Word: sadr
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...down. The local government and security forces of Diwaniyah are largely controlled by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and its armed wing, the Badr Corps, who are challenged almost daily in the streets by members of the rival Jaish al Mahdi, the militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al Sadr. (The SIIC was formerly known as the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, with the initials SCIRI.) While both groups are engaged in a raw and bloody fight for dominance in the region, they are also pitted against each other by basic political positions that...
...says Salih Ibrahim, 50, an art teacher who speaks rough English and who tries to translate questions from his friends. Ibrahim says one region to the east of town still swarms with members of the Jaish al Mahdi - the militia loyal to anti-American Shi'a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which the soldiers call "JAM" for short. Ibrahim and others complain that the Americans shell the area regularly, reminding some of the men of the horrors of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s...
...Basically, we're paying people to stop shooting at us," Vansandt mutters as his patrol finishes the trek through busy market stalls, past a troublemaking mosque and the local offices of Moqtada al Sadr's organization. Over several hours he's talked to dozens of men who all agreed that the local volunteer groups are working. And none has mentioned the killing of the three volunteers. But Vansandt says has no idea how many would participate in the fourth and final group he's trying to organize, one that would patrol a sensitive supply route. Nor does he know...
...What has surprised military officials about the groups around Musayyib, though, is that they are Shi'ite or of mixed sect, containing both Sunnis and Shi'ite residents who rejected the excesses of the Jaish al Mahdi, the Shi'ite militia nominally loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al Sadr. Almost 500 Shi'ites and at least as many Sunnis have already signed on. Shi'ite communities in the capital of Baghdad are also reportedly growing unhappy with al-Sadr's militia...
Last weekend Sadr and the leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, announced a truce. In a statement aired with much publicity, the two leaders pledged to cease violence. Whether the pact holds remains to be seen, especially in Basra. Tensions between the two factions there have lately been especially high following the British pullout to the airport outside the city. Regardless, U.S. forces are unlikely to play a meaningful role in shaping the outcome. With no evident plans to reenter southern areas, the U.S.-led coalition leaves the fate of some of Iraq's most...