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In Iraq, Shiite Militia Oppose the Guerrilla    [

    In Baghdad, the American Army Erects Walls Between Communities
    By R my Ourdan
    Le Monde

    Wednesday 16 August 2006

    The American and Iraqi armies began construction of a wall encircling Al-Dora, a southern Baghdad neighborhood, on Tuesday, August 15. Soldiers positioned prefabricated concrete barriers "to prevent terrorists from getting in," according to the American Army.

    Although Al-Dora is a vast mixed neighborhood, the operation in this specific case consists of isolating an area inhabited mostly by Sunnis in order to protect it from Shiite militia incursions. Since Baghdad has been prey to civil war and transfers have been occurring between Shiite and Sunni populations, Al-Dora has been one of the neighborhoods most affected by inter-community violence.

    Acknowledging the failure of the "Forward Together" security plan launched in June, the American Army and Iraqi security forces unveiled a new strategy August 11 that consists of separating Baghdad neighborhoods according to sectarian criteria. "We shall concentrate ourselves on sectarian borders, go into those sectors, clean them out, install security forces, bring economic aid, and work with local leaders so people feel safe," explained the multinational force commandant, American General George Casey. The objective is "to clean up Baghdad before Ramadan," the end of September.

    "Popular Defense Committees"

    The Al-Dora neighborhood, where both Sunnis linked to the Iraqi guerrilla movement and Shiite militias operate, was the first to be targeted by this strategy. Tuesday, while the first concrete barriers were being positioned, the American Army, which had sealed the area since August 7th, seemed satisfied with the results of the first week of operations: "Before, we'd find twenty-five explosive contraptions a week in Dora. We only found four of them this week. That's a success."

    Marking their defiance in the face of the security plan, two Shiite movements, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the mainstay of the coalition in power, and the factions of the imam Moqtada al-Sadr, opposed to the American-Iraqi alliance, created "popular defense committees" Tuesday in the Shiite holy city of Nadjaf, after an attack that took place August 10 in front of the Imam Ali shrine.

    The two movements already have militias, the Badr Brigade for SCIRI and the Mahdi Army for Moqtada al-Sadr. They want to spread their "committees" to Baghdad and throughout Iraq in order to protect the Shiite population from Sunni guerrilla attacks.

    The American Army recently violently attacked the Mahdi Army in a suburb of Sadr City in Baghdad, including recourse to air power. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, opposed to the creation of militias, condemned the American raid. Impotent, he seems caught in the cross-fire.

    And while the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, continues to assert that he "does not believe a civil war is unfolding in Iraq," the guardians of public order erect walls.

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    In Iraq, Shiite Militia Oppose the Guerrilla
    By Thierry Oberl (with Delphine Minoui)
    Le Figaro

    Thursday 17 August 2006

Shiite political functionaries officially acknowledged the establishment of self-defense committees to counter Sunni guerrilla attacks.

0aSkirmishes took place yesterday between Iraqi forces and armed militias in the two of the biggest cities in the country, Basra and Mosul, underlining once again the difficulty the Iraqi and American military have containing inter-sectarian violence. In addition, two attacks killed 21 people in Baghdad yesterday and American officers are now talking about the risk of a civil war.

    Strengthened by their victory in the general elections, the Shiite movements have begun to establish self-defense committees to counter Sunni guerrilla attacks against civilians.

    The measure has been initiated by radicals ranged under the banner of Moqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Mahdi Army, but also under that of Abdel Aziz Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and mainstay of the governmental coalition. "We've begun forming committees in Nadjaf. These committees will choose the individuals who will have the mission of keeping watch, of assuring security, and of paying attention to suspicious movements in their neighborhoods, in cooperation with the city's security forces," asserted Abdul Hussein Abtan, vice-governor of the Shiite province of Nadjaf, situated in the center of the country.

    The official mission of the committees is to protect Shiite populations from sectarian violence. The Shiites deem that the security forces are not fulfilling their task and assert that it's better that they take their own security in hand to protect themselves from the many anti-Shiite attacks.

    The militia phenomenon took on a paroxysmal turn July 9. That day, men wearing the black uniform characteristic of the Mahdi Army disembarked in al-Jihad, a largely Sunni neighborhood in west Baghdad. They killed close to fifty people in cold blood, among whom were women and children, after erecting barriers and stopping vehicles and pedestrians. The victims were struck down by virtue of their Sunni patronymic, revealed by their identity papers. This bloody massacre was, apparently, unleashed after the attack on an al-Jihad Shiite mosque the day before, which had killed seven people. Since then, hundreds of Shiites have been killed in a variety of sectarian attacks in August.

    Concrete Barriers

    Up until then, these death squads had enjoyed a purely clandestine existence. Shiite political officials' recognition of the so-called "defense" committees marks a further step in the escalation of the violence. Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the United States would like to disarm these gangs that escape their control, but don't succeed in opposing their proliferation. They think they can solve the problem by isolating sectarian communities.

    In Baghdad, a wall of concrete barriers has just been installed by American and Iraqi forces around Dura, in the south of the capital, to isolate this Sunni neighborhood. They are trying to "keep the terrorists from getting in." The isolated neighborhood has been used as a theater of operations by the shadow fighters to fan sectarian hatreds.

    "We used to find 25 explosive contraptions a week in Dura. We only found four of them last week. That's a success," Sergeant Ronald Loebel explained to AFP. After the failure of the "Forward Together" plan to secure Baghdad that was launched two months ago, the multinational force has put a second phase into execution during the last week that consists of isolating and securing neighborhoods with the ambition of extending these safe zones later. A wager about to be lost.