Iraq Dismisses 1,300 After Basra Offensive

By STEPHEN FARRELL

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government announced Sunday that it had dismissed 1,300 soldiers and policemen for refusing to fight or performing badly during last month’s offensive against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra.

Maj. Gen. Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said that 500 soldiers and 421 policemen were fired in Basra, including 37 senior police officers up to the rank of Brigadier General. Police officials said the remainder were fired in Kut, where fighting also spread.

“Some of them were sympathetic with these lawbreakers, some refused to battle for political or national or sectarian or religious reasons,” General Khalaf said in Basra.

The dismissals were an implicit admission of failures during the government offensive, which was widely criticized as being poorly planned. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s forces failed to disarm Shiite militias, in particular the Mahdi Army militia loyal to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr. However, they claim to have restored order to the streets, and the nearby ports vital to Iraq’s oil industry.

American officials, who praised the Iraqi forces’ progress in being able to move 6,600 reinforcements south to Basra so quickly, conceded that they had not been fully consulted in advance.

The Basra clashes pitched the country’s two most powerful Shiite forces against each other — the Mahdi Army and the government security forces dominated by Mr. Sadr’s most powerful internal Shiite rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

On April 3, Mr. Maliki promised to dismiss and prosecute the worst offenders among the more than 1,000 who deserted, laid down their weapons or refused to fight against their fellow Shiites and tribesmen. At the time one of his senior officials acknowledged that fear of the militias was a principal factor. “One of the main reasons is that they felt the other party was too strong, and too courageous and they couldn’t confront them,” he said.

Putting further political pressure on Mr. Sadr, Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said Sunday that the cabinet had agreed on a draft law that would ban any party from taking part in the October provincial elections unless they disband their militias. But it was unclear how much effect any law could have, given that the two dominant Shiite parties in government — the Sadrists and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq — are both closely affiliated with their armed wings.

In Baghdad, the Mahdi Army’s Sadr City stronghold was reported to be quieter on Sunday, after a week of heavy clashes with Iraqi government and American troops.

The Iraqi and American forces have taken control of southern neighborhoods in an effort to deprive the Mahdi Army of areas from which it can fire rockets and mortars at Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone three miles to the west.

Iraqi Forces Battle Gunmen in Basra

By Sholnn Freeman and Sudarsan Raghavan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 25, 2008; 11:39 AM

BAGHDAD, March 25 -- Gun battles erupted between Iraqi security forces and Shiite armed groups in the southern oil city of Basra on Tuesday as the government launched a security offensive against the feuding militias that have turned the city into one of Iraq's most dangerous zones.

The targeted groups include members of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, further risking the breakdown of a ceasefire imposed by Sadr over the organization last summer. The ceasefire has been credited with tamping down violence throughout the country but seemed to be fraying as armed groups clashed with security forces in Basra and in several eastern Baghdad neighborhoods.

The Associated Press also reported fighting in the southern Iraqi town of Kut, where Sadr loyalists had reportedly taken control of several neighborhoods.

In addition, U.S. Embassy officials confirmed additional shelling Tuesday of the protected Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy and the Iraqi government are housed. A spokeswoman said the embassy had no information on casualties. Officials said that one Army employee had died as a result of a day-long Green Zone shelling attack Sunday and that a Jordanian Embassy employee remains hospitalized.

Residents in Basra reported sporadic clashes beginning early Tuesday morning in the neighborhoods of Hayania, Jubaila and Jumhuria -- known Sadr strongholds. In telephone interviews, they described seeing military vehicles, soldiers and policemen exchanging fire with armed groups.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 13 gunmen had been killed, along with three Iraqi policemen, and six civilians were dead, police said. Scores more were injured, and at least five military vehicles were set ablaze, according to police.

"No one is on the street," said Mohammed Kadhim, who owns a clothing shop in the center of the city. As he spoke, the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background. "I am not able to go out of my house." He said one of his neighbors was shot in the face and was in critical condition.

By Tuesday afternoon, there were reports of clashes unfolding in several neighborhoods in eastern Baghdad between Iraqi security forces and armed groups, as well as between rival Shiite gangs.

In an interview, an Iraqi interior ministry said Mahdi Army gunmen stormed two offices of the Dawa Party, led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and clashed with guards. The clashes left five Mahdi Army gunmen and two Dawa Party guards dead, police said.

The clashes came as Sadr's movement mounted a nationwide civil disobedience campaign in many parts of eastern and central Baghdad, demanding the release of Sadr's followers from detention centers and an end to Iraqi government raids. Sadrist leaders ordered stores to be shut down and taxi and bus drivers to stop operating. Television footage Tuesday showed neighborhoods turned into virtual ghost towns, their usually busy streets all but empty.

In a statement, Sadr called upon Iraqis to stage sit-ins and threatened a nationwide "civil revolt" if U.S. and Iraqi forces continue attacking and arresting his followers.

The actions were the latest sign that the ceasefire imposed by Sadr on his Mahdi Army militia is under strain.

U.S. military commanders have commended the ceasefire. They view it as a key reason why violence levels have dropped in recent months across Iraq, along with a U.S.-troop buildup and the rise of a Sunni movement, fueled by tribesman and former insurgents, against radical jihadists.

But in recent weeks, many Mahdi Army leaders and Sadr loyalists have urged the cleric to remove the ceasefire, as Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops have raided and detained hundreds of Sadr followers in several southern cities in the past few months.

"The plan that is being implemented in Basra is meant to pass political agendas and not bring security," Harith al-Ithari, the head of Sadr's office in Basra, said in a phone interview with Iraq's al-Sharqiya television network. "But we are working together with all sides to bring back stability to the city."

Violence has gripped Basra since December, when British troops handed over control of the province to the Iraqi government. A power struggle between the Mahdi Army and its main rival, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and its armed wing, the Badr Brigade, has battered the city in recent months.

But smaller Shiite militias are also locked into fighting. Tuesday's clashes erupted a day after Maliki traveled to Basra to oversee a security crackdown.

Ahead of the offensive, the Iraqi government closed off land access to the city from Tuesday through Thursday and imposed a nighttime curfew until further notice. The government ordered schools, institutes and universities to cancel classes Tuesday through Thursday and banned all movement of vehicles to Basra from other provinces until further notice.

A Maliki adviser, Sadiq al-Rikabi, said Monday that the prime minister was determined to bring the area under control and not leave the security of the people "threatened by gangs and murders."

Maj. Tim Holloway, a spokesman for the British military, said fighting was unfolding in districts in the center of Basra. British forces are standing by, he said, but are not involved in the security crackdown. He said coalition forces were providing surveillance support with aircraft flying overhead.

"Iraq can deal with the challenges in Basra," Holloway said. "It's an indication of the Iraqi military's confidence in their own ability and their willingness to do so." He described the security crackdown as "enormously encouraging."

The British have about 4,100 troops in the area, most at the city's airport and none inside Basra proper. Since handing over the province to the Iraqi government, the British have limited their role to training Iraqi security forces.

Special correspondents K.I. Ibrahim, Zaid Sabah, Dalya Hassan and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Upswing in Iraq attacks not a trend: U.S. military

Sun Mar 9, 2008 3:42pm EDT

By Michael Holden

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Sunday a recent increase in bombings was not the start of a wider trend in Iraq and violence had decreased overall.

U.S. military spokesman Rear Admiral Greg Smith said he did not think recent security gains were being reversed.

"I would not look at the last few weeks as an increase or a trend, but there has been a sporadic series of events that ... have resulted in significant loss of life," Smith told a news conference.

Smith said the spate of recent attacks needed to be compared with a year ago, when thousands of civilians were dying in sectarian violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs, with U.S. troops also suffering heavy casualties.

Iraqi police said 68 people died when two bombs exploded within minutes of each other in a popular, crowded shopping area in central Baghdad on Thursday evening, the deadliest single bombing in the capital since last June.

Overall levels of violence are sharply down since last June, when 30,000 extra U.S. soldiers were deployed.

That coincided with a ceasefire by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and a decision by mainly Sunni Arab tribal sheiks to turn against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.

The fiercely anti-U.S. Sadr issued his second statement in three days on Sunday, telling followers they could still defend themselves despite his decision last month to extend a ceasefire for his feared Mehdi Army militia for another six months.

"If a military war is conducted against us by the occupiers we will defend ourselves," Sadr said in a statement bearing his personal seal, his second in three days.

Sadr appeared to be reacting to complaints by members of the militia that rival Shi'ite factions and the U.S. and Iraqi security forces could exploit the ceasefire to attack them.

HEADACHES

The number of violent civilian deaths rose sharply in February, the first increase in six months, after bombings which Smith blamed on al Qaeda killed more than 160 people.

Any upsurge in violence could pose headaches for Washington over its plans to withdraw some U.S. troops from Iraq.

Five of 20 combat brigades in Iraq are due to be pulled out by July 31, reducing the overall U.S. military presence from about 160,000 to around 140,000.

On Thursday, the U.S. military said the second of the brigades would be returning from Baghdad, while another based in the city was also earmarked for withdrawal.

"There has been substantial progress -- levels of violence are down by 60-70 percent, civilian deaths and a variety of other categories that we watch are all down," General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, told Sky News.

U.S. commanders say al Qaeda is the greatest threat to Iraq's security but they are also concerned about "rogue" Shi'ite militias, many which have split from Sadr and which the U.S. military accuses Iran of financing, training and arming.

Tehran has denied the charges, blaming the U.S. presence in Iraq for the violence.

Iranian, U.S. and Iraqi officials held three round of talks in Baghdad last year on ways to end the violence, easing a diplomatic freeze between Washington and Tehran.

But a fourth round of talks has been repeatedly delayed with Washington and Tehran blaming each other for the impasse.

"Direct talks with the United states are not on Iran's agenda but Iran-U.S. talks on Iraq have been delayed due to technical issues," said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday.

(Additional reporting by Luke Baker in London, Edmund Blair in Tehran, Khaled Farhan in Najaf and Waleed Ibrahim and Mohammed Abbas in Baghdad; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Sadr attacks Iraq PM in Shia rift

Iraqi Shia leaders linked to the radical cleric, Moqtada Sadr, have attacked their former government ally, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

They accused Mr Maliki of bowing to US demands and sanctioning US attacks on Mr Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

Mr Maliki has said the militia must purge its ranks of criminals.

Dozens of people have died in recent fighting between Iraqi forces and Mehdi Army militiamen, amid signs of a growing rift between the Shia groups.

In April, six cabinet ministers loyal to Mr Sadr quit their posts in protest at the government's refusal to demand a deadline for the withdrawal of US troops.

Support from Mr Sadr's bloc was critical to securing Mr Maliki's appointment as prime minister last year.

The Mehdi Army militia and its allies within the fledgling Iraqi security forces have been accused of operating sectarian death squads, targeting Iraqi Sunnis.

The militia's stronghold of Sadr City, a vast slum in eastern Baghdad, was the focus of a major US military operation in late June.

'US agenda'

On Saturday, Mr Maliki said the Mehdi Army had been infiltrated by criminals and by members of the Baath Party of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Mr Sadr's supporters said Mr Maliki's comments effectively gave US forces a "green light" to attack the Mehdi Army militia.

An aide to Mr Sadr, Sheikh Ahmed al-Shaibani, told the Associated Press news agency Mr Maliki "should not forget that his government was backed" by the Sadr movement.

He said Mr Maliki had tried to shore up his government with the attack on Mr Sadr's group.

According to Mr Shaibani, Mr Maliki's comments indicated he was ready to implement the US agenda of "ending the Mehdi Army militarily and politically".

Iraqi Politicians Disagree about Hostage Release

Iraq's minister for higher education said that a number of people kidnapped the other day from a ministry building were tortured and killed. He says 70 are still missing. A number were taken to Shiite eastern Baghdad.

Prime Minister Maliki disagrees, saying that the numbers kidnapped totaled around 40 and almost all of those 40 were released.

But after the release of large numbers of kidnapped persons by the Shiite militias or gangs that were holding them, is it any wonder that Americans complain that the Maliki government doesn't do as much as it can about sectarian militia activity?

It seems to be within Maliki's power to tell at least some Shiite militias what to do some of the time.

Why are U.S. Forces Besieging Sadr City?

According to the Washington Post,

1. American forces believe some part of the Mahdi Army is responsible for capturing an Iraqi-American soldier. The soldier's brother, who was captured at the same time and released, said the Mahdi Army was responsible for their capture. U.S. forces are basically trying to get the American soldier back.
2. The U.S. military is trying to capture notorious death squad leader Abu Deraa, who has been claimed off and on by the Mahdi Army.

The U.S. looks like it has taken a stand it is hard to back down from without success. Either they get Abu Deraa or retreat like they did from the capture of Mohammad Farah Aidid in Mogadishu. And they either get the American soldier or admit they cannot save him.

The real question is whether the two operations are the same thing, overlap somewhat or are different parties of a larger strategy. Is the U.S. trying to capture Abu Deraa in order to get an American soldier back?