Word: sadr
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When 1st Lieut. Raied showed up for work on April 4 at Camp Eagle, a U.S. Army base in the east Baghdad slum of Sadr City, he knew he wouldn't have much company. The executive officer of the 306th Battalion of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC), Raied and other battalion members had been warned by locals not to report for duty after fighting broke out between militants loyal to the Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and U.S. forces. Raied, who like his comrades asked to be identified only by his first name, estimates that only a third...
...says only two Iraqis from Raied's company made it to work that day, after an ambush by al-Sadr's forces killed eight U.S. soldiers. Since then, about 100 of the 700 members of the 306th Battalion have gone missing in action. Of the rest, say the U.S. soldiers at the camp, 90% fail to show up on days of high tension. Those officers who have remained on the job--men like Raied, a former master sergeant in the old Iraqi army--say the bloody fighting that had gripped the country over the past month was a watershed; local...
...trained Iraqi troops deserted when the Marines moved into the city; the Marines had to confiscate the equipment and weapons of deserters to prevent them from aiding the insurgents. In the Shi'ite-dominated south, Iraqi police watched idly as members of al-Sadr's Medhi Army seized their buildings, weapons and vehicles. The inability or unwillingness of the Iraqis to help suppress the twin uprisings forced U.S. officials to admit publicly last week what many have assumed for months. General John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), says Iraqi security forces won't be ready to assume...
...those failings are manifest at Camp Eagle in Sadr City, where members of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division have assumed responsibility for training and overseeing the 306th Battalion of the ICDC. Most of the members of the battalion are former day laborers who have not undergone physical or medical screening. They are supposed to show up at 8:30 a.m., though there is no penalty for tardiness. After a short workout, a good deal of horseplay and some training, the Iraqis take on basic duties, like manning traffic-control checkpoints. At 2 p.m. they eat lunch...
...Iraqis at Camp Eagle say the pressure on them is almost unbearable. When they return home at night, many are threatened with death; some battalion members believe their comrades leak information. On a patrol with the Americans through Sadr City's teeming thoroughfares, the hostility the Iraqis face from their neighbors is inescapable. "People keep insulting me," an Iraqi conscript named Abdullah tells a U.S. sergeant. "Can I shoot them?" The sergeant tries to calm him, explaining that the rules of engagement do not permit the use of deadly force against hecklers. At this point, Adnan, 37, former explosives specialist...