Word: militiamen
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...refusing baptism. Beginning in the 11th century, Crusaders trying to drive Arabs out of the Holy Land committed countless atrocities. Shortly after Columbus made his first trip, the Spanish Inquisition began taking action against Jews and, later, Muslims. In 1637 the Pequot Indian tribe was murdered by Massachusetts militiamen who called themselves ''faithful followers of Jesus Christ.'' After the Spanish-American War, American soldiers chased down Filipino rebels and burned their villages because the U.S. claimed the right to Christianize them. Today Christian Serbs are slaughtering Bosnian Muslims, and antiabortion fanatics wave their Bibles in one hand and torch family...
...have fallen between 40% and 80% "from pre-surge levels," the GAO sees some of that progress as based on the cooperation of Iraqis who remain sharply at odds with one another. The congressional watchdog office cites the so-called "Sons of Iraq" program, a largely Sunni group of militiamen now paid by U.S. taxpayers to keep the peace in their neighborhoods. More than 100,000 strong, the group has yet to reconcile its long-standing differences with the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. U.S. efforts to integrate these forces into the formal Iraq security...
...have been under siege since April, when Iraqi security forces backed by American troops began clashing in the area with fighters from the Mahdi Army militia led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. For weeks gun battles and air strikes came almost every day in Sadr City as soldiers and militiamen faced off in a stalemated battle at the edge of the district, which is the Mahdi Army's stronghold. A hastily arranged truce between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Sadr halted the fighting last week. Under the agreement, Iraqi forces are now allowed to enter Sadr City...
...area, where the Mahdi Army and the broader Sadrist movement has effectively served as the only authority and provider of services for the last five years. But at least some Sadr City residents, like Mutlieck, were glad to see actual government forces on the streets rather than militiamen who some say operate like mafia racketeers...
...days as Iraqi forces begin to move from the streets into buildings around Sadr City to search for the militia's heavy weapons. It remains unclear just how willing the Mahdi Army is to give up its arsenal of rockets and mortars. And animosities linger between Iraqi troops and militiamen. The fighting between the two sides in recent weeks was bloody and bitter. Al-Freiji at least is worried that the Iraqi army troops might lash out at either residents or elements of the Mahdi Army in the uncertain weeks ahead. Said Freiji: "We have noticed the Iraqi army...