Word: amara
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Amara, the capital of Iraq's unruly Maysan province - long a smuggling hub for weapons and drugs on Iraq's border with Iran - Iraqi forces are waging a crackdown on the Mahdi Army, led by popular radical Shi'ite cleric and opposition leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched the campaign last month under the banner of "imposing the law" and wresting control away from militias operating "outside the law." Similar campaigns in Basra, the chaotic port 100 miles away, and Sadr City, the huge Baghdad slum, initially met fierce resistance from al-Sadr's followers...
...complained that their members are being targeted in the operation for political reasons. But the government says its arrests are unbiased and are warranted by criminal activity. The extent to which either claim is accurate is difficult to determine. But regardless of the reason, one thing is clear among Amara's newly fortified police force: the Mahdi Army is being hunted...
...Mahdi Army safe house, which - as a member of Harbia's forces informed him through the window - had just been raided. Another officer said the Mahdi Army even occupied one of the old police buildings until they were pushed out last month. "There are criminals and killers [in Amara] and no one arrested them before. But with this operation, we have court permission to do so," Harbia said as he waved to bystanders from the car window...
...imposing figure with a mustache to match, Harbia has been the police commander of Maysan province for just 20 days. Harbia, who was handpicked by the Prime Minister to head the police side of the Amara operation, says the last commander "was transferred to the Interior Ministry in Baghdad because his administration was too weak...
Harbia isn't the only new face in Amara's forces. Since the initiative began, the city's forces have seen some reshuffling, he says, and Interior Ministry officials from Baghdad have been positioned in every major department. The campaign has also seen the arrests of 134 people and several local officials, most notably the city's acting deputy governor, Rafea Abdul Jabbar, an al-Sadr supporter, and at least 20 police, he says. "There was an order from the court to arrest [Jabbar] because he was cooperating with the fighters," he adds. Those Mahdi Army members who have avoided...