Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Chicago Tribune
April 17, 2008 A strategy that built Sunni support hits a hurdle with Shiites as cleric, government resist compromise
By Liz Sly, Tribune correspondent
BAGHDAD—The U.S. military is hoping to duplicate the success of the Sunni Awakening movement by reaching out to moderate elements within Moqtada Sadr's Shiite militia in Sadr City, the scene of fierce fighting over the past 10 days between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite groups, some of which are believed to have ties to Iran.
But the effort is being stymied by Sadr's staunch refusal to negotiate with the U.S. and by the uncompromising stance of the Iraqi government, which has in the past served as a mediator between the U.S. and the Sadrist movement but is now adopting a tough stand against the cleric's Mahdi Army militia.
In the past 10 days of fighting, U.S. and Iraqi forces have largely secured a strip of territory in the southeastern portion of Sadr City that was being used to launch rockets into the fortified Green Zone, U.S. officials say.
Altogether, 596 rockets and mortars rained down on Baghdad during March 23 to April 12, 100 of them hitting the Green Zone.
Having now substantially reduced the rocket threat, the U.S. military has no plans to advance any farther into the sprawling Shiite enclave in northeastern Baghdad, which has remained under the control of the Mahdi Army since the U.S. failed to quell two uprisings there in 2004, said Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the U.S. commander in Baghdad.
Instead, Hammond said, the goal now is to implement a "Sons of Iraq program" similar to the Awakening movement that saw Iraq's Sunnis turn against Al Qaeda in Iraq, contributing to the sharp fall in violence witnessed before the recent outbreak of fighting with Shiite militias.
Militias on payroll
The Pentagon has given the title Sons of Iraq to the estimated 90,000 armed Sunni militiamen who are being paid by the U.S. to stand against Al Qaeda in Sunni areas.
A similar movement in Sadr City might work to drive a wedge between the more moderate members of the Mahdi Army, who owe their allegiance to Sadr and are abiding by the cease-fire he announced last August, and the so-called Special Groups, which the U.S. military blames for the attacks emanating from Sadr City, Hammond said.
"I am actively seeking engagement with appropriate representatives as an outreach," he said at a briefing for reporters in Baghdad this week. "These criminals who have chosen to go against the law of the land will find that the law-abiding citizens are turning against them."
But sharp differences have emerged between the U.S. military's non-confrontational approach toward the Sadrists and the Iraqi government's tough position.
U.S. officials have been careful in recent weeks to draw a distinction between the Mahdi Army and those who have taken up arms since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched his offensive against militias in Basra late last month.
The U.S. military calls the latter Special Groups and says they are armed, funded and trained by Iran. In his testimony to Congress last week, Gen. David Petraeus described the Special Groups as potentially "the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq."
Later that week he described the Sadrists as "a respected movement, a nationalist movement, and one that is known for having reached out over the years to the poor and downtrodden," a stark contrast to the harsh rhetoric used against Sadr in 2004, when the U.S. military pursued him as "an outlaw."
The Iraqi government, however, appears intent on forcing the entire Mahdi Army to disband. Al-Maliki, who owes his election as prime minister to the Sadrist bloc in parliament, has issued an ultimatum ordering the militia to give up its weapons or face a ban on participating in next October's provincial elections, in which the Sadrists hope to do well.
No 'parallel state'
Al-Maliki does not want to negotiate any solution that allows the Mahdi Army to continue to exist as a parallel force to the Iraqi government, said Sadiq al-Rikabi, an adviser to the prime minister.
"It is dangerous," he said, acknowledging the risk of an all-out war. "But sometimes we have only one option. We hope we can resolve the problem peacefully. We do not like to see our people dead on the streets. But we also want to see an end to this parallel state."
Anxious to avoid a confrontation that might trigger an all-out revolt by the Mahdi Army, the U.S. is advising caution. "There has to be a very, very sensitive approach as this goes forward, to make sure that folks don't feel like they're backed into a corner from which there's no alternative," Petraeus told journalists last week.
Sadrist officials have rejected the call to disarm, but they also complain that the government won't respond to their appeals for negotiations.
Negotiations with the Americans are out of the question, said Sadrist spokesman Liwa Smeism. "We don't see any need for an Awakening-type arrangement with the U.S. because we are already awake," he said. "We are already capable of providing security in our areas."
But the U.S. military has conducted back-channel negotiations with Sadrists in the past, and a Mahdi Army commander contacted by telephone in Sadr City suggested at least some members would be ready to turn against the Special Groups.
The commander, who gave his name as Abu Hussein, drew a distinction between the Mahdi Army, which he says is armed only with Kalashnikovs, and groups he referred to as Ittila'at, or Iranian intelligence, which he blamed for the rocket and mortar attacks on the Green Zone.
"We know who they are, we have lists of names and evidence, and we are ready to turn them in," he said. "We will even attack them ourselves if necessary."
But, he cautioned, "If these random raids continue, we will resist."
Nadeem Majeed contributed to this report.
April 17, 2008 A strategy that built Sunni support hits a hurdle with Shiites as cleric, government resist compromise
By Liz Sly, Tribune correspondent
BAGHDAD—The U.S. military is hoping to duplicate the success of the Sunni Awakening movement by reaching out to moderate elements within Moqtada Sadr's Shiite militia in Sadr City, the scene of fierce fighting over the past 10 days between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite groups, some of which are believed to have ties to Iran.
But the effort is being stymied by Sadr's staunch refusal to negotiate with the U.S. and by the uncompromising stance of the Iraqi government, which has in the past served as a mediator between the U.S. and the Sadrist movement but is now adopting a tough stand against the cleric's Mahdi Army militia.
In the past 10 days of fighting, U.S. and Iraqi forces have largely secured a strip of territory in the southeastern portion of Sadr City that was being used to launch rockets into the fortified Green Zone, U.S. officials say.
Altogether, 596 rockets and mortars rained down on Baghdad during March 23 to April 12, 100 of them hitting the Green Zone.
Having now substantially reduced the rocket threat, the U.S. military has no plans to advance any farther into the sprawling Shiite enclave in northeastern Baghdad, which has remained under the control of the Mahdi Army since the U.S. failed to quell two uprisings there in 2004, said Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the U.S. commander in Baghdad.
Instead, Hammond said, the goal now is to implement a "Sons of Iraq program" similar to the Awakening movement that saw Iraq's Sunnis turn against Al Qaeda in Iraq, contributing to the sharp fall in violence witnessed before the recent outbreak of fighting with Shiite militias.
Militias on payroll
The Pentagon has given the title Sons of Iraq to the estimated 90,000 armed Sunni militiamen who are being paid by the U.S. to stand against Al Qaeda in Sunni areas.
A similar movement in Sadr City might work to drive a wedge between the more moderate members of the Mahdi Army, who owe their allegiance to Sadr and are abiding by the cease-fire he announced last August, and the so-called Special Groups, which the U.S. military blames for the attacks emanating from Sadr City, Hammond said.
"I am actively seeking engagement with appropriate representatives as an outreach," he said at a briefing for reporters in Baghdad this week. "These criminals who have chosen to go against the law of the land will find that the law-abiding citizens are turning against them."
But sharp differences have emerged between the U.S. military's non-confrontational approach toward the Sadrists and the Iraqi government's tough position.
U.S. officials have been careful in recent weeks to draw a distinction between the Mahdi Army and those who have taken up arms since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched his offensive against militias in Basra late last month.
The U.S. military calls the latter Special Groups and says they are armed, funded and trained by Iran. In his testimony to Congress last week, Gen. David Petraeus described the Special Groups as potentially "the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq."
Later that week he described the Sadrists as "a respected movement, a nationalist movement, and one that is known for having reached out over the years to the poor and downtrodden," a stark contrast to the harsh rhetoric used against Sadr in 2004, when the U.S. military pursued him as "an outlaw."
The Iraqi government, however, appears intent on forcing the entire Mahdi Army to disband. Al-Maliki, who owes his election as prime minister to the Sadrist bloc in parliament, has issued an ultimatum ordering the militia to give up its weapons or face a ban on participating in next October's provincial elections, in which the Sadrists hope to do well.
No 'parallel state'
Al-Maliki does not want to negotiate any solution that allows the Mahdi Army to continue to exist as a parallel force to the Iraqi government, said Sadiq al-Rikabi, an adviser to the prime minister.
"It is dangerous," he said, acknowledging the risk of an all-out war. "But sometimes we have only one option. We hope we can resolve the problem peacefully. We do not like to see our people dead on the streets. But we also want to see an end to this parallel state."
Anxious to avoid a confrontation that might trigger an all-out revolt by the Mahdi Army, the U.S. is advising caution. "There has to be a very, very sensitive approach as this goes forward, to make sure that folks don't feel like they're backed into a corner from which there's no alternative," Petraeus told journalists last week.
Sadrist officials have rejected the call to disarm, but they also complain that the government won't respond to their appeals for negotiations.
Negotiations with the Americans are out of the question, said Sadrist spokesman Liwa Smeism. "We don't see any need for an Awakening-type arrangement with the U.S. because we are already awake," he said. "We are already capable of providing security in our areas."
But the U.S. military has conducted back-channel negotiations with Sadrists in the past, and a Mahdi Army commander contacted by telephone in Sadr City suggested at least some members would be ready to turn against the Special Groups.
The commander, who gave his name as Abu Hussein, drew a distinction between the Mahdi Army, which he says is armed only with Kalashnikovs, and groups he referred to as Ittila'at, or Iranian intelligence, which he blamed for the rocket and mortar attacks on the Green Zone.
"We know who they are, we have lists of names and evidence, and we are ready to turn them in," he said. "We will even attack them ourselves if necessary."
But, he cautioned, "If these random raids continue, we will resist."
Nadeem Majeed contributed to this report.