Word: iraqi
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...bodies were found beneath a construction site in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Ur, just at the edge of Sadr City. The victims were blindfolded with tape across their mouths and may have been buried alive, according to Iraqi authorities who uncovered the grave in November. The corpses had lain there since at least...
...recently uncovered mass graves cited in the newest U.N. human-rights report on Iraq. The five others were found in areas controlled by Sunni insurgents during the peak periods of violence in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, meaning the killers likely had no connection to the Iraqi government. But the grave in Ur was almost certainly the work of killers associated with the Shi'ite Mahdi Army militia, which was supported by elements of the Iraqi security forces. (See a multimedia presentation of emergency-room work amid the 2007 fighting...
...early 2008, of course, the Mahdi Army would break dramatically with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, engaging government forces in open warfare. Loyalists to Mahdi Army leader Muqtada al-Sadr (who once participated in al-Maliki's government) openly despise the Prime Minister, whose soldiers came out on top in the confrontation. (See pictures of Iraq amid the 2006-07 crisis by photographer Yuri Kozyrev...
...start, al-Maliki's original alliance with al-Sadr raises questions about the Prime Minister's scruples. Al-Maliki and the Iraqi policymakers close to him did not necessarily see a problem working with a murderous militia that held considerable sway in the Iraqi army and national police. In fact, al-Maliki, who is Shi'ite, appeared more inclined to accept Shi'ite militia support than U.S. military help...
Since then, Iraq has done little to encourage accountability for alleged human-rights abuses by Iraqi security forces working with Shi'ite militias at the height of the sectarian killings. General David Petraeus, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq, and former Baghdad Ambassador Ryan Crocker repeatedly quarreled with al-Maliki on the matter throughout 2008, pressing the Prime Minister to clear the way for the trial of at least one senior Ministry of Interior official accused of orchestrating prison abuses and murders. Al-Maliki resisted the U.S. pressure and largely seemed unconcerned about investigating a myriad of cases...