U.S. officials claim that the military has been actively
fighting against members of the Mehdi Army militia of anti-occupation
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
People here told a different story to IPS.
"If they mean the Mehdi Army then they know them well because they
worked together for about two years now," Abdul Kazem Hussein, a former
Iraqi officer who fled to Baghdad from Diwaniyah recently told IPS.
Hussein claimed that the U.S. military had been using members of the
Mehdi Army to carry out attacks on Sunnis in Baghdad, as well as areas
south of Baghdad, like Diwaniyah.
"But they are detaining hundreds of people who have always been afraid
of being drilled to death by Mehdi Army murderers," Hussein explained,
alluding to a practice used by Mehdi Army members of using electric
drills to torture Sunni men they capture.
"They are detaining those who have not accepted the influence of Iran in the city," Hussein said.
Bassam Al-Shareef, a spokesman for the Shiite party — Al-Fadhila —
criticized the campaign and warned the Iraqi government of the
consequences if the campaign against the Mehdi Army continues this way.
"We believe the government should take slower actions to contain the
militias rather than lead such a harsh campaign," Shareef told IPS in
Baghdad.
The leaders of the Iraqi Army unit in charge of the crackdown — the
Al-Baqir Brigade — said they are determined to conduct their offensive
to the end.
"We will detain all suspects in Diwaniyah and chase those who fled to
hide in the surrounding villages," Colonel Othman of the brigade’s
staff told journalists in Baghdad recently, "Our intelligence will lead
us to all those who are wanted for questioning."
The question of whether the offensive is targeting the Mehdi Army or
the Arab Shiites in Diwaniyah was best answered by local politician
Hassan Al-Mayali who recently fled to Baghdad.
"This offensive is targeting all those who do not follow Iranian Cleric
[Grand Ayatollah] Ali Al-Sistani," Mayali told IPS, "Americans,
Iranians and the so-called Iraqi government felt the danger of those
Shiites who rejected the influence of what they call the peaceful
clerics and they are pressing hard to make them accept their
leadership. Any Iraqi who does not keep his mouth shut will be detained
or assassinated so that the separation plan and the ever lasting
occupation will succeed."
Many Iraqis interviewed felt sure that after the bombing of the Golden
Shrines in Samarra in February 2006, the armed wing of the Supreme
Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) — the Badr Organization — worked with
the Mehdi Army to kill thousands of Sunnis.
Millions were also displaced from their homes in cities of southern Iraq — including Baghdad.
"Muqtada sold us to Iran," a former member of the Mehdi Army, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS in Diwaniyah.
"We are Arabs and the wave of killings conducted by us was committed
for money paid by the Badr Organization and Iran. Now the Badr
Organization is getting the American Army to help detain and kill us
because we did not follow the orders given to us to kill our Sunni
brothers," the former Mehdi Army member said.
"We are still obeying the orders given by our leader Muqtada Al Sadr to
maintain peace, but that will not be forever," a member of the
movement, speaking on condition of anonymity, in Sadr City in eastern
Baghdad told IPS, "They [SIIC] are trying our patience and there will
be a strong reaction if they do not stop their organized campaign
against us."
On Nov. 25, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim — the powerful Shia cleric who leads
the SIIC — defended Iran against U.S. accusations that the country is
involved in anti-U.S. attacks in Iraq.
"These are only accusations raised by the multinational forces and I
think these accusations need more proof," al-Hakim, the head of the
largest Shiite party in Iraq, told reporters.
Al-Hakim has established ties with Iran and is one of its staunchest
supporters in Iraq, but he also has been a major partner in U.S.
efforts during the occupation.
(*Ali, a correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with
Dahr Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels
extensively in the region)
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