Word: militiaization
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...Babikir was also careful not to link the targets of the raid directly to Moqtada Sadr or his militia, saying violence attributed to the militia was actually the work of renegades...
...Politicians doubling as militia chieftains seem to be driving the violence, or at the very least contributing to the proliferation of armed groups in Baghdad. Abdel Aziz al Hakim, whose Shi'ite coalition holds the most seats in Iraq's parliament, has called on Shi'ites to create armed neighborhood watches to defend themselves against terrorists. Meanwhile Moqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army operates from a sanctuary in Sadr City...
...Ahmadinejad himself has not ordered up the crackdown, but that it reflects the religious extremism of the officials he has appointed throughout national and provincial government. Others argue that hardliners throughout the system, not necessarily presidential appointees, have been emboldened by Hizballah's success in Lebanon; they consider the militia's feat a major victory for political Islam, and a validation of their radical mentality. Such hardliners have criticized Ahmadinejad's administration for being Hizballahi (religiously extreme) in appearance, but not in practice. "The president has shown he's not after imposing social or cultural pressures on people," says Amir...
...Brigade of the Iraqi Army's 6th Division. The troops live at Old MoD, a fortified base that sits right on Baghdad's sectarian fault line. To the east is Shi'ite-majority Sadr City, the sprawling slum that is the stronghold of the Mahdi Army, the militia blamed for much of the sectarian killings in Baghdad; to the north is Adhamiya, the mostly Sunni neighborhood where insurgents and terrorists are known to frequently hide out. At night soldiers in Old MoD - the base is named after the former offices of the Iraqi ministry of defense - can hear gunfire from...
...other major Shi'ite militia, known as the Badr Organization, is affiliated to SCIRI, the country's single most powerful political party. The head of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri, also heads the Iraqi parliament's defense and security committee. He portrays the militias as nothing more than neighborhood-watch groups that provide security to citizens, and says American and Iraqi troops "should concentrate all their energies on eliminating [Sunni] insurgents and terrorists...