Word: militia
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...staffing of the security ministries is closely tied to the challenge of curbing the sectarian militias that Khalilzad has called "the infrastructure of civil war." Maliki's position, like that of Jaafari, is that the militias must be absorbed into the new security forces. That's an option that has critics worried, because if they keep their shape and leadership, then incorporating them simply gives militias official license to operate, in much the same the way that critics have charged that the Interior Ministry commandoes double as a Shi'ite militia...
...most of his life, Khadir honed the occupation he learned as a child: fighting in the Kurdish militia against Saddam Hussein's forces. He was jailed seven times since the age of 14 and saw a favorite uncle executed. Now, at 32, he is perfecting an entirely new skill that could change this region as much as have the wars in which he has fought: drilling for oil. Since late November, he has toiled about 9 m aboveground on the first derrick erected in Kurdistan in decades - by a Norwegian outfit using a Chinese rig, of all things. From...
...insisted that it resolve the issue both speedily and unanimously. That demand will likely translate into a compromise candidate, and Abdul-Mahdi doesn't necessarily fit that bill: not only has he come out publicly against Jaafari, but Jaafari's principal backer is radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose militia and political organization are at loggerheads with Abdul-Mahdi's SCIRI. In the end, the Shi'ites may be inclined to find a more neutral candidate not affiliated with either faction - a candidate who would, in point of fact, start out even weaker than Jaafari...
...Kalashnikov-wielding Iraqi sentry pops out the sunroof of a convoy of black Explorers speeding past us. He makes angry eye contact, shouts an order and waves us to the side of the road. It?s the kind of adrenaline-soaked exchange that is routine in downtown Baghdad, where militia, police and security details bristling with weapons slalom through traffic with impunity...
...Sunnis oppose Jaafari because he is perceived as unwilling to rein in the sectarian thuggery of the Shiite militias-both Sadr's Mehdi Army, and the SCIRI-affiliated Badr Brigade. The U.S. correctly perceived that bringing the Sunnis on board and quelling their insurgency requires clamping down on the Shi'ite militias, but it's not clear that Abdul-Mahdi would prove more likely to achieve this, particularly given his own party's connections to one of the primary offenders. Indeed, the Shi'ite parties, including SCIRI, point to the Sunni insurgency and the failure of the U.S. and Iraqi...