---
Iraq is awash in killings, and many are blamed on the Mahdi militia, the largest Shiite group that began under the command of a glowering Shiite cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. An indignant Mr. Sadr called it up to fight against the American military twice in 2004. It was bloodied, but survived. Since then the Mahdi Army, and a growing criminal breakaway element, have grown into one of the government’s biggest problems and a major obstacle to the success of the American enterprise here.
Despite its new rogue fringe, Iraqi Shiites see the Mahdi militia as the most effective protector against the hostile Sunni groups that have slaughtered Shiites and driven them from their homes. Shiites say that as long as the government cannot keep them safe, they cannot support disarming the militia.
---
“Right now I support the presence of the Mahdi Army,” said a senior judge on Iraq’s criminal court. “I know this is unacceptable in law, in politics, in society, but in this unusual time we are living in, this is the reality.”
It is a broadly held view among Shiites that the American military has unfairly focused on Shiite militias, such as the Mahdi Army, and largely forgotten the Sunni militias that they say invented the sectarian war. Groups like the Omar Brigade, formed to kill Shiites, were executing Shiites at fake checkpoints as early as 2004. The killing, including a stream of brutal suicide bombings, went unchecked by the government, prompting a Shiite response.
NYT
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
