Word: mahdy
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...Although there was little evidence of the identity of the shooters at the scene of the shooting, Americans who know the area had little doubt over who was responsible. Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, is increasingly active in Washash, which some U.S. troops now call Little Sadr City. Sutton believes they are working to make Washash a Mahdi Army stronghold west of the Tigris. Until now, the militia's base in the capital has been Sadr City on the east bank of the river, a sprawling slum that houses some 2.5 million Shi'ites. The Mahdi Army's expansion...
...patrol. They may linger to fire a few more shots at U.S. troops arriving in the big green Stryker vehicles, but then they usually vanish. Like the killers who brought down the U.S. informant, the gunmen are seldom identified. But U.S. troops patrolling Washash assume they are Mahdi Army fighters operating with approval from higher-ups in the organization...
...Mahdi Army and U.S. forces have clashed openly several times in the past three years, fighting sometimes for days in battles that end inconclusively with uneasy truces. Today, senior officials on both sides insist they hope to avoid another round of bloodletting. And yet the mounting violence in the capital looks set to draw them into a new confrontation...
...cordon around the area did not prevent a terror attack on Monday morning that killed at least 26 Shi'ite day laborers and wounding at least 60 people will only escalate the tension. One reason Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has castigated the U.S. for recent raids against the Mahdi Army is the fact that in Shi'ite communities, sectarian militias are often seen as a necessary level of self-defense against insurgent terror. Monday's bombing will be seen by many in Sadr City as a reminder of why they need the Mahdi Army...
...identify the "sheiks"--older men, heads of important families that had lived there a long time and could be tapped for local knowledge and advice. Their first piece of advice: Stay away from the local police. The police in the neighborhood were known to be members of the Mahdi Army, the Shi'ite militia often blamed for the kidnapping and murder of Sunnis in Baghdad. "One of the sheiks--and he was a Shi'ite--said the police may themselves have been involved in taking Waddah," Haseeba says. "And even if they weren't, they would not help a Sunni...