Newsweek: Iraqi intel officer claims various battalions are 60 to 70% infiltrated by Mahdi Army

[sabra]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17888448/site/newsweek/page/2/

<snip>

The troops he works with belong to the 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army division. They're rated "combat ready," among the best in the country. "I know if we pulled out now, they could carry on," says the brigade commander's U.S. adviser, Lt. Col. Edward Taylor. The Iraqi brigade maintains 50 checkpoints, most of them at the edge of Adhamiya, to keep Shiite death squads out and Sunni insurgents in. At night they go on joint patrols with the Americans to round up suspected insurgents. Iraqis take the lead knocking on doors now, especially when entering sensitive places like local mosques. As a result of their efforts, Adhamiya's Brigade Internment Facility is filled to overflowing, like practically every other jail in Baghdad.

Not everyone agrees that the brigade deserves such high marks. One high-ranking intelligence officer with the 2/6, a Sunni speaking anonymously because he's not authorized to talk to the press, claims that three of the brigade's four battalions are 60 to 70 percent infiltrated by Mahdi Army militiamen. "Our brigade took 270 prisoners out of Adhamiya so far," he adds. "And how many do you think there was any proof ? Maybe 20, 25. The others were picked up because they were Sunnis. So how many new enemies have we made so far?" Lt. Col. Taylor says he's heard the militia allegations, but he thinks they're overblown. A lot of Iraqi soldiers may sympathize with the Mahdi Army, he says, but that doesn't make them members.

So which side of the civil war are we on?

[Jacobin]

1. The U.S. generals Bush found to continue this idiocy

are fools.

[aquart]

2. Oh, let's keep giving them guns, shall we?

[acmavm]

3. Remember back to the day when certain individuals not known

for telling the truth assured us that it would never be acceptable for Iraq to break up according to sectarian lines. In fact, if I recall correctly, I think we were assured that the sectarian differences that WE were talking about were all bullshit. Notice all the talk about a 'theocracy' being unacceptable has fallen by the wayside, hasn't it?

[SoCalDem]

4. al Sadr, is no dummy..

He made himself scarce, and let his "troops" infiltrate the army & police.. When he decides to "surge" back into the limelight, everything will be in place.

This is what our military fails to realize. Other people P L A N ..

We just load everyone up, and go..and then try to wing it as we go along..

[kenny blankenship]

5. What did ppl think--these Mahdi Army guys wouldn't all have day jobs????