Word: babikir
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Babikir was also careful not to link the targets of the raid directly to Moqtada Sadr or his militia, saying violence attributed to the militia was actually the work of renegades...
...Those are the dangerous people," he said, "because they don't take orders from the leadership of the Mehdi Army." By contrast, he stressed, "the majority of [politicians affiliated with militias] are actually involved in the parliament; they have a great role to play in the parliament," Babikir said. "And they're all agreed on the national unity [plan]. And all their efforts are out there trying to calm the situation...
...American officers and diplomats - to say nothing of the Iraqi government - join Babikir in his refusal to name an enemy or tie "insurgents and death squads" to larger political movements. Col. Michael Shields' Stryker Brigade, which spent a year in Mosul, had its mission extended by four months and is now working with the Iraqi Army to cordon off and search west Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods. "We're not targeting organizations," said Col. Michael Shields. "We're targeting the threats to the security of the people...
...Babikir emphatically declared that no one with sectarian loyalties had a place in the Iraqi armed forces. Yet beyond the high walls and earthen barriers that make Iraqi officers and politicians prisoners in their own country, many militiamen operate - sometimes openly - within the Iraqi security forces. And in neighborhoods like Sadr City militias, and not the government, command the support of the people...
...Babikir, like some other American and Iraqi officials, alludes to these complexities even if political realities constrain what he can say - and what he can do. He cited efforts to bring the Mahdi Army under control through the political process, and said he did not anticipate a military push into Sadr City. "We don't want to create more problems," he said. "It's a very delicate situation." Spoken like a true politician, albeit one with a military background, who knows that the wrong choice of words can cause as much damage as a poorly executed battle plan...