The Iraqi military made incursions into Sadrist neighborhoods in Basra on Wednesday, AP says. The show of force provoked fears of an outbreak of fresh fighting. It turns out that McCain had said that Muqtada al-Sadr’s influence was waning in a recent interview. But then when Muqtada reasserted himself, McCain claimed to have all along […]
Badr Inducted into Army as Thousands fired for Mutiny;
Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Tuesday honored the militias of the parties in the United Iraqi Alliance, i.e. the Da’wa (Islamic Call) Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. They were singled out for having fought alongside government security forces, and some 10,000 of them were inducted into the […]
Arjomand: Shariah Should be Voluntary; Muslims want Constitutional Rule of Law
Said Arjomand shared with IC this letter to the editor of the New York Times, which was not printed. It concerns Noah Feldman’s mid-March NYT piece, “Why Shariah?” In the spirit of open dialogue, IC is carrying the letter here. The Social Science Research Council also also put up a version of it, and there […]
McCain: ‘Surprised’; Fighting Subsides in Baghdad, Basra; Analysts: Sadr Strengthened
My column, “Why al-Maliki Attacked Basra,” is now available at Salon.com John McCain said he was surprised that Nuri al-Maliki would abruptly launch an operation against Basra. It seems to me that there are only two possibilities here. Either McCain really did not know and did not anticipate the trouble in Basra, in which case […]
al-A`raji: Arbitrary Arrests Continue (OSC)
The USG Open Source Center translates a discussion by Iraqis about Muqtada al-Sadr’s ceasefire with the government of PM Nuri al-Maliki, carried in Arabic on the Iranian al-Alam satellite channel. ‘Iran: Al-Alam TV’s ‘With the Event’ Program on Iraq, Al-Sadr TrendAl-Alam TelevisionMonday, March 31, 2008 Document Type: OSC Translated Text Tehran Al-Alam Television in Arabic […]
Iran Brokers Call for Ceasefire; Bush reduced to Irrelevancy in Iraq; Fighting Continues
McClatchy provides a lot of important detail about Sunday’s surprising developments regarding the fight between the Iraqi government and the Mahdi Army. A parliamentary delegation from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s own coalition (mainly now the Da`wa Party and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) defied him by going off to the holy seminary city of […]
Mahdi Army Unsubdued; Iran asks for End to Fighting
Iraqi Police surrendering to the Mahdi Army in Baghdad. Courtesy AFP via al-Hayat. Ned Parker of the LAT does a good job in clarifying the rivalry between the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (with its Badr Corps paramilitary) and the Sadr Movement (with its Mahdi Army paramilitary). The Iraqi government is supporting, and supported by, […]
Police Mutiny, Refuse to attack Sadrists; Clashes continue in Basra; Sadrists open New fronts throughout Shiite South
Mahdi Army Militiamen, courtesy Al-Zaman of Baghdad. Another US soldier was killed in Baghdad on Friday. The Times of Baghdad reports in Arabic that clashes continued on Friday between Iraqi government forces and the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and the provinces of the middle Euphrates and the south, causing hundreds of casualties, including among women, […]
Mahdi Army Stands Firm in its Basra Neighborhoods; Demonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki
People are asking me the significance of the fighting going on in Basra and elsewhere. My reading is that the US faced a dilemma in Iraq. It needed to have new provincial elections in an attempt to mollify the Sunni Arabs, especially in Sunni-majority provinces like Diyala, which has nevertheless been ruled by the Shiite […]
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