi brigadier general in Kazimiyah - a main Shiite enclave in northern Baghdad - highlights just how far the Mahdi bosses are willing to go against anyone they cannot control.
"(He) is the cleanest guy you can find in Kazimiyah, and he works with us. That's why they want him dead," said Capt. Nick Kron, 28, a Richmond, Va., native with the Army's 1st Infantry Division. Kazimiyah - home to Baghdad's holiest Shiite shrine - puts the Mahdi Army's strength on full display. U.S. officials believe the head of the Kazimiyah faction is Hazim al-Araji, a Shiite imam and brother of Bahaa al-Araji, a Sadrist member of parliament. Through the al-Araji brothers, the Kazimiyah group has close ties to Iraqi politicians in the Green Zone, as well as to clerics in the holy city of Najaf, home to al-Sadr as well as Iraq's top Shiite religious figure, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
"With that political cover, these guys can get away with anything," said Lt. Col. Steve Miska, head of the 1st Infantry Division's Task Force Justice and the top U.S. officer in Kazimiyah. Each day, militiamen in civilian clothes patrol in the tight cluster of winding streets surrounding the Imam al-Kadhim shrine. U.S. forces keep their distance. They fear an all-out insurrection if they crack down on the Mahdi Army, often called by the Arabic acronym JAM. Also, they acknowledge that the Mahdi presence helps keep Sunni insurgents away.
"We could go downtown and have direct confrontation with JAM, and it'd be a tactical victory for us, but the political backlash would make it not worth it," said Miska, of Greenport, N.Y. The neighboring Shiite enclave of Shula is the base for the Mahdi Army's hit men, who kidnap and kill Sunnis - and increasingly, fellow Shiites - after trying them in impromptu Islamic courts, U.S. officials said.
The surge in Mahdi Army activity in Kazimiyah has also meant increased attacks on U.S. forces. In the past four months, more than a dozen powerful, armor-piercing bombs were found in Kazimiyah. The so-called EFPs - explosively-formed penetrators - are the type the U.S. believes are funneled to the Mahdi Army by Iranian agents. In May, an American soldier was killed by an EFP planted near the gates of a U.S. base in Kazimiyah.
Although U.S. forces have so far avoided full-scale confrontation with the Mahdi Army, strategic strikes appear to be increasing. Last week, American soldiers arrested an Iraqi Army company commander accused of involvement in planting roadside bombs to target U.S. forces. A known Mahdi Army operative, Maj. Ali Farhan, is also suspected of funneling weapons to militiamen and allowing them to pass freely through Iraqi checkpoints. He remains in U.S. custody.
On Tuesday, U.S. aircraft and soldiers attacked a suspected Shiite militia cell accused of importing the bombs and sending members to Iran for training. The U.S. military said 32 suspected militants were killed and 12 captured in raids that coincided with a visit to Tehran by Iraqi prime minister. For now, the Iraqi army officer Kanbar is in hiding. He is the only Iraqi official with a free pass to go unchecked through security at the U.S. military base in Kazimiyah. "He is a rare breed in Iraq ... He's serving his country as best he can in a very, very difficult political situation," Miska said.
Labels: Bahaa Al-Araji, Brig. Gen. Falah Hassan Kanbar, EFPs, Hazim al-Araji, Iran, JAM, Kazimiyah, Mahdi Army, Maj. Ali Farhan, Moqtada Al-Sadr, Sharia, Shula
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Iraqi parliament calls for banning U.S. troops from shrines
Security, Religion
(AP) - In a symbolic move, the Iraqi parliament Monday called for banning U.S. and other foreign troops from getting within one kilometer (half a mile) from one of the Shiite Muslims holiest shrines in Iraq a day after American forces carried a raid nearby, a member of parliament said Monday. The protest vote led by radical anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc came a day after a raid by U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah, which includes the shrine that contains the tombs of two Shiite saints.
The U.S. military said the joint operation was aimed at capturing "high-value individuals" believed to be meeting in the area, but the troops came under small-arms fire after setting up a cordon, and people burned tires in the streets. One Iraqi soldier and eight gunmen were killed in the operation, the military said. Thousands of people took to the streets of Kazimiyah on Monday, waving Iraqi flags and posters of al-Sadr and his late father to protest the operation so near some of Shiite Islam's holiest sites as funerals were held for those killed.
U.S. forces enjoy widespread freedom of operations under a U.N. Security Council that authorized the mission, but the vote and the protests indicated growing frustration among many Iraqis over what many see as a continued occupation, despite the Americans' insistence that the Iraqi government is in the lead.
The military statement said eight individuals were detained and later turned over to the Iraqi security forces. It added that none of the targeted individuals were captured as a result of this operation and all detained individuals were later released.
Bahaa Al-Araji, a member of al-Sadr's bloc, told Iraqi state TV that they had presented the demand to parliament and the majority of legislators present voted for it. Parliamentary officials confirmed the decision was approved, although it is not considered a law. The U.S. command in Baghdad had no immediate comment on the vote.
"Americans are prevented from entering the area around the holy shrine," said al-Araji, one of 30 al-Sadr supporters in the 275-seat parliament. The Kazimiyah shrine contains the tombs of Imams Moussa al-Kazim and his grandson Mohammed al-Jawad. Both are descendants of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
The U.S. military said the joint operation was aimed at capturing "high-value individuals" believed to be meeting in the area, but the troops came under small-arms fire after setting up a cordon, and people burned tires in the streets. One Iraqi soldier and eight gunmen were killed in the operation, the military said. Thousands of people took to the streets of Kazimiyah on Monday, waving Iraqi flags and posters of al-Sadr and his late father to protest the operation so near some of Shiite Islam's holiest sites as funerals were held for those killed.
U.S. forces enjoy widespread freedom of operations under a U.N. Security Council that authorized the mission, but the vote and the protests indicated growing frustration among many Iraqis over what many see as a continued occupation, despite the Americans' insistence that the Iraqi government is in the lead.
The military statement said eight individuals were detained and later turned over to the Iraqi security forces. It added that none of the targeted individuals were captured as a result of this operation and all detained individuals were later released.
Bahaa Al-Araji, a member of al-Sadr's bloc, told Iraqi state TV that they had presented the demand to parliament and the majority of legislators present voted for it. Parliamentary officials confirmed the decision was approved, although it is not considered a law. The U.S. command in Baghdad had no immediate comment on the vote.
"Americans are prevented from entering the area around the holy shrine," said al-Araji, one of 30 al-Sadr supporters in the 275-seat parliament. The Kazimiyah shrine contains the tombs of Imams Moussa al-Kazim and his grandson Mohammed al-Jawad. Both are descendants of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
Labels: Bahaa Al-Araji, Kazimiyah shrine, Moqtada Al-Sadr
