Splintered: "ARMED militias are stalking the streets of Iraq’s cities and towns"

[ProSense]

Splintered

In Search of the Fixers

MASKED A militiaman in Baghdad carries a rocket launcher and a Koran during a parade by the Mahdi Army, a militia that is reported to be splintering, as other armed gangs proliferate.

By JAMES GLANZ
Published: November 26, 2006

BAGHDAD

ARMED militias are stalking the streets of Iraq’s cities and towns, but that only begins to describe the problem that the United States faces here. As the violence on those streets increases, there seem to be more and more militias or armed gangs — smaller and more loosely controlled fragments of armed groups — than ever before, and in many ways that is the most serious part of the picture. It would be far easier for the United States if these groups, no matter how antagonistic they are to the Americans, had stuck together; then, at least, they could negotiate, make binding agreements and help knit together a nation.

In America, generals, congressmen and commentators across the political spectrum are embroiled in a debate over troop levels and exit timetables. But if the United States seeks to establish stability so its troops can leave, it must answer the question: whom does it talk to?

Which Sunni and Shiite militias, armed tribal groups and even criminal gangs need to be fought? Which can be bargained with? Which are potential allies as the United States seeks to break the increasingly chaotic cycles of attack, revenge and rivalry for turf and spoils?

Last week, it was Sunni militiamen who staged deadly attacks on the Shiite-led Health Ministry and Sadr City, presumably in retaliation for a mass kidnapping from the Sunni-dominated Higher Education Ministry the week before. Those kidnappings, in turn, were carried out by men in official uniforms who were thought to be Shiite militiamen who had infiltrated the army and police force. But, as always, it was unclear which militia was responsible, or whether the kidnappers were from a breakaway group.

The largest Shiite militia, led by Moktada al-Sadr and called the Mahdi Army, has been widely reported to be splintering. But there is also a growing profusion of other groups: in addition to longstanding rival Shiite militias like the Iranian-trained Badr Organization and the Fadhila militia, both of which are powerful in the south, there are Sunni fighters attached to tribal leaders, ex-Baathists or Al Qaeda cells; Iraqi private security contractors; quasi-government militias originally assembled to guard oil pipelines and power lines; criminal gangs; and neighborhood watch groups.

For the Americans, the disintegration of order has complicated any effort to deal with the armed groups, said Joost Hiltermann, Middle East project director of the International Crisis Group, an organization of experts on dealing with conflicts that is formulating its own last-ditch plan to salvage peace in Iraq. “Now you have purveyors of violence that are completely independent of everyone else,” Mr. Hiltermann said.

With one or two exceptions, he added, the politicians who nominally head some of the larger militias that are now splintering “don’t control anything.”

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Posted on Sat, Nov. 25, 2006

Al-Sadr loyalists take over Iraqi television station

By Hannah Allam and Mohamed al Dulaimy
McClatchy Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Followers of the militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took over state-run television Saturday to denounce the Iraqi government, label Sunnis "terrorists" and issue what appeared to many viewers as a call to arms.

The two-hour broadcast from a community gathering in the heart of the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City included three members of al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, who took questions from outraged residents demanding revenge for a series of car bombings that killed some 200 people Thursday.

With Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki relegated to the sidelines, brazen Sunni-Shiite attacks continue unchecked despite a 24-hour curfew over Baghdad. Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia now controls wide swaths of the capital, his politicians are the backbone of the Cabinet, and his followers deeply entrenched in the Iraqi security forces. Sectarian violence has spun so rapidly out of control since the Sadr City blasts, however, that it's not clear whether even al-Sadr has the authority - or the will - to stop the cycle of bloodshed.

"This is live and, God willing, everyone will hear me: We are not interested in sidewalks, water services or anything else. We want safety," an unidentified Sadr City resident said as the televised crowd cheered. "We want the officials. They say there is no sectarian war. No, it is sectarian war, and that's the truth."

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Mortars hit U.S. military post in Baghdad, police say

Posted 11/26/2006 8:51 AM ET

The Associated Press

Suspected Sunni-Arab insurgents hit a U.S. military post in eastern Baghdad with two mortar rounds Sunday, setting it on fire, police and witnesses said.

A large cloud of black smoke could be seen rising above the Baladiyat area of the capital area at about 3 p.m., but the U.S. military said it could not immediately confirm that its forces were the target of such an attack.

Before the U.S.-led war, Saddam Hussein's General Security department had operated in a building in the area which was later converted into the U.S. military post.

Police Capt. Mohammed Abdul-Ghani said it was not known if any casualties had resulted from the attack because the post was closed to Iraqi security forces. Residents in the neighborhood confirmed the post was hit, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern for their own security.

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[ProSense]

1. Iran says will help U.S. if it quits Iraq

Iran says will help U.S. if it quits Iraq

35 minutes ago

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran was ready to help the United States and Britain in Iraq but only if they pledged to change their attitude and withdraw their troops.

The remark comes amid growing calls for Washington to engage Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria, to help prevent Iraq plunging into civil war.

A senior U.S. official said this month Washington was "in principle" ready to discuss Iraq with Iran but said the timing of such talks was unclear. Ahmadinejad has previously said he would talk but only if Washington changed its behavior.

"The Iranian nation is ready to help you get out of that swamp (in Iraq) on one condition ... you should pledge to correct your attitude," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech to a parade of the Basij religious militia.

"Go back and take your forces to behind your borders and serve your own nations," he added.

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[shance]

2. Guess what Administration is creating and funding those armed militias?

As if you didn't know.

[ProSense]

3. Calls for calm as crowd stones Iraqi PM

Calls for calm as crowd stones Iraqi PM

By Mussab Al-Khairalla 45 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Angry fellow Shi'ites stoned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's motorcade in a Shi'ite stronghold of Baghdad on Sunday in a display of fury over a devastating car bomb that tore through their area.

Maliki was visiting the Sadr City slum to pay respects to some of the 202 victims of last week's devastating bombing.

"It's all your fault!" one man shouted as, in unprecedented scenes, a hostile crowd began to surge around the premier and then jeered as his armored convoy edged through the throng away from a mourning ceremony.

The area is a base for the Mehdi Army militia led by Maliki's fellow Shi'ite leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

Though the violence was limited, it was a dramatic demonstration of the popular passions Maliki and his national unity government are trying to calm following Thursday's multiple car bombs in Sadr City -- the worst since the U.S. invasion -- and later revenge attacks.

On Sunday, a car bomb killed at least 6 people and wounded more than 20 in a market just south of Baghdad, police said.

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