Word: shied
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...devil. No, no for America. No, no for the occupation. No, no for Israel.' MUQTADA AL-SADR, radical Shi'ite cleric, emerging in public for the first time in months, in a fiery anti-American sermon in the holy Shi'ite city of Kufa. He called for U.S. forces to leave Iraq, but vowed to defend Sunnis and Christians...
...Although no group has as yet claimed responsibility, first suspicion is bound to fall on the Mahdi Army, the dreaded Shi'ite militia; the snatch bore some of the group's hallmarks, including the use of police vehicles and uniforms. Iraq's minority Sunnis routinely complain that the Iraqi police force often acts as a front for Shi'ite militias, especially the Mahdi Army...
...Over 200 foreigners and possibly tens of thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the fall of Saddam Hussein. But it is unusual for the Mahdi Army to kidnap foreigners - that tends to be the work of Sunni terrorist groups like al-Qaeda. And Shi'ite militias typically don't target ministries run by their fellow-sectarians. The Ministry of Higher Educaton was run by a Sunni. But the Finance Minister is a prominent Shi'ite, Bayan Jabr Solagh. What is more, he's the former Interior Minister under whose watch the Iraqi police was thoroughly infiltrated by Shi...
...rest of Iraq, the hope in Qaim is that the American burden will lessen as Iraqi security forces take the lead. In Baghdad and other centers of sectarian violence, where the security forces are riddled with militiamen and where Shi'ites patrol hostile Sunni neighborhoods, that hope is more like a fantasy. But in al Qaim, foreign jihadists not too long ago antagonized local Sunni tribal leaders; and now the Americans have used that local history to win cooperation from the same maligned tribes, recruiting personnel for the Iraqi army and police. "It's in our best interest to train...
...question that each side stands to benefit from some kind of a deal. The new Iraq strategy developed by General David Petraeus, the American commander, and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker stresses political accomodation inside Iraq. That is based on their judgment that neither the Iraqi insurgents nor the powerful Shi'ite militias can be readily defeated by the U.S. on the battlefield. Iran's active cooperation, or at least tacit support, appears crucial to that strategy. As for Iran, its leaders have said they would like to see the U.S. withdraw - perhaps not immediately, but in the relatively near future...