Word: mashhadani
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...weekend's spasm of street violence in Fadhil, a central Baghdad neighborhood once completely under al-Qaeda control, may be a harbinger of things to come. Iraqi forces clashed with members of the Sahwa movement in the neighborhood after they moved in to arrest its leader Adil al-Mashhadani. Fierce fighting ensued, leaving four dead. Mashhadani was detained on a litany of charges, including "improvised explosive device (IED) attacks that killed Iraqi security forces, leading an IED cell ... ties to al-Qaeda in Iraq, and collusion with the terrorist network Jaysh al-Islami," according to a Multi-National Force-Iraq...
Sheik Hamid, the Anbar Awakening member, has little doubt that Mashhadani was "double-dealing with terrorists." The sheik says he and many other Sahwa leaders have repeatedly cautioned the Interior Ministry about terrorist infiltration of the Sahwa, but their warnings have largely gone unanswered. As a result, Sheik Hamid is taking his own precautions. "We will move our platoons to face off against them. If the government doesn't take any action, we will be forced to," he says. "Let them come out and face us. We have fought them before...
...There were rowdy scenes in the legislature as lawmakers from anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc interrupted a discussion about the fate of non-U.S. troops in Iraq to demand al-Zaidi's immediate release. Noisy exchanges ensued, culminating with the mercurial speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, threatening to resign. "I can't work in such a situation!" he shouted, according to lawmakers who attended the session. It's not clear if al-Mashhadani, who is known for his outbursts, will follow through. But the Sadrists, in particular, are keen to exploit the massive public sympathy...
...coalition that includes parties that operate the death squads that kill scores of Sunnis each day. While he says illegal militias should be disbanded, he has vigorously resisted every U.S. operation against them. The Sunnis in Iraq's government are, if anything, even more extreme. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives and Iraq's highest-ranking Sunni, has been closely associated with Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group that has targeted Shi'ites and secular Iraqis. He has blamed Iraq's problems on the Jews and has said statues should be erected...
...militiamen are often allowed to roam unchecked. They are routinely accused of conducting "joint operations"--a euphemism for murderous rampages that police watch or even join. Sometimes police are accused of moonlighting as militiamen, using official vehicles and weapons. A three-car convoy belonging to Sunni M.P. Tayseer al-Mashhadani was stopped last month by 30 gunmen in a Shi'ite suburb. Al-Mashhadani and seven bodyguards were bundled into unmarked cars and driven away. An eighth bodyguard escaped and reported that the abductors had police-issue weapons. Al-Mashhadani hasn't been released. An even more audacious snatch came...