Word: iraqi
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...people throng the streets in the evening to socialize, no longer scared of the militias that previously dominated the city. The weapons trade also seems to have declined, with a sharp drop in attacks since 2007 as evidence. On the long, deserted road from Basra to Al-Faw, an Iraqi soldier points out several muddy port towns, consisting of low concrete houses. "It is difficult for them. Iraqi families have four or five children," he says. "Before the operation, most of them were [arms] smugglers. Now I do not know how they get their daily bread...
...illegal market for drugs and gasoline may yet provide a lucrative alternative for smugglers, and it remains largely overlooked as security forces focus their limited resources on illicit weapons. In the more rural region of Maysan province, where a wide stretch of marshland border creates a difficult environment for Iraqi troops to operate, some officials say drug trafficking is on the rise. "Until now, the border forces do not have the capability to control the border," says police commander General Saad Ali Harbia in Maysan's capital, Amara. "A huge amount of drugs heading for the Gulf countries pass through...
Despite the regular military checkpoints along the road from Basra to Al-Faw, Iraqi military commanders in Basra say the stretch of border at Iraq's southeastern tip is still the most problematic, especially for the more benign, low-profit trade in illegal gasoline. At Al-Faw's small army base, nearly 30 butane gas canisters sit in the back of a truck, which the soldiers say was confiscated that morning. "They filled [the canisters] with diesel fuel for cars and they were taking it to fishermen to sell on the black market," says Al-Faw military commander Colonel Kareem...
...formal extent of Iran's role remains murky. Some Iraqi commanders are even wary of naming Iran as a party in the smuggling, though they will point to Basra and Maysan as problem areas. "Basra province is a big province and its borders are open, not just to Iran, but to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," says one soldier. "All three countries are supplying the militias with weapons...
Other officers are more suggestive. Captain Saad, a military spokesman in Basra, says there was no cooperation between Iraqi and Iranian authorities with regard to border control. On the contrary, he says, "We received a letter one month ago from the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they condemned an incident where Iraqi forces shot at some smugglers in the Shatt al-Arab...