Word: sunni
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...country the U.S. had hoped to transform into a model of secular democracy in the Middle East. The chances that Iraq will resemble that ideal soon are all but gone. The danger now is that control could slip into the hands of jihadists--as parts of the so-called Sunni triangle already have--intent on establishing their own fundamentalist regime that could become a breeding ground for terrorists. That gloomy prospect means there will not be any significant U.S. troop withdrawal in the near future...
...ethnic Arab, al-Sadr has the right pedigree. Soon he was recruiting Shi'ites into an armed militia, the Mahdi Army, named for the messiah the Shi'ites await. Their stated aim was to drive foreign infidels from the holy cities. But al-Sadr also wanted to deter aggressive Sunni militants from leaving Shi'ites out in the cold and to counter the militias belonging to other Shi'ite pretenders to power. "The Mahdi Army," says Sheik Qais Hadi al-Kazali, a spokesman for and close aide to al-Sadr, "will ensure that political power is shared in a just...
These are trying days for Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, who faces two threats: the Sunni insurgency in the west and al-Sadr rebellion in the south. He sat down last week in Baghdad for an interview with TIME reporter Christopher Allbritton. Iraqi police officers stood nearby, but signs of U.S. patronage were everywhere. Even the air conditioners bore the label PROPERTY OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT. Dressed in a natty plaid suit, Allawi was alternately avuncular and forceful...
...among large sections of Iraqi society has been shaped by the fact that it involves thousands of troops from an unpopular foreign army attacking Muslim fighters around one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites. The Najaf standoff has seen the U.S. and Allawi widely condemned among both Shiite and Sunni Muslim Iraqis, and thousands of Shiites have flocked to Najaf to act as "human shields" to protect Sadr in the event of a new offensive. Elsewhere in Iraq, Sadr's militiamen continue daily to demonstrate their capacity for disruption, attacking oil wells and pipelines around Basra, blowing up an American...
...known as Mujahedin Shura, often translated as "supreme council of the mujahedin." This informal group, which meets occasionally to share intelligence and tactical tips, already has a defense minister, an army chief and an operations commander of sorts. At recent meetings, insurgent leaders--including Iraqi nationalists, Baathists and sundry Sunni extremists--have debated streamlining their activities under a single leader. According to several sources involved in the movement, Syrian intelligence agents in the area, who have helped arm the groups and aided their propaganda campaigns, have also been participating in the debate...