Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Houston Chronicle
June 13, 2008 Militias' ouster hailed, but civilians wary about return of cleric's army
By Kim Gamel, Associated Press
BASRA, IRAQ — A clothing store owner defiantly waves a cigarette in the air, saying he was not allowed to smoke when Shiite militias were in control. Then he quietly adds: "Don't let them know I said they were bad. They can still kill me."
An Iraqi policeman asks for the deletion of a digital photo taken of him standing next to a propaganda poster of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr discovered during a raid, fearing militiamen might believe he was mocking their leader.
Basra residents are both hopeful and fearful more than two months after the Iraqi military sent thousands of U.S.-backed reinforcements to pry Iraq's second-largest city from the grip of Shiite militias and criminal gangs.
The hope is that a new measure of calm will continue. The fear is that the militias are laying low to buy time to regroup and return to fight another day.
The city's streets are crowded with people braving the sand-clogged air and 120-degree heat. Many women don colorful clothing after months of being forced to wear all-encompassing black Islamic robes and head scarves — though some still wear the more conservative attire.
"Before people were scared and often couldn't go outside their houses. The situation is better now," said Hadiya Sadiq Nissan, shrouded in black and sitting with her neighbor and twin girls.
But posters of al-Sadr decorating light poles and garage walls show his influence.
While the military has arrested hundreds of suspected militiamen and seized weapons, commanders acknowledge that a number of senior leaders got away.
"The heads of these militias left the area. They either went to Iran or other southern theaters," said Brig. Gen. Baha Hussein Abed, the deputy commander of the quick reaction force from the Iraqi army's 1st Division.
"Those who are on the ground now are lower level. Seventy percent of those are under arrest," Abed said.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Jawad Huwaidi, the Iraqi army commander who took control of the Basra operation last month, said he was encouraged when a civilian turned in a militant who returned to Basra from Iran.
"People are cooperating," he said. "In the past they used to be afraid of the militias, now this obstacle has vanished," he said.
Col. Ali Abdullah Najim al-Rabbiyah, the 49-year-old commander of the emergency police battalion that is working closely with the Iraqi army in Basra, said he received intelligence that militia fighters were being trained in camps in Iran.
June 13, 2008 Militias' ouster hailed, but civilians wary about return of cleric's army
By Kim Gamel, Associated Press
BASRA, IRAQ — A clothing store owner defiantly waves a cigarette in the air, saying he was not allowed to smoke when Shiite militias were in control. Then he quietly adds: "Don't let them know I said they were bad. They can still kill me."
An Iraqi policeman asks for the deletion of a digital photo taken of him standing next to a propaganda poster of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr discovered during a raid, fearing militiamen might believe he was mocking their leader.
Basra residents are both hopeful and fearful more than two months after the Iraqi military sent thousands of U.S.-backed reinforcements to pry Iraq's second-largest city from the grip of Shiite militias and criminal gangs.
The hope is that a new measure of calm will continue. The fear is that the militias are laying low to buy time to regroup and return to fight another day.
The city's streets are crowded with people braving the sand-clogged air and 120-degree heat. Many women don colorful clothing after months of being forced to wear all-encompassing black Islamic robes and head scarves — though some still wear the more conservative attire.
"Before people were scared and often couldn't go outside their houses. The situation is better now," said Hadiya Sadiq Nissan, shrouded in black and sitting with her neighbor and twin girls.
But posters of al-Sadr decorating light poles and garage walls show his influence.
While the military has arrested hundreds of suspected militiamen and seized weapons, commanders acknowledge that a number of senior leaders got away.
"The heads of these militias left the area. They either went to Iran or other southern theaters," said Brig. Gen. Baha Hussein Abed, the deputy commander of the quick reaction force from the Iraqi army's 1st Division.
"Those who are on the ground now are lower level. Seventy percent of those are under arrest," Abed said.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Jawad Huwaidi, the Iraqi army commander who took control of the Basra operation last month, said he was encouraged when a civilian turned in a militant who returned to Basra from Iran.
"People are cooperating," he said. "In the past they used to be afraid of the militias, now this obstacle has vanished," he said.
Col. Ali Abdullah Najim al-Rabbiyah, the 49-year-old commander of the emergency police battalion that is working closely with the Iraqi army in Basra, said he received intelligence that militia fighters were being trained in camps in Iran.