Word: muqtada
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr stepped back into Iraq's political fray Friday with an offer that (if genuine) Washington would be hard-pressed to refuse: Set a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and the Mahdi Army will begin to disband. "The main reason for the armed resistance is the American military presence," said Sadr emissary Salah al-Ubaidi, who spoke to reporters in Najaf Friday. "If the American military begins to withdrawal, there will be no need for these armed groups...
...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...
...Amara, the capital of Iraq's unruly Maysan province - long a smuggling hub for weapons and drugs on Iraq's border with Iran - Iraqi forces are waging a crackdown on the Mahdi Army, led by popular radical Shi'ite cleric and opposition leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched the campaign last month under the banner of "imposing the law" and wresting control away from militias operating "outside the law." Similar campaigns in Basra, the chaotic port 100 miles away, and Sadr City, the huge Baghdad slum, initially met fierce resistance from al-Sadr's followers...
...dense and impoverished neighborhood, which houses an estimated 3 million people was easily Iraq's most devastated locale during the seven weeks of fighting that wracked the area as U.S.-backed government forces confronted the Mahdi Army militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. According to Nasser Hashem al-Saadi, a member of parliament aligned with al-Sadr, some 25,000 residents fled the area during that time...