Middle East

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki suddenly reversed himself on Friday, pledging a freeze on attacks on militias. Just a day before he had been saying that he would send the Iraqi military in after the Mahdi Army in Baghdad. Given what happened to the army in Basra, where the Sadr Movement isn’t all that strong, I […]

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that clashes continued to be fought in Basra on Thursday between Iraqi government troops and the Mahdi Army militia. It also says that US troops in civilian clothing were targeted in the Shiite city of Hillah south of Baghdad. They were attacked by unknown gunmen and had to call in airstrikes […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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, […]