Word: iraqi
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...Until now, Shi'ite militiamen have evaded the punishing attention the U.S. and Iraqi forces have lavished on Sunni insurgents, and have maintained a very strong presence within the Iraqi police and army. The policy of waiting for the government to resolve the militia problem has passed from the realm of wishful thinking and into the realm of fantasy, and the U.S. military now appears more inclined to take strong action...
...Meanwhile the Mahdi Army has ramped up its attacks against American troops and the Iraqi security forces. According to the same U.S. military official, Mahdi Army cells with Iranian backing were responsible for 75% of U.S. and Coalition deaths last month. The Americans contend that the Mahdi Army, which sprang up in 2003 as a nationalist militia opposed to both the U.S. occupation and Iranian interference, has since become heavily influenced by Tehran...
...While al-Qaeda and its affiliates pose the greatest threat to Iraqi civilians, the U.S. military official says "the far more dangerous long-term threat comes from within the Shi'ite militias." He said the current trajectory risked creating an Iraq in which the "the government is not in control of the state." Iran sheltered most of the leadership of the current Iraqi government, and Shi'ite politicians maintain that relationship. So, some Iranian influence in Iraq is inevitable. But the presence of a Hizballah-style armed group, more powerful in some areas than the national government and receiving weapons...
...leaders on the world stage face as many grave crises as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. So perhaps it's no surprise that Maliki has maintained his stony public image amid Iraq's latest political calamity, a withdrawal from the government by the main Sunni faction, the Iraqi Accordance Front...
...Maliki appears resigned to reconciling with Tawafiq, striking a conciliatory tone in his most recent public statements while Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, held talks with the Prime Minister and Sunni leaders aimed at finding compromises that could allow the old government to reform...