Beatings, abductions, shootings: on patrol with the al-Mahdi army

Abu Bakr says that he and a superior officer called Abu Haidar take turns to make a weekly trip to Najaf to receive Hojatoleslam al-Sadr’s commands. “Orders go from Najaf to every region’s operation room.” Hojatoleslam al-Sadr has apparently been tightening his grip on the movement. According to Abu Bakr, he has just sent to Sadr City a list of names of members who should be sacked for abusing their power. “Sayed [al-Sadr] is very angry and wants them fired.”

Such moves have fed speculation that the cleric is trying to rein in his group’s daily attacks on Sunnis, apparently fearful that the Americans or the Iraqi Government might soon strike against him. A campaign against the militia would be complicated because its members continue to work in the police, and count supporters in the official Army.

ABU MAHA admits freely that he kills and kidnaps Sunni “terrorists”. At checkpoints Iraqi soldiers greet him by name and let him pass.

For Abu Maha is a leader of Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr’s al-Mahdi Army in western Baghdad, a deadly force with such power that no politician dares take it on.

The thousands-strong militia and a political power base of 32 seats in Parliament have made Hojatoleslam al-Sadr’s militant Shia movement the strongest in Iraq. The group is blamed for many death squad killings, but has such grassroots appeal that even the Shia premier cancelled plans to clear Sadr City, its Baghdad stronghold.

Accompanied by The Times, Abu Maha cruises past Iraqi soldiers as he plans an attack in Ghazaliyah, a mixed neighbourhood that has been a battleground for months. Ghazaliyah abuts Shula to the north, another enclave of the al-Mahdi Army, and Abu Maha is looking to extend his militia’s influence. He has been watching Sunnis who fled to the neighbourhood from another part of western Baghdad, convinced that they are in league with the Sunni al-Qaeda terrorists. He says that his men will target them — just business as usual for the militant who has no qualms about shedding blood…

Posted by Ryz
Born and raised in The Netherlands and living in Canada since 2000. Spent most of his professional career in the IT industry for corporations. Now self-employed. Loves music, graphics, science, politics and various other things that happen to pass in...