The US got drawn into the fighting on Friday March 28th. US planes bombed alleged Mehdi Army positions both in Basra and in Baghdad. Despite the US intervention, government troops were unable to pierce Mehdi Army defenses or over-run their positions. The police force in Basra suffered numerous mutinies and instances of insubordination, with policemen refusing to fire on the Mehdi Army.
On Sunday, March 30th, Sadr called on followers to cease offensive operations.
Reportedly, a parliamentary delegation from Maliki's political party defied him by going off to the holy seminary city of Qom in Iran and negotiating directly with Sadr and the leader of the Quds Brigades of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Brig. Gen. Qasim Sulaymani.
Iran Brokers Call for Ceasefire Bush reduced to Irrelevancy
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Sadr orders fighters to stand down
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The sieges of Basra and Sadr City: another US war crime in Iraq
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Police Mutiny, Refuse to attack Sadrists; Clashes continue in Basra
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A Family In Baghdad: Five years after occupation of Iraq
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Demonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki
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Iraqi government offensive in Basra threatens to trigger Shiite uprising
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Bombers attack Basra oil pipeline
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Rockets hit Baghdad Green Zone
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Iraq implodes as Shia fights Shia
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Dozens Dead in Basra Clashes; Mahdi Army Occupies Kut
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Iraqi regime launches assault on Basra
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Sadrists clash with Iraqi, US forces in Basra
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Sadrists' Civil Disobedience Campaign
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Sadrists Threaten General Strike
Past Indybay Coverage Of Iraqi Kurdistan: Tensions Rise Between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey | Kurds Call For Independence From Iraq The United Nations has called for immediate action to assist about two million Iraqi children affected by poor nutrition, disease and disrupted education. UNICEF, the UN's childrens' fund, said young Iraqis were getting caught up in violence, with hundreds killed or injured. An average of 25,000 children a month have fled violence or intimidation this year, with their families seeking shelter across Iraq. The widely reported drop in violence coinciding with the US "surge" has been to some extent a result of the US arming of groups openly hostile to both the Iraqi central government and the US occupation. The World Socialist Website reports:
On Tuesday, August 14th, a bridge linking Baghdad to northern Iraq collapsed when a bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a central section. Over ten people were killed as their cars plummeted into the water. Also on Tuesday,"more than 50 gunmen dressed in Iraqi security forces uniforms and using 17 official vehicles broke into an Oil Ministry compound in eastern Baghdad Tuesday and abducted a senior deputy of the oil minister, and four other officials".
On August 11th, a roadside bomb killed the governor and police chief of the southern Iraqi province of Qadisiya.
US troops levels are currently ramped up as part of a "surge" that the US had advertised as a way to reduce violence and help bring about political stability. The US military has announced a new offensive against what it claims to be “Iranian-supported extremist elements” within Iraq’s Shiite population and the White House has leaked reports that it plans to classify a branch of the Iranian military as a terrorist group. Iraqi's ruling SCIRI party has a militia called the Badr Brigade that was trained and supplied by Iran before the fall of Saddam , but it is more likely the US is referring to the Sadrist movement, which was fully Iraqi in origin.
Day 1567 in Iraq | Thousands of Sadrists Protest Arrests | Iraqi Politics in Tatters, One Month Before Report | Four US Troops Killed PKK Threatens Iraq, Turkey | Iraqi women: Prostituting ourselves to feed our children | Four British soldiers killed in Basra | Why Soldiers aren't Terrorists: Escalation with Iran ]]>Previous Indybay Coverage Of Kurdistan and Kirkuk:
Previous Indybay Coverage of Moqtada Sadr:
2007: Al-Sadr: Baghdad Security Plan Is Doomed | Mystery of Muqtada al-Sadr's Disappearance | Freed Sadr aide meets Iraq's PM | Al-Sadr ends parliamentary boycott | Sadr: The man who now holds Iraq's future in his hands | Muqtada al-Sadr and the Sunnis
2006: "Long Live Sadr" at Saddam Hanging | Al-Sadr set to rejoin government | US reort says Mahdi Army biggest threat to Iraqi security | US seeks Shiite collaboration in attack on Moqtada al-Sadr | Iraq's Sadr bloc in Bush protest | Muqtada Calls on al-Maliki to Boycott Washington over Israeli Assault on Lebanon | Muqtada Emerging as Kingmaker
2005: Iraqi Resistance Spreads South Into Shia Areas | Iraqis Meet To Discuss Ways To End Occupation | Tens Of Thousands Take To The Streets Of Baghdad To Denounce US Occupation
2004: Najaf Siege Comes To An End | Sadr's Uprising Re-Ignites | Polls show widespread support for Sadr as fighting ends in Karbala and Najaf | Battles in Najaf and Karbala Could Spark A Shi'ite Civil War | Unrest In Iraq Spreads As Bloodbath Looms In Najaf and Fallujah | Iraqi Intifada: Shia and Sunni Unite | Iraq Profile: Moqtada al-Sadr | US shuts down anti-occupation Iraqi newspaper
2003: Letter from Baghdad | The Rise of an Anti-American Army in Iraq | 200,000 Iraqis on the streets: "Iraq for the Iraqis" | Robert Fisk: For the people on the streets, this is not liberation but a new colonial oppression | Iraqis Chant No Bush, No Saddam, Yes Islam | Robert Fisk on Baghdad Uprising ]]>
With real reporting close to impossible in the country and morgue statistics unreliable, it is unclear if violence has increased or decreased in recent weeks. As US and Iraq officials praise the surge and claim a decrease in violence in Baghdad, frequent car bombs and mortar attacks make it hard for them to deny that the situation is still very bad. The UK Independent reports that "while US and Iraqi troops have flooded the Baghdad streets and a heavily armored American column was sent north to adjacent Diyala province, attacks on American and Iraqi forces have been surprisingly robust." On March 22nd, a press conference given by the UN secretary general and the Iraqi prime minister was interrupted when a rocket landed yards from the site inside Baghdad's Green Zone. On March 17th, three trucks carrying chlorine gas exploded in western Iraq, killing at least two police officers and leaving 350 civilians needing treatment. On March 15th, gunmen seriously wounded the mayor of the Sadr City just hours after a US military press conference praising the mayor for cooperating with US raids.
While Kurdish regions of Iraq have faced less violence than the rest of the country, a conflict over the status of Kirkuk has resulted in many deaths. In December, there will be a referendum when the 1.8 million people of Kirkuk province will vote on joinning the autonomous Kurdish region. Kirkuk was a mainly non-Kurdish city at the time of the US invasion but has faced attempts at ethnic cleansing by Kurdish militias who hope for the city to be the future capital of a Kurdish state. On March 19th, seven bombs detonating in the space of 35 minutes hit Arab and Turkoman districts of the city, killing 12 people and injuring 39. Millions of Iraqis have fled abroad to avoid the violence in Iraq. Syria says it is home to 1.2m Iraqi refugees, with up to 800,000 in Jordan. Many of Iraq's medical staff have fled the country just in the last few months due to the violence and drugs and equipment are almost non-existent. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says "there has been an abject denial of the impact, the humanitarian impact, of the war, the huge displacement within Iraq of up to 1.9 million people who are homeless because of the war, and those people who are homeless and never got back to the homes after Saddam Hussein was overthrown." A poll of Iraqis commission by USA Today and several other news organizations has revealed that: "In all, 83% of Shiites and 97% of Sunni Arabs oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq; 75% of Kurds support them. By more than 3 to 1, Iraqis say the presence of U.S. forces is making the security situation worse." A Iraqi psychiatrist interviewed by Islam Online asserts that "Iraqis are being traumatized every day ... No one knows what will result from living through this continuous trauma on a daily basis." He warned that the psychological trauma of the war may echo through Iraqi society for years to come. The regrets of the man who brought down Saddam | Iraqis 'pessimistic' about future | Shiites protest Baghdad crackdown | Iraq: A country drenched in blood | Iraq Friday Sermons on 'Surge' | Security struggle in Iraq's south | 16,000 Detainees in Coalition Hands; Iraqi Shiites attempt to Regroup | The US invasion has caused nearly three-quarter million Iraqi deaths | Multiple blasts strike Kirkuk | Gates: Surge is to Buy Time for Reconciliation; Al-Maliki Cabinet Shuffle Postponed | Iraq war escalation to last into next year ]]>
While the US is demonizing Iran for supporting the Iraqi resistance, the US is arming members of the very militias that are accused of having Iranian influence. The current Iraqi government is closely tied to the Badr Brigades which is the armed wing of the SCIRI political party which is lead by Abdul al-Aziz al-Hakim. The party that gained the most votes in both the 2004 and 2005 Iraqi elections was the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which is dominated by SCIRI. Hakim lead the UIA in 2005 and was instrumental in the choice of Maliki to lead Iraq in 2006. Hakim even meet with Bush at the White House in December 2006 to help plan Bush's current Iraq strategy. Hakim's Badr Brigades are likely the main Shiite militia in the Iraqi Civil War but one rarely reads about this in the mainstream media since unlike Sadr's Mahdi Army, the Badr Brigades form the primary Shia component of the US backed Iraqi Army (the police force contains many members of both the Badr Brigades and the Mahdi Army). While Sadr's militia may receive some Iranian help, members of Sadr's family were Shia nationalist leaders in Iraq as far back as the early 1900s. The Badr Brigades, on the other hand, were founded in Iran and trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Iranian influence in Iraq may scare US policy makers but ultimately Iran and the US are arming the same groups.
Iraqi Army division deepens discord
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al-Hakim in Tehran seeks Regional Cooperation
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Sunnis Accuse Iraqi Military of Kidnappings and Slayings
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Wikipedia: Badr Organization and Post invasion Iraq
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Pre-2003 Profile Of SCIRI
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Sunnis Accuse Iraqi Military of Kidnappings and Slayings
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Iranian Shadow Falls Over Baghdad
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Badr vs. Sadr
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Will Iran Enter the Iraq War?
Raed Jarrar writes:
The pro-Iranian parties in the Iraqi government, like SCIRI and Dawa, are working to create a Shi'a state in the south of Iraq. Al-Qaida wants to create a Sunni state in the middle, and the U.S., supported by some allies in the region, wants to cut Iraq apart into small fragments and run away. But the vast majority of Iraqi Sunni and Shi'a groups and leaders are working, without a foreign agenda, to protect their country's unity.
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