Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
February 12, 2007
The Mahdi Army awaits an eventual U.S. pullout. Then it can emerge from hiding even stronger.
By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press
BAGHDAD - Their rhetoric is still stridently anti-American, but Mahdi Army militiamen are tucking away their weapons and blending into civilian life. Their leaders are keeping out of sight.
In the streets of Sadr City, the strategy of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite militia leader, is clear: Lie low, avoid a showdown, and hope to emerge even stronger after the Americans leave.
Gathered for prayers last week, at least 10,000 Sadr supporters raised clenched fists and chanted: "No, No to America." Later, a black-turbaned cleric addressed them, dressed in a white shroud to signal readiness for martyrdom.
"They claim that the Mahdi Army is made up of terrorists," Mohanad al-Moussawi said mockingly before delivering a tirade against Sunni political groups that he accused of sponsoring terrorism.
Religious ceremonies charged with fiery rhetoric are common among al-Sadr loyalists. But with a massive U.S.-Iraqi security operation getting under way to pacify Baghdad, the Mahdi Army and its political masters are sending out assurances that it has no wish to fight.
A ragtag but highly motivated militia that fought U.S. forces twice in 2004, the Mahdi Army is blamed for much of the sectarian strife shaking Iraq since a Shiite shrine was bombed by Sunni insurgents a year ago. U.S. officials have for months pressed Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to move against the militia, but he has so far done little to comply, largely because he does not want to lose Sadr's support.
Hundreds of Mahdi Army militiamen were killed in the 2004 fighting, but Sadr bounced back, joining the political process, rebuilding his militia but not softening his anti-American rhetoric.
With his militia now widely seen as the main threat to Iraq's unity and high on the list of targets for the Baghdad security operation, Sadr is likely to do all he can to dodge a crippling blow to his militia, analysts say.
Residents of Sadr City, a sprawling district of about two million Shiites in eastern Baghdad, say militiamen opting to remain in the area have moved in with relatives and friends to avoid arrest.
According to residents familiar with the militia's tactics, and speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, weapons are hidden in places like grocery stores, ice cream and soda kiosks, or underground.
At Friday prayers, Sadr's aides in Sadr City were not in their usual front-row spots, and the handful who came swapped their clerical robes and turbans for casual wear.
Mahdi Army militiamen dressed in civilian clothes were out in force, with hundreds searching cars and frisking worshipers headed to the prayers. None openly carried weapons. At checkpoints into the entrance of Sadr City, militiamen in track suits and running shoes stood shoulder to shoulder with police commandos.
Security around Sadr City has been tightened in recent days. Access to the district is now controlled by Iraqi army checkpoints at which soldiers randomly search cars and check the identity of drivers and passengers.
Much is at stake for Sadr and his militia in this third attempt by U.S. and Iraqi forces to calm the capital since Maliki came to office last May.
Sadr loyalists occupy 30 of the National Assembly's 275 seats and fill six cabinet posts. Surviving the latest security sweep while it weakens Sunni rivals would enable Sadr to project his power more assertively in Baghdad.
"I expect it to be 12 months or less before the Americans withdraw from the cities and stay in bases outside," said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, or ICG, a Brussels, Belgium-based think tank. "Whoever survives this Baghdad security plan will have a better place in the vacuum that follows a reduced American presence."
Nassar al-Rubaie, who leads the Sadr loyalists in the assembly, argued in an interview with Iraqiyah, an Iraqi TV station, that the militia was an ideological organization, and he sought to shift the blame for the sectarian violence to outside powers and Sunni rivals.
"Foreign hands are stoking sectarian strife," he said.
Analysts say clashes are almost inevitable in an all-out military operation to detain or kill the Mahdi Army militiamen in Sadr City.
February 12, 2007
The Mahdi Army awaits an eventual U.S. pullout. Then it can emerge from hiding even stronger.
By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press
BAGHDAD - Their rhetoric is still stridently anti-American, but Mahdi Army militiamen are tucking away their weapons and blending into civilian life. Their leaders are keeping out of sight.
In the streets of Sadr City, the strategy of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite militia leader, is clear: Lie low, avoid a showdown, and hope to emerge even stronger after the Americans leave.
Gathered for prayers last week, at least 10,000 Sadr supporters raised clenched fists and chanted: "No, No to America." Later, a black-turbaned cleric addressed them, dressed in a white shroud to signal readiness for martyrdom.
"They claim that the Mahdi Army is made up of terrorists," Mohanad al-Moussawi said mockingly before delivering a tirade against Sunni political groups that he accused of sponsoring terrorism.
Religious ceremonies charged with fiery rhetoric are common among al-Sadr loyalists. But with a massive U.S.-Iraqi security operation getting under way to pacify Baghdad, the Mahdi Army and its political masters are sending out assurances that it has no wish to fight.
A ragtag but highly motivated militia that fought U.S. forces twice in 2004, the Mahdi Army is blamed for much of the sectarian strife shaking Iraq since a Shiite shrine was bombed by Sunni insurgents a year ago. U.S. officials have for months pressed Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to move against the militia, but he has so far done little to comply, largely because he does not want to lose Sadr's support.
Hundreds of Mahdi Army militiamen were killed in the 2004 fighting, but Sadr bounced back, joining the political process, rebuilding his militia but not softening his anti-American rhetoric.
With his militia now widely seen as the main threat to Iraq's unity and high on the list of targets for the Baghdad security operation, Sadr is likely to do all he can to dodge a crippling blow to his militia, analysts say.
Residents of Sadr City, a sprawling district of about two million Shiites in eastern Baghdad, say militiamen opting to remain in the area have moved in with relatives and friends to avoid arrest.
According to residents familiar with the militia's tactics, and speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, weapons are hidden in places like grocery stores, ice cream and soda kiosks, or underground.
At Friday prayers, Sadr's aides in Sadr City were not in their usual front-row spots, and the handful who came swapped their clerical robes and turbans for casual wear.
Mahdi Army militiamen dressed in civilian clothes were out in force, with hundreds searching cars and frisking worshipers headed to the prayers. None openly carried weapons. At checkpoints into the entrance of Sadr City, militiamen in track suits and running shoes stood shoulder to shoulder with police commandos.
Security around Sadr City has been tightened in recent days. Access to the district is now controlled by Iraqi army checkpoints at which soldiers randomly search cars and check the identity of drivers and passengers.
Much is at stake for Sadr and his militia in this third attempt by U.S. and Iraqi forces to calm the capital since Maliki came to office last May.
Sadr loyalists occupy 30 of the National Assembly's 275 seats and fill six cabinet posts. Surviving the latest security sweep while it weakens Sunni rivals would enable Sadr to project his power more assertively in Baghdad.
"I expect it to be 12 months or less before the Americans withdraw from the cities and stay in bases outside," said Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group, or ICG, a Brussels, Belgium-based think tank. "Whoever survives this Baghdad security plan will have a better place in the vacuum that follows a reduced American presence."
Nassar al-Rubaie, who leads the Sadr loyalists in the assembly, argued in an interview with Iraqiyah, an Iraqi TV station, that the militia was an ideological organization, and he sought to shift the blame for the sectarian violence to outside powers and Sunni rivals.
"Foreign hands are stoking sectarian strife," he said.
Analysts say clashes are almost inevitable in an all-out military operation to detain or kill the Mahdi Army militiamen in Sadr City.
