Word: mahdi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...dense and impoverished neighborhood, which houses an estimated 3 million people was easily Iraq's most devastated locale during the seven weeks of fighting that wracked the area as U.S.-backed government forces confronted the Mahdi Army militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. According to Nasser Hashem al-Saadi, a member of parliament aligned with al-Sadr, some 25,000 residents fled the area during that time...
...Wednesday wire services reported clashes in Nasiriyah, a southern Iraqi city known for power struggles between the Mahdi Army and militias tied to Maliki's party. And in the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City in east Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have struggled to restore order over the past month, the bombing of a city council building Tuesday reinforced the impression of just how volatile the area still is. The blast left 10 people dead, three of whom were U.S. government employees...
...very fragile," said Talal Ahmed Said, a political writer in Baghdad. "It's possible for any explosion to happen at any time." He thinks the Amara campaign is a sham. "They announced [Amara] a week before [it happened], so all members of the [radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's] Mahdi Army left. After a month they could come back, and likewise in Mosul and Basra...
...construction worker in Sadr City says his life has changed little, despite the influx of Iraqi troops earlier this month. "It's the same situation as before. The Mahdi Army seized anyone who worked with the Americans or the state. Now the Iraqi army arrests innocents too," the man, who goes by Abu Hussein, told TIME. "The government promised it would rebuild. But we get nothing... They are not making things easier...
...Rahman was willing to endure threats and harassment from street thugs, the fate of his career, he says, was decided by Sadrists and other radical Shi'ite elements in the police chain of command. The trouble began, Rahman recalls, when his superiors urged him to lighten up on the Mahdi Army, and balance arrests of of Shi'ites by collaring more Sunnis. When he refused to arrest by quota, he says, the police department began investigating claims by Shi'ite detainees that he had abused and stolen from suspects. "None of this is true," he says, "They say anything they...