Word: baghdad
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...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, but the cleric ordered his fighters to stand down in the Amara operation, allowing it to proceed peacefully. "The previous operation that happened in Basra really hurt the fighters," Harbia says. "Now they prefer to flee rather than to resist...
Representatives of the Sadrist movement in Baghdad have 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...
...results of that hot pursuit will help determine whether al-Maliki's military and police forces are capable of reinforcing the central government's tenuous hold on the oil-rich regions south of Baghdad - even as the Prime Minister discusses the possibility of a timetable for American troop withdrawal as part of a new security agreement with the U.S. More immediately (and concretely), the efficacy of Iraqi government forces is critical to the outcome of provincial elections in October...
...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...