Word: mahdy
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...tours of duty in Iraq have coincided with some of the worst violence the country has experienced since the fall of Saddam Hussein. As commander of the 1st Cavalry, Chiarelli experienced the first spasm of the Shi'ite revolt when, in the summer of 2004, Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army fought pitched battles against U.S. forces in Baghdad and Najaf. But the main vector of violence in Iraq was the Sunni insurgency, supported by foreign jihadis...
...leader has long maintained that the militias perform a valuable service, defending neighborhoods from attack by Sunni insurgents. In interviews with TIME, he has described the militias as akin to neighborhood watch committees. Bush may also find al-Hakim unwilling to listen to any complaints about the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr. Although the two Shi'ite clerics are rivals, they have a mutual interest in keeping the U.S. at arm's length. Al-Hakim knows that if he goes along with any American plan to crack down on al-Sadr's militia, his own Badr Organization will likely...
...crisis. Dramatic action was indicated. The President was anxious to go on the offensive after the Democratic election victories and before the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report. He was going to press al-Maliki to do something unpleasant-perhaps move against the most powerful Shi'ite militia, the Mahdi Army led by Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Maliki seemed to be resisting Bush's pressure. He snubbed the President, refusing to meet him in the evening...
...leader who wanted to be strong, but was having difficulty figuring out how to do so," Hadley wrote. The conventional assumption was that this was a purposeful White House leak, sending the message that Bush wanted al-Maliki to allow U.S. forces to move against the Mahdi Army, a step that al-Maliki has resisted so far-and with good reason, since al-Sadr has been al-Maliki's prime source of support in the Iraqi governing coalition. But if the leak of the Hadley memo was some sort of awkward Bush strategy, it failed. Al-Maliki refused...
...ruthlessness of Abu Deraa--and perhaps his growing fame on the Shi'ite street--has caused even al-Sadr to distance himself from his former protégé. Last month al-Sadr put Abu Deraa on a list of people no longer part of the Mahdi Army. U.S. officials began to describe Abu Deraa as a "rogue militia leader" and a "free agent" no longer in al-Sadr's control. But some of al-Sadr's associates continue to praise Abu Deraa. Falah Shansal, a member of parliament from the al-Sadr bloc, told TIME last week that Abu Deraa...