Word: mahdi
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...taken a stunning blow. We are still recovering from the last week of April, when the Abu Ghraib photos were revealed and the U.S. military chose not to fight the Islamic radicals in Fallujah (a retreat compounded by last week's decision not to pursue Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army). Taken together, those events represent a coherent pattern of behavior--that of a schoolyard bully, who tortures the weak and runs away from the strong. This is, sadly, the way Abu Ghraib and Fallujah are perceived by our enemies. I was traveling through the Middle East as some...
...demagogic appeals but makes his purpose plain just the same. He takes a swipe at the Shi'ite hierarchy, which has withheld its support for his uprising. "When I die," he says, "don't let my death stop the resistance. Continue with the struggle and never disband the Mahdi Army...
...also packed to overflowing. Virtually every male in the city carries a combat weapon, even vendors who sell food and trinkets outside the mosque walls. As prayers draw to an end, the gunfire and occasional loud explosion seem to be getting closer. As soon as they finish, the Mahdi militia looses a salvo of Katyusha rockets at the U.S. base less than a mile away...
...Sadr has experienced a remarkable shift in fortune. A couple of months ago, he was a marginal nuisance. But since launching its uprising in April, his militia has turned southern Iraq into a grinding standoff for the overwhelmingly superior coalition forces. U.S. officials say the Mahdi Army has perhaps 5,000 fighters nationwide, but last Friday there were almost that many in Kufa and nearby Najaf, 6 miles away...
...Mahdi Army's tactics are simple but effective. Hajji Ali, 38, is a former history teacher from Sadr City, al-Sadr's stronghold in Baghdad. He commands a small group of fighters in Najaf and explains how they operate. "I came with 10 men, and the commanders here gave me a part of the city to defend," he says. "When the Americans advance, we harass and retreat, fire from new positions and then retreat again. If the attacking force is too big, we call for support." In the past month, three in his unit have been killed and five injured...