Word: mahdy
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...ahead. "I think Sadr picked Turkey to show himself in order to prove that he's against sectarianism... and to try and kill the rumor that he is an Iranian toy," says Tahseen al-Shekhli, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, which gained the upper hand over Sadr's Mahdi Army forces in heavy fighting last year. Sadr's followers, for their part, are notably reticent on the subject. Several figures prominent in Sadr's political ranks refused to discuss the topic when contacted by TIME. That has left some in Iraq revisiting an old question that...
...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...
...near term, the Mahdi Army does not look poised to reassert itself in Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq, despite what looks to be a rise in sectarian attacks directed against Shi'ites. But the political and security dynamics dampening a Mahdi Army comeback today could change drastically in the coming months as U.S. forces fade from the streets of major cities across Iraq as part of a U.S.-Iraqi agreement calling for American troops to be off the streets of urban areas by June. U.S. military officials have warned that sectarian violence is likely to rise as the drawdown goes...
...addition to increased security in Baghdad, the political environment has changed in ways that may make a resurgent Mahdi Army less welcome than before to average Iraqis. During the worst of the sectarian violence, much of the Sunni community held a completely rejectionist stance toward the Iraqi government and U.S. forces. In the minds of many Iraqis and militiamen and their passive supporters, that left virtually all Sunni communities complicit in insurgent violence and therefore fair game for bloody reprisal attacks like the bombings Thursday and Friday. But today, many key Sunni factions work with the government and U.S. forces...