Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides

Oil prices surge on sabotage near Basra, bottleneck at South Korean refinery

Compiled by Daily Star staff
Friday, March 28, 2008

Oil prices surge on sabotage near Basra, bottleneck at South Korean refinery

Oil rose above $106 a barrel on Thursday after saboteurs blew up a major pipeline in Iraq, cutting exports from the south of the country, and also because of strength in heating-oil futures. The attack on the pipeline in southern Iraq came on the third day of an Iraqi military operation against fighters loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the oil port of Basra.

"Today's action was driven up by the explosion and catching fire of a pipeline in Iraq," said Nauman Barakat, oil trader and senior vice president at Macquarie Futures USA.

US crude was up $1.05 to $106.95 a barrel by 1630 GMT, having earlier risen as high as $107.70. London Brent crude added $0.56 to $104.55.

Crude was also pulled up by heating oil, which rose almost 2 percent. Traders said a force majeure declaration by South Korean refiner S-Oil for April loadings of oil products had in part prompted the gain.

In Iraq, officials said that efforts were under way to get shipments back to normal. It is the first time since 2004 that the southern supply route has been disrupted.

Iraq exported about 1.54 million barrels per day from Basra in February. Overall Iraqi oil exports have only recently returned to a rate similar to that before the US-led invasion.

Officials in Basra had different views about how long it would take to restore supplies and the seriousness of the attack.

Oil's move up followed a jump of almost $5 on Wednesday prompted by a drop in fuel inventories in top consumer the US and as a weak dollar prompted investors to move money back into commodities.

Global supplies are being further pressured by the Organization of Oil Producing Countries' (OPEC] decision to maintain its output levels earlier this month.

Oil prices have also been supported by long-term concerns over the ability of producers to meet rising energy demand from the developing world, notably China and India.

"Many are using commodities to hedge themselves against much-feared inflation," said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.

New York crude hit a record intraday high of $111.80 on March 17, while London Brent scored a historic peak of $108.02 earlier this month.

Gasoline stocks fell by a larger-than-expected 3.3 million barrels and distillates dropped 2.2 million barrels, also more than forecast, the Energy Information Administration said.

Analysts say the weakening dollar has prompted investors to buy oil and other commodities as a hedge against inflation, while dollar strength can lower demand for commodities.

Exacerbating the impact of foreign exchange moves, oil futures are priced in dollars, making them more expensive to investors overseas when the greenback rises.

Thursday's supply concerns temporarily drew investors' attention from the dollar, which rose slightly against the euro, reversing the trend that had partly sent oil futures surging on Wednesday. - Agencies




Times Online

From The Times

March 28, 2008
Iraqi police in Basra shed their uniforms, kept their rifles and switched sides

Mehdi Army fighters loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold their weapons while flashing the V sign in Basra

James Hider in Baghdad

Abu Iman barely flinched when the Iraqi Government ordered his unit of special police to move against al-Mahdi Army fighters in Basra.

His response, while swift, was not what British and US military trainers who have spent the past five years schooling the Iraqi security forces would have hoped for. He and 15 of his comrades took off their uniforms, kept their government-issued rifles and went over to the other side without a second thought.

Such turncoats are the thread that could unravel the British Army’s policy in southern Iraq. The military hoped that local forces would be able to combat extremists and allow the Army to withdraw gradually from the battle-scarred and untamed oil city that has fallen under the sway of Islamic fundamentalists, oil smugglers and petty tribal warlords. But if the British taught the police to shoot straight, they failed to instil a sense of unwavering loyalty to the State.

“We know the outcome of the fighting in advance because we already defeated the British in the streets of Basra and forced them to withdraw to their base,” Abu Iman told The Times.

“If we go back a bit, everyone remembers the fight with the US in Najaf and the damage and defeat we inflicted on them. Do you think the Iraqi Army is better than those armies? We are right and the Government is wrong. [Nouri al] Maliki [the Iraqi Prime Minister] is driving his Government into the ground.”

The reason for his apparent switch of sides was simple: the 36-year-old was already a member of the al-Mahdi Army which, like other militias, has massively infiltrated the British-trained police force in the southern oil city. He claimed that hundreds of others from the 16,000-strong force have also defected to the rebels’ ranks.Abu Iman joined the new Iraqi police force after the invasion, joining the Mugawil, a special police unit infamous for brutality, kidnapping and sectarian murders.

“We already heard two weeks ago that we were going to attack the Mahdi Army, so we were ready,” he said. “I decided to take off my uniform and join my brothers and friends in the Mahdi Army. All these years, we were like a scream in the face of the dictator and the occupation.” He said: “I joined the police because I believed we have to protect Basra and save it with our own hands. You can see we were the first fighters to take on Sadd-am and his regime, the best example being the Shabaniya uprising.”

Abu Iman said that the fighting raging in Basra yesterday was intense because the al-Mahdi Army was operating on its own turf. He was confident that the Shia militia would prevail because its cause was just.

“The Iraqi Army is already defeated from within. They come to Basra with fear in their hearts, knowing they have to fight their brothers, the sons of Iraq, because of an order from Bush and his friends in the Iraq Government. For this reason, all of the battles are going in the Mahdi Army’s favour.”

Major-General Abdelaziz Moham-med Jassim, the director of operations at the Ministry of Defence, played down reports of defections in the Basra police force. “The problem of one policeman doesn’t make up for the whole of the force,” he said.

In recent months Major-General Abdul Jalil Khalaf, Basra’s police chief, has tried to shake up the force and drive out militia infiltrators, who have wrought havoc in the past, often turning police stations into torture cells in which factions settled vendettas and power struggles with murder and abuse. But he only narrowly escaped an assassination attempt yesterday when a suicide car bomb attack in Basra killed three of his policemen. A local tribal leader said the police directorate building was later gutted by fire.





Times Online

From The Times

March 26, 2008
Basra showdown: Iraqi troops take on the Mahdi Army

undefined



Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr threatened a country-wide civil revolt if the Iraqi Army attacks did not stop

James Hider in Baghdad

Basra erupted yesterday into some of the heaviest fighting since it was seized by the British Army five years ago, as Iraqi government forces took on a Shia militia that has turned the city into a morass of murder, kidnap and oil smuggling.

Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia Prime Minister, who has worked in often awkward collaboration with the militias, flew into the southern port city to take personal charge of the mission, staking his reputation on a showdown with the all-powerful al-Mahdi Army.

There were further clashes in other cities in the south and in areas of Baghdad as the sprawling militia hit back, ordering policemen out of neighbourhoods they control and even kidnapping officers.

After the US military’s success in curbing a Sunni insurgency and turning guerrillas against allies linked with al-Qaeda, the Government decided to take on the Shia militia that dominates the south and centre of the country, and which has infiltrated the police force, ministries and the civil service.

The fighting quickly spread from Basra to the town of Kut, just southeast of Baghdad, and to parts of the capital, where supporters of Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, the vitriolic anti-American cleric who founded the militia, demonstrated and staged strikes against the government crackdown.

The fighting in Basra, where around 80 per cent of Iraq’s oil is located, was the biggest battle the al-Mahdi Army has fought since weathering a US military onslaught in the holy city of Najaf in 2004. Then, however, it rallied massive support by branding itself as resistance to the US military occupation. Now, after years of murders, extortion, and racketeering by the militia, any such rallying cry is unlikely to stand close scrutiny.

Al-Mahdi Army does, however, have a vast, loose network of supporters and members in key areas of society, notably the police force. A source at the Interior Ministry said there had been chaos for several hours as various bureaux beholden to different political factions issued countermanding orders yesterday.

The Basra offensive was launched by the army, a more loyal government force that has been the focus of US military training and is considered to be much less influenced by militias, many of which receive support from Iran. Major-General Ali Zaidan, the commander of the Iraqi army operation, said the offensive would continue “until we achieve our target”. That target was to “wipe out all the outlaws. There were clashes and many outlaws have been killed,” he said. At least 22 people were killed in the fighting, officials said, as British helicopters provided reconnaissance in Basra and US warplanes flew over Sadr City in Baghdad, a hotbed of the militia.

British troops were not involved in the fighting itself. They withdrew from Basra late last summer to an airbase on the edge of city.

Even before that, however, they had largely handed over control of Basra to Iraqi forces even as militias were taking over. With troop numbers due to be cut to just 2,500 by the end of the spring, some critics say there are barely enough soldiers in the base to protect their own operations.

After touring Basra on Monday, Mr al-Maliki promised a crackdown on militias that were waging a “brutal campaign . . . accompanied by the smuggling of oil, weapons and drugs . . . Basra has become a city where civilians cannot even secure their lives and property”.

In an ominous sign that the unrest could intensify, Hojatoleslam al-Sadr threatened a countrywide civil revolt. Officials reported al-Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr-controlled areas of Baghdad kidnapping policemen affiliated to a rival militia, the Badr Brigades, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which is a senior government party.

But Harith al-Ithari, the head of the Sadr office in Basra, said the organisation — which also runs charities and holds government posts — was ready to negotiate to restore the ceasefire it had observed since last autumn. He dismissed the government statement that it was targeting illegal armed groups, accusing it of specifically targeting al-Mahdi Army.

“We are ready to negotiate,” he said. “The al-Mahdi Army is still under a freeze, but as citizens they can defend themselves if they are threatened.”

Ali al-Dabagh, a government spokesman, insisted the operation was not specifically aimed the al-Mahdi Army, which has tried to clean up its image and purge itself of rogue elements since announcing its ceasefire last year. That purge has often included summary executions and severe beatings, members say.

“These operations are not targeting the Sadr party. There is a campaign to disarm unauthorised weapons and there are no exceptions at this point,” Mr al-Dabbagh said. “The Government is determined to hit with an iron fist anyone using weapons and threatening citizens”.

Militiamen in Sadr City later fired four rockets into the green zone government quarter in the heart of Baghdad, narrowly missing Mr al-Maliki’s headquarters and a hospital.

Military curfews were imposed in many southern cities, and the fighting in Basra was dying down as night came on.

While heated, the fighting was far less intense than al-Mahdi Army uprising against the American military in 2004, when hundreds of irregular Shia fighters were killed. Analysts gave warning, however, that the al-Mahdi ceasefire had been a key plank in the recent calm that accompanied the US military “surge” last year, along with the turning of Sunni armed groups against al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Mahdi's messiah

Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr says his militia is preparing the way for the Mahdi, a messiah figure believed by Shia to be their 12th imam, who disappeared in the 9th century

Initially the group was small, made up of 500-1,000 combatants. By April 2004, however, its numbers had swelled dramatically and it began seizing ground — notably in Najaf and Sadr City, Baghdad

By August 2006 the militia was estimated to be 60,000-strong, and it appeared that Moqtada al-Sadr had only partial control over the group

In the summer of 2007 he called a truce, saying: “I direct al-Mahdi Army to suspend all its activities . . . until it is restructured in a way that helps to honour the principles for which it is formed”

The truce has been credited with much of the reduction in violence over the past six months

Sources: Times archives, GlobalSecurity.org







Times Online

From Times Online

March 27, 2008
Areas of Baghdad fall to militias as Iraqi Army falters in Basra

Fighters loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr with their weapons in Basra, southern Iraq on 27 March 2008



Gunmen loyal to Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr have fought back against the Iraqi Army

James Hider, of The Times, in Baghdad

Analysis: Zubair 1 is crucial pipeline

Iraq’s Prime Minister was staring into the abyss today after his operation to crush militia strongholds in Basra stalled, members of his own security forces defected and district after district of his own capital fell to Shia militia gunmen.

With the threat of a civil war looming in the south, Nouri al-Maliki’s police chief in Basra narrowly escaped assassination in the crucial port city, while in Baghdad, the spokesman for the Iraqi side of the US military surge was kidnapped by gunmen and his house burnt to the ground.

Saboteurs also blew up one of Iraq's two main oil pipelines from Basra, cutting at least a third of the exports from the city which provides 80 per cent of government revenue, a clear sign that the militias — who siphon significant sums off the oil smuggling trade — would not stop at mere insurrection.

In Baghdad, thick black smoke hung over the city centre tonight and gunfire echoed across the city.

The most secure area of the capital, Karrada, was placed under curfew amid fears the Mahdi Army of Hojetoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr could launch an assault on the residence of Abdelaziz al-Hakim, the head of a powerful rival Shia governing party.

While the Mahdi Army has not officially renounced its six-month ceasefire, which has been a key component in the recent security gains, on the ground its fighters were chasing police and soldiers from their positions across Baghdad.

Rockets from Sadr City slammed into the governmental Green Zone compound in the city centre, killing one person and wounding several more.

Mr al-Maliki has gambled everything on the success of Operation Saulat al-Fursan, or Charge of the Knights, to sweep illegal militias out of Basra.

It has targeted neighbourhoods where the Mahdi Army dominates, prompting intense fighting with mortars, rocket-grenades and machineguns in the narrow, fetid alleyways of Basra.

In Baghdad, the Mahdi Army took over neighbourhood after neighbourhood, some amid heavy fighting, others without firing a shot.

In New Baghdad, militiamen simply ordered the police to leave their checkpoints: the officers complied en masse and the guerrillas stepped out of the shadows to take over their checkpoints.

In Jihad, a mixed Sunni and Shia area of west Baghdad that had been one of the worst battlefields of Iraq’s dirty sectarian war in 2006, Mahdi units moved in and residents started moving out to avoid the lethal crossfire that erupted.

One witness saw Iraqi Shia policemen rip off their uniform shirts and run for shelter with local Sunni neighbourhood patrols, most of them made up of former insurgents wooed by the US military into fighting al-Qaeda.

In Baghdad, thousands of people marched in demonstrations in Shia areas demanding an end to the Basra operation, burning effigies of Mr al-Maliki, whom they branded a new dictator, and carrying coffins with his image on it.

From his field headquarters inside Basra city, the Prime Minister vowed to press on with his attack, which he said was not targeting the Mahdi Army in particular but all lawless gangs. "We have come to Basra at the invitation of the civilians to do our national duty and protect them from the gangs who have terrified them and stolen the national wealth," he said. "We promise to face the criminals and gunmen and we will never back off from our promise."

Supporters of Hojetoleslam al-Sadr, the rebellious cleric who formed the sprawling, 60,000-strong militia five years ago, have accused the Prime Minister of trying to wipe out the powerful Sadrists as a political force before provincial elections in October.

Residents of Basra complained that water and electricity had been turned off in the three main areas besieged by the Iraqi Army, which has an entire division deployed for the battle. They also said that they were running low on food an unable to evacuate their wounded. Estimates of the death toll in Basra reached as high as 200, with hundreds more wounded.

“The battle is not easy without coalition support,” lamented one Basra resident, who had worked as a translator for the British forces. “The police in Basra are useless and helping the Mahdi Army. The militia are hiding among the civilians. This country will never be safe, I want to leave for ever. I don’t know how to get out of this hell.”

One man was shot in the leg while trying to fix the rooftop water tank on his house but feared he would be taken for a militiaman if he tried to reach a hospital. Officials said that more than 200 militiamen had surrendered after the Government issued a three-day deadline to give themselves up.

While residents in Basra said that the army appeared to be making little headway against the militia bastions, a British Army spokesman based at nearby Basra airport said progress was being made.

“The Iraqi Army are rebalancing across the city, consolidating their positions, resupplying and preparing for future operations,” said Major Tom Holloway. “They made considerable progress, although not total progress by any stretch of the imagination.”

With fighting flaring across the Shia south, the police chief of Kut — where Mahdi fighters had seized large parts of the town, 110 miles southeast of Baghdad — said his men had killed 40 militiamen while losing four officers.

"The security forces launched an operation at around midnight to take back areas under the control of Shiite gunmen," Abdul Hanin al-Amara said.

While US and British military officials have been at pains to distance themselves from the push against the deadly militias, President Bush praised the high-risk strategy of tackling militias that a politically weak Mr al-Maliki had been forced to court in the past.

"Prime Minister Maliki's bold decision, and it was a bold decision, to go after the illegal groups in Basra shows his leadership and his commitment to enforce the law in an even-handed manner," Mr Bush said. "It also shows the progress the Iraqi security forces have made during the surge."

If the Iraqi forces fail to stamp out the powerful militias, however, and Iraq sinks into a new bout of in-fighting, Mr Bush’s troops and British forces may be forced to weigh in, sparking a new round of blood-letting ahead of US elections and scuttling British plans for an early withdrawal from Iraq.









Times Online

From The Times

March 28, 2008
Iraq: the battle for Basra
Britain should suspend the withdrawal of its troops from southern Iraq

For much of his time as Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki has been criticised for inaction and indecision. The initiative that he is undertaking in Basra can hardly be condemned on either count. In taking the fight to the ad hoc bands of militias and criminals who effectively control swaths of that city, he has put his own standing, the reputation of Iraq's armed forces and his country's renewed claim to nationhood on the line. If he succeeds in restoring order in this part of southern Iraq, displacing the followers of Moqtada al-Sadr in the process, then the prospects of Iraq becoming a stable and prosperous nation would be enhanced substantially. If he were seen to fail, by contrast, not only Basra but sections of Baghdad itself would be placed beyond the command of the central Government. Hopes for permanent peace would thus recede.

It is imperative, therefore, that this mission is a success and not a failure. In ideal circumstances, the battle would be won by Iraqis alone, with the security forces teaming up with tribal elders to overthrow gangs that have exercised ruthless authority on the streets and interrupted national oil supplies for private smuggling and profiteering. This is precisely the course that Mr al-Maliki is attempting to steer and he is right to want to achieve his ends by these means. It is possible that he will prevail but his opponents have the advantage of local knowledge and have demonstrated that they will not be disarmed without a struggle. At a minimum, the effort might require air support from Britain and the US and realistically it could demand yet more firepower.

Such a reverse might be embarrassing but it is far better than the alternative options. It would be little short of a disaster to allow Mr al-Maliki's drive to end in humiliation while some 4,000 British troops sat on their hands at Basra airbase, and it would scarcely be better if the Americans were asked to divert resources from their surge strategy so that UK Forces could avoid a conflict. Britain assumed responsibility for security in southern Iraq at the time of the intervention just over five years ago and it remains best placed to assist the Iraqi Army in its contest today. If it is not possible to rescue Basra before elections are due to be held there in October, that would be a damning indictment of British foreign policy as well as Mr al-Maliki's political credibility.

There are some significant implications to this. As matters stand, the British contingent in southern Iraq is set to be reduced to 2,500 men in the next few months with a further drawing-down in numbers to 1,500 expected not long after. This is partly to allow for a redeployment into Afghanistan but also to send the political signal that Britian's military role in Iraq is coming to an end. In present circumstances, this would mean leaving a total force that was barely sufficient to conduct training of the Iraqi Army and which could be vulnerable to attack in its own base.

It would be irresponsible to stick to this timetable. Ministers should make it plain that the current troop levels will be maintained in the area at least until the end of the year and if a modest increase is required to guarantee that conditions in Basra improve dramatically, so be it. This is a crucial moment not only for Iraq's second city but for the whole quest for normalisation. If the militias are disbanded, free elections are held and the oil industry can function properly then wider political reconciliation in Iraq will be lubricated. Britain could bring about that outcome in Basra. It would be a gross dereliction of duty not to try.









The Independent
Independent.co.uk

Stalled assault on Basra exposes the Iraqi government's shaky authority

By Patrick Cockburn
Friday, 28 March 2008

The Iraqi army's offensive against the Shia militia of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Basra is failing to make significant headway despite a pledge by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to fight "to the end".

Instead of being a show of strength, the government's stalled assault is demonstrating its shaky authority over much of Baghdad and southern Iraq. As the situation spins out of Mr Maliki's control, saboteurs blew up one of the two main oil export pipelines near Basra, cutting by a third crude exports from the oilfields around the city. The international price of oil jumped immediately by $1 a barrel before falling back.

In Baghdad, tens of thousands of supporters of Mr Sadr, whose base of support is the Shia poor, marched through the streets shouting slogans demanding that Mr Maliki's government be overthrown. "We demand the downfall of the Maliki government," said one of the marchers, Hussein Abu Ali. "It does not represent the people. It represents Bush and Cheney."

The main bastion of the Sadrist movement is impoverished Sadr City, which has a population of two million and is almost a twin city to Baghdad. The densely packed slum has been sealed off by US troops. "We are trapped in our homes with no water or electricity since yesterday," said a resident called Mohammed. "We can't bathe our children or wash our clothes."

The streets are controlled by Mehdi Army fighters, many of whom say they expect an all-out American attack, though this seems unlikely since the US says that an attack on the Shia militias is a wholly Iraqi affair.

In Basra, Iraqi forces have cordoned off seven districts but appear stalled in their effort to dislodge the Mehdi Army fighters. Masked gunmen in some cases have captured or seized abandoned Iraqi army vehicles and painted pro-Sadrist slogans on their armour.

A co-ordinated mortar bombardment struck the main police base in the city beside the Shatt al-Arab waterway and there was heavy shooting in the main commercial street of Iraq's southern capital. An Interior Ministry source said that 51 people had been killed and more than 200 wounded in three days of fighting in Basra. There was an attempt to assassinate Basra's police chief in which three of his bodyguards were killed by a bomb.

Mr Maliki's surprise offensive against the Mehdi Army is likely to have repercussions far beyond Iraq. The Americans must have agreed to the attack though they had previously praised the six-month ceasefire declared by Mr Sadr on 29 August and renewed in February as being one of the main reasons why violence had fallen in Iraq. Although Mr Sadr has said the truce is continuing it is ceasing to have much meaning.

President George Bush praised Mr Maliki yesterday saying he faces a "tough battle against militia fighters and criminals". He said that the Iraqi Prime Minister had taken a bold decision "in going after the illegal groups in Basra".

But the rapid increase in violence may puncture optimism in the US over the "success" of the surge in leading to a turning point in the five-year-long war.

The Green Zone, the heavily fortified centre of American power in Iraq, was wreathed in smoke yesterday as it was struck by rockets and mortars fired from Shia neighbourhoods. In a further blow to the belief that the surge has restored law and order, one of the two Iraqi spokesmen for the Baghdad security plan, which is at the heart of the surge strategy, was kidnapped and three of his bodyguards killed before his house was set on fire. The victim was Tahseen Sheikhly, a Sunni who often appeared with American officials to proclaim the success of the surge.

Clashes are now taking place across Iraq and most of the Shia districts in Iraq. In the middle of last year a Mehdi Army commander said that his militia controlled 80 per cent of Shia Baghdad and 50 per cent of the capital as a whole. This is probably only a slight exaggeration. There has also been heavy fighting in Kut on the Tigris, where 44 have been killed and 75 wounded, and in Hilla on the Euphrates where 60 people died. In past months the Sadrists have been locked in a struggle for Diwaniya, also on the Euphrates south of Baghdad, where they have been fighting police units controlled by Badr, the militia of the other great Shia party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI).

When he first came to power, Mr Maliki balanced between ISCI and the Sadrists but has steadily become closer to the first party and has shown growing hostility to Mr Sadr. The last great battle between the Sadrists and the Iraqi government backed by the Americans was in Najaf in 2004 and was ended by the intervention of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani who wanted the Sadrists humbled but not crushed. He also did not want to see the Shia community divided into warring factions. It is possible that the Grand Ayatollah may seek to mediate again but Mr Maliki may find it difficult to compromise after his claim that he will win control of Basra.

The government has about 15,000 soldiers and the same number of police in Basra but this is not a great number in a city of two million. The police are closely linked to the militias and are unlikely to prove a resolute ally against the Mehdi Army.







The Independent
Independent.co.uk

Iraq implodes as Shia fights Shia

Another tragedy as the Shia majority turn on each other

By Patrick Cockburn
Thursday, 27 March 2008

A new civil war is threatening to explode in Iraq as American-backed Iraqi government forces fight Shia militiamen for control of Basra and parts of Baghdad.

Heavy fighting engulfed Iraq's two largest cities and spread to other towns yesterday as the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, gave fighters of the Mehdi Army, led by the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 72 hours to surrender their weapons.

The gun battles between soldiers and militiamen, who are all Shia Muslims, show that Iraq's majority Shia community – which replaced Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime – is splitting apart for the first time.

Mr Sadr's followers believe the government is trying to eliminate them before elections in southern Iraq later this year, which they are expected to win.

Mortars and rockets launched from Mehdi Army-controlled districts of Baghdad struck the Green Zone, the seat of American power in Iraq, for the third day yesterday, seriously wounding three Americans. Two rockets hit the parking lot of the Iraqi cabinet. The mixed area of al-Mansur in west Baghdad, where shops had begun to reopen in recent months, was deserted yesterday as Mehdi Army fighters were rumoured among local people to be moving in from the nearby Shia stronghold of Washash. "We expect an attack by the Shia in spite of the Americans being spread over Sunni districts to defend them," said a Sunni resident.

Forty people have been killed and at least 200 injured in Basra in the last two days of violence. In the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad, 11 people were killed and 18 injured yesterday by a US air strike called in support of Iraqi forces following street battles with Shia militia members in the city's Thawra neighbourhood. In Baghdad, 14 have been killed and 140 wounded.

The supporters of Mr Sadr, who form the largest political movement in Iraq, blame the Americans for giving the go-ahead for Mr Maliki's offensive against them and supporting it with helicopters and bomber aircraft. US troops have sealed off Sadr City, the close-packed slum in the capital with a population that is the main bastion of the Sadrists, while the Mehdi Army has taken over its streets, establishing checkpoints, each manned by about 20 heavily armed men. It is unlikely that the militiamen in Basra will surrender as demanded by the government. Sadiq al-Rikabi, an adviser to Mr Maliki, said those who kept their weapons would be arrested. "Any gunman who does not do that within three days will be an outlaw."

Streets were empty in Basra and Baghdad as people stayed at home to avoid the fighting. The Mehdi Army is enforcing a strike in Baghdad with mosques calling for the closure of shops, businesses and schools.

In the Shia city of Kut, on the Tigris south of Baghdad, local residents say that black-clad Mehdi Army militiamen have taken over five districts and expelled the police.

At the same time, Mr Sadr is clearly eager to continue the truce which he declared on 29 August last year after bloody clashes in Kerbala with Iraqi police controlled by the rival Shia political movement, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and their well-organised militia, the Badr organisation.

He renewed this ceasefire in February, saying he wanted to purge its ranks of criminals. "The freeze that Sadr has ordered is still ongoing," said one of his chief lieutenants, Luwaa Smaism.

Mr Sadr has sought to avoid an all-out military confrontation with American troops or Badr backed by American forces since he fought two ferocious battles for Najaf against US marines in 2004.

Mr Sadr has sent emissaries to Mr Maliki asking him to remove his troops, numbering some 15,000 men from Basra, and to resolve problems peacefully. But his aides say there will be no talks until the Iraqi army reinforcements are withdrawn. The offer of talks is in keeping with Mr Sadr's past behaviour, which is to appear conciliatory but in practice to make few real concessions. The US is claiming that the Sadrists are not being singled out, only Iran-supported militia factions, but this will find few believers in Iraq.

"This is not a battle against the [Mehdi Army] nor is it a proxy war between the United States and Iran," said a US military spokesman, Major General Kevin Bergner. "It is [the] government of Iraq taking the necessary action to deal with criminals on the streets."

The Sunni population is pleased to see the government and the Americans attacking the Mehdi Army, which they see as a Shia death squad. "Before, the Shia were arresting and killing us and forcing us to leave Iraq for Jordan and Syria where we lived in misery," said Osama Sabr, a Sunni in west Baghdad.

The fighting is threatening to disrupt Iraq's oil production, most of which comes from the Basra area, because workers in the oilfields dare not leave their homes.

The militia

The Mehdi Army

Armed wing of the Sadr movement. Muqtada al-Sadr's militia is divided, with one wing supporting the radical cleric's ceasefire while another has rejected it and continued attacks on Iraqi government forces and the British base at Basra aiport.

The Badr Brigade

Armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. The Badr Brigade has been involved in numerous clashes with the Mehdi Army and appears not to be the target of the current offensive by the Iraqi government forces. The group has organised "spontaneous" demonstrations against General Mohan and General Jalil.

The Fadhila

A political party and armed group with a localised powerbase. The governor of Basra is a member of the party, and it controls a significant proportion of the region's oil supply.

Secret Cells

Said to be armed and trained by Iran and allegedly carrying out attacks ordered by Tehran.







Toward a US policy that looks beyond Arab oil
By Tamer Mallat
Commentary by
Friday, March 28, 2008



The energy crisis is upon us. Gas at the pump has increased threefold in two years. Inside the United States, criticism mounts of the huge profits enjoyed by oil companies at a time of deepening recession. Ideally, using alternative energy resources offers a way out of global dependency on petroleum products. Unfortunately, that depends on scientific breakthroughs only partly at hand. Hence the importance of the Middle East, which has the largest known oil reserves on earth.

The struggle for control of oil reserves is rightly acknowledged as a leading factor in the conflicts of the contemporary Middle East. America has retained a key advantage by maintaining alliances with most of the region's major oil producers, in the process buttressing their autocratic regimes. Yet this is a shortsighted emphasis. More useful, and valuable, would be for the US to see the region in a broader scope, through its rich history and culture. It is home to over 400 million people for whom oil is of lesser concern than what they have offered the world over the centuries, which has defined Arab identity and pride in ways oil never could.

Increasingly for the citizens of the Middle East, Western, particularly American, policy is an aggravating factor in their already miserable daily lives. Hostility to the US is not baseless. Supporting repressive Israeli actions, backing one side or the other in domestic conflicts, turning a blind eye to human rights abuses committed by ruthless governments, whose leaders-for-life run rentier states and care little about diversifying their countries' economies - these are only some of the crimes that America is perceived to be associated with by its Arab critics. The tragedy is always the same and the victims are always the same: Peoples at the mercy of powers they have no ability to influence or control.

How does a US policymaker, who must focus on oil because that is what consumers concerned by rising gas prices are most interested in, shift attention to the basic rights of the peoples of the Middle East?

For starters, the US must make the defense of democracy and human rights a real policy priority. This involves not only advocacy by administrations, but taking systematic, tangible steps to build on what has already been gained in the expansion of rights and liberties. The reason for this is that, realistically, the US cannot brusquely abandon its alliances with despots. What it needs to do is begin a gradual departure from the approach of today, bringing about a general change in mood and behavior that can then be consolidated in the medium and long term.



The US must also actively push its Arab allies, where applicable, to diversify their economies. The curse of oil can often be worse for locals than for American consumers. How can Arab societies be weaned off oil? There is no easy recipe, but instead of paying completely with cash, the US may choose to pay for oil partly through financial arrangements that emphasize job creation outside the oil sector. Oil producers may not accept anything but cash, but some sort of a "diversification tax" could be levied on American oil companies working in Arab states. Washington should also be more evenhanded in its relationship with Israel. When Israel makes a mistake, the US should not ignore it. This would fortify the notion that America is fair with all sides. If the US claims to be a world leader, then it should prove this by equitably mediating between the parties. Such a policy change would not necessarily make the Middle East less autocratic, but it would allow Arabs to trust the US more.

These three steps - greater emphasis on human rights issues beyond a focus on narrow oil or political interests, encouraging diversification of Arab economies, and a more nuanced relationship with Israel - if taken as the basis for new rapports between the US and Arab regimes, would also encourage ordinary Arabs to put greater pressure on their own leaders, this time with the manifest backing of the US.

In such a context, each small step can eventually lead to a bigger one, until one day there is much more latitude for the peoples of the Middle East to choose systems of government that best serve them. Once again, this can only be a gradual, long-term process; democracy takes time to develop, but it is necessary for the US to start the ball rolling now.

It took more than a century for France to find stability after its 1789-1799 revolution, and it took several generations for England's monarchs to finally cede political power. But societies, like individuals, can be changed, and should be if they are based on injustice. The world in general, and the US in particular, has a greater stake in the Middle East than oil and self-interest, and it's about time that policy begins to reflect this fact.

Tamer Mallat will be graduating this year from Concord Academy in Massachusetts. He wrote

this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.







Maliki defiant as Shiite revolt spreads
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Friday, March 28, 2008

Maliki defiant as Shiite revolt spreads



Karim Jamil

Agence France Presse

BASRA: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed on Thursday to pursue a crackdown on Shiite gunmen despite protests and mounting casualties, as Iraqi troops battled militias in the cities of Basra and Kut. At least 105 people have died countrywide in clashes since Maliki ordered his troops to crack down on "lawless gangs" in Basra on Tuesday, according to official reports. Some sources have put the toll at double that.

The military operations have been mostly in areas controlled by the Mehdi Army fighters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, severely straining a "freeze" he ordered of the militia's activities last August.

In Baghdad, Sadr's followers staged noisy protests against the crackdown in Basra and demand the resignation of Maliki, who is personally overseeing the military operations.

Sadr has threatened to launch a civil revolt if the attacks against his militiamen continue.

The Iraqi prime minister vowed not to back away from the military onslaught.

"We have come to Basra at the invitation of the civilians to do our national duty and protect them from the gangs who have terrified them and stolen the national wealth," he said in a statement, vowing not to back off.

Basra has become the theater of a turf war between the Mehdi Army and two rival Shiite factions - the powerful Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) of Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim and the smaller Fadhila party.

In an interview with state television Al-Iraqiya, Maliki said the operation was not aimed at any particular political faction. "Frankly we don't care who these gangs are linked to," he said.

"They violated laws, attacked property and killed innocents. We were surprised, however, that a specific political faction just exploded and gathered its forces to block the work of the government and started to attack the police," he added, without identifying the group.

In Washington, US President George W. BushMBA-Presidents Sep-07 called the fighting in Basra a "positive moment" for the development of Iraqi security forces and proof the Baghdad government could defend itself.

The police chief of Kut, Abdel-Hanin al-Amara, told AFP that among those killed during Thursday's military assault were four policemen and 40 Shiite militiamen.



"The security forces launched an operation at around midnight (2100 GMT Wednesday) to take back areas under the control of Shiite gunmen," Amara said in Kut, 175 kilometers southeast of Baghdad.

"At least 40 gunmen and four policemen were killed. Around 75 people were wounded. Police have now imposed full control on these neighborhoods," he added.

An AFP correspondent in Basra, meanwhile, said heavy fighting erupted early Thursday in the central Jumhuriyya neighborhood, a Mehdi Army bastion, where militiamen attacked troops with mortars, machineguns, rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire.

Police said Basra police chief Major General Abdel-Jalil Khalaf survived a suicide car bomb attack in central Basra but three policemen were killed.

The port city was covered by thick black smoke on Thursday from a blast which damaged an oil pipeline transporting crude from Zubair oil field to the Al-Faw storage facility.

Samir al-Maksusi, spokesman for the Southern Oil Company, said the bomb attack would directly affect exports.

Maksusi said the fire was later extinguished but added: "The technical crew needs 48 to 72 hours to repair the pipeline."

News of the pipeline attack as well as general nervousness over the fighting in Basra sent oil prices jumping above $107 a barrel in London. Eight people, meanwhile, were killed in clashes in Babel Province, south of the capital, Iraqi and US officials said.

In Baghdad, insurgents fired five rockets into the heavily fortified Green Zone on Thursday, killing one civilian and wounding 14, the US military said.

In Sadr City, an impoverished Shiite district of around 2 million people in east Baghdad, crowds gathered outside the Sadr office to yell slogans against Maliki.

"Maliki you are a coward! Maliki is an American agent! Leave the government, Maliki! How can you strike Basra?" the crowd chanted.

In northern Baghdad's Kadhimiyya district, Sadr followers carried a coffin covered in red fabric with a photograph of Maliki set against the background of an American flag, referring to him as "dictator."