Word: militia
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...Sadr's dormant militia does decide to stir - should frustration over a lack of services, perceived discrimination or an American threat provoke them once more - the question remains of just how real the semblance of an Iraqi military grip on the city is. "The state is weak," says Abbas. "If Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr wanted to call on the Mahdi Army to fight again, this city would collapse in a single...
...Abbas hasn't been killing any fellow Iraqis lately - or even Americans, his group's primary target. In fact, the vast militia of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has been relatively well-behaved since al-Sadr called on his followers to stand down and allow Iraqi government forces to enter Sadr City peacefully in May. Some U.S. and Iraqi military commanders in Baghdad say al-Sadr's call for his men to remain peaceful in order to prevent "more bloodshed" served a tactical purpose, as he began to see a losing battle in the face of an empowered...
...Sadrists in parliament maintain their distance when speaking about the militia in public. "Of course the government is controlling Sadr City," says Sadrist MP Nasir al-Saadi. But when asked whether that means the Mahdi Army has been wiped out, he says, "The Army of the Imam [a name used interchangeably with Mahdi Army] is not only in Sadr City; it is in all of Iraq. And if [government officials] think they are few in numbers, they are dreaming...
...City. And in the heart of the slum, Mahdi Army fighters in yellow shirts operate checkpoints alongside Iraqi soldiers. "But it's not cooperation," laughs Mohanid, a Mahdi Army fighter. Most of the Iraqi soldiers have their faces covered to conceal their identities. At another intersection, a dozen young militia members attempt to direct a snarl of traffic in the late afternoon heat as a single uniformed policeman fumbles aimlessly in their midst - seeming to have given...
...some observers, these inconsistencies suggest an even murkier authorship for Sunday's bombing. Earlier this year, after a yearlong investigation, state prosecutors arrested a total of 86 people - including military officers, journalists and prominent businessmen - for alleged membership in the so-called Ergenekon network, a secret ultra-nationalist militia...