Word: sadr
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Maliki denounced the raid and promised nothing like it would happen again. Gen. Babikir, though, defended the operation, saying his soldiers do not launch raids in Sadr City - or anywhere else - without specific intelligence...
...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...
...General Babikir and the US military have been a bit more aggressive on that front than the government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki would prefer. Earlier this month a joint US-Iraqi raid into Sadr City freed prisoners, at least some of the Sunnis, being held by what Babikir called an "assassination cell...
...emphatically declared that no one with sectarian loyalties had a place in the Iraqi armed forces. Yet beyond the high walls and earthen barriers that make Iraqi officers and politicians prisoners in their own country, many militiamen operate - sometimes openly - within the Iraqi security forces. And in neighborhoods like Sadr City militias, and not the government, command the support of the people...
...like some other American and Iraqi officials, alludes to these complexities even if political realities constrain what he can say - and what he can do. He cited efforts to bring the Mahdi Army under control through the political process, and said he did not anticipate a military push into Sadr City. "We don't want to create more problems," he said. "It's a very delicate situation." Spoken like a true politician, albeit one with a military background, who knows that the wrong choice of words can cause as much damage as a poorly executed battle plan...