october 20, 2006

Muqtada al-Sadr's Militia Briefly Takes over Iraqi City

I spoke to a source recently who's spent time in Iraq and has close ties to military personnel on the ground there. He told me that Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical, Iranian-supported Shiite imam who's caused so many headaches for U.S. troops since 2004, is on his way out--either at the hands of a rival Iraqi extremist faction or U.S. forces. I was told that the U.S., for one, has had enough of Al-Sadr's antics. If so, this latest news should be the absolute tipping point.

From Yahoo:

The Shiite militia run by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr briefly seized control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country's powerful, unofficial armies.

The militiamen later withdrew from the streets after Iraqi soldiers and mediators arrived, lifting their siege of police headquarters under a temporary truce negotiated with an al-Sadr envoy. It was not clear whether the cleric knew about his militia's planned takeover in advance.

British military spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge said 600 Iraqi army soldiers had retaken control of the city, but not before the 25 gunmen and police were killed in violence that began Thursday night. The Iraqi army dispatched two companies to Amarah, a city of 750,000, from Basra, the south's largest city.

"They've applied a solution and at the moment it's holding," Burbridge said. "At the moment, it's tense but calm," he said.

Britain had 500 soldiers on standby if called for, Burbridge said, saying British military authorities were "confident that they've (Iraqi security forces) responded as best as they can."

Mahdi Army fighters had stormed three main police stations Friday morning, residents said, planting explosives that flattened the buildings in Amarah, a city just 30 miles from the Iranian border that was under British command until August, when it was returned to Iraqi government control.

About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were patrolling in commandeered police vehicles, witnesses said. Other fighters set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.

Read it all. This is simply unacceptable. A new direction is obviously needed in Iraq, as President Bush finally seems to realize.