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Iraq
Four brigades split from Iraq's PMF in sign of internal rift
2020-04-23
[The National] Four Iraqi militia brigades have reportedly split from the Popular Mobilisation Forces and are now under the directives of the office of the outgoing Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

The killing of the PMF's chief of staff Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis in January by the US deprived the forces of their leading policymaker and challenged the standing of Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

In a letter addressed to Faleh Al Fayyad, the new head of the PMF - also known as Hashed Al Shaabi - Mr Abdul Mahdi said "their operations and administration" will now be directed by his office.

"The details will be disclosed at a later time," the letter said.

The brigades who have split are the Imam Ali, Ali Al Akbar, Abbas and Ansar Al Marjaiya, all loyal to the top Shiite holy man Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani.

Mr Abdel Mahdi is no longer in office, with former head of intelligence Mustafa Al Kadhimi having taken up the role as Prime Minister designate earlier this month. He is still considered the last holder of the office, however, until a new leader can be decided on by parliament.

The outgoing prime minister has come under pressure from Washington to curb Iran's influence in Iraq, particularly after several recent unclaimed attacks against US interests in the country.

The militias, which helped Iraqi and US-led international coalition forces drive out ISIS, have broad influence in Iraqi politics.

However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
 Iraq declared victory against the holy warriors in 2017. The decision is a direct message to the PMF that Mr Al Sistani's religious call to form a coherent fighting force against ISIS has come to an end, an Iraqi parliamentarian told The National.

"The Marjaiya [brigade] and the outgoing prime minister made this decision, that in itself sends a strong message," he said.

An electoral alliance made up of militia leaders and fighters came second in a 2018 parliamentary election and went on alongside populist holy man Moqtada Al Sadr, whose political group came first, to jointly nominate Mr Abdul Mahdi as premier.

Mr Abdul Mahdi issued a decree ordering the militias to come to heel by the end of July 2019, or be deemed "illegitimate".

His decree forces groups that make up the PMF to choose between political and paramilitary activity.
Related:
Adel Abdul Mahdi: 2020-04-10 Iraq names its third prime minister in 10 weeks
Adel Abdul Mahdi: 2020-04-04 Iraq’s feuding politicians impervious to emerging calamity
Adel Abdul Mahdi: 2020-01-06 Divided Iraqi Parliament Votes to Expel All U.S. Troops
Related:
Faleh Al Fayyad: 2019-10-08 Iraq says all evidence points to 'malicious hands' in protests
Related:
PMF: 2020-04-21 Kentucky sees highest spike in coronavirus cases after lockdown protests
PMF: 2020-04-19 Coalition training mission in Iraq and Syria ‘will resume as conditions permit’
PMF: 2020-04-11 Call It a Ponzi Scheme
Related:
Ali Al Sistani: 2015-08-15 Thousands demonstrate in Iraq capital for more reforms
Ali Al Sistani: 2015-02-02 Iraqi PM pledges hard line against alleged militia abuses
Ali Al Sistani: 2014-10-21 Iraqi PM rules out foreign boots on the ground
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Iraq
Iraqi activist, paramedic kidnapped after slamming Sadr
2020-04-20
[THEBAGHDADPOST] Iraqi War Documentation Center said the civilian activist and paramedic at al-Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Kadhim Mahdi, was kidnapped after he politically criticized Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
...hereditary Iraqi holy man and leader of a political movement in Iraq. He had his hereditary rival al-Khoei assassinated shortly after the holy rival's appearance out of exile in 2003. Formerly an Iranian catspaw, lately he's gagged over some of their more outlandish antics, then went back to catspawry...
Populist holy man Moqtada Al Sadr has turned against the Iraqi uprising, withdrawing protection to demonstrators and strengthening a government crackdown to crush the protest movement.

The uprising, which was demanding the removal of the entire political class, has undermined the influence of Iran, Al Sadr’s patron.
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Iraq
Sadr security help not needed: Iraq govt
2010-04-25
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government said on Saturday that an offer by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr to help boost security at strategic sites was unnecessary, in the wake of anti-Shia attacks in Baghdad.

‘I don't think we are lacking men in the security forces, what we are lacking is intelligence,' the prime minister's spokesman, Ali Al Mussawi, told AFP. ‘We do not believe that security has reached its highest level and certainly there are still deficiencies, but these can be resolved with the support of everyone and (not) by certain mistaken declarations from politicians about the security forces,' he added.

In a statement on Friday night, after anti-Shia attacks rocked Baghdad and killed at least 52 people, Sadr said he was ‘ready to supply hundreds of believers to form brigades within the police forces and army to defend the shrines, the mosques, the faithful, the markets, the houses and the people.'

‘This would prevent us having to rely on the occupation forces for protection and enable the Iraqis to live peacefully.'

‘The government is free to refuse (our offer) but we are always ready to help,' added the radical Shia leader, whose Sadrist political movement could be the kingmakers in Iraq's next government.

Friday's attacks were the most deadly since Iraq's March 7 general election, and came just days after the government said Al Qaeda was on the run. The violence in the capital, which also wounded 115 people, underscored the unrest that continues to plague a nation whose politicians are struggling to form a government seven weeks after the election.

According to Salah Al Obeidi, a spokesman for the Sadrist political movement in the Shia holy city of Najaf, Sadr launched his appeal because ‘we believe that the security forces are insufficient and are infiltrated' by members loyal to the former Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein.

‘That is why we are offering to put members of our movement at (the government's) disposal to boost security,' he added.

Iraq's army and police forces are estimated to number 550,000 men.

Formed in 2003, it was regarded by many as the most powerful of the Iraqi militias. Heavy fighting in the spring of 2008 between the Mahdi Army and security forces in Baghdad and the south had left hundreds killed.
And in response ...
In August 2008, Sadr ordered a halt to armed operations by his 60,000-strong militia, blamed by the United States for some of the worst sectarian killings of Sunni Arabs in the war-torn country.

Sadr, who lives in self-imposed exile in Iran, also led two uprisings in 2004 against the US forces in Iraq, only to join the US-brokered political process later and accept a place in the governing coalition.
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Iraq
Basra bid for autonomy falls short of required vote
2009-01-20
Basra's bid to become an autonomous region, fell short of the 10 per cent of votes required according to the Independent Electoral Commission.

This failure will most likely lead to further division and quarrelling between political parties vested in the region. Among those opposed to Basra's autonomy bid were Shiite parties affiliated with Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, and Moqtada Al Sadr. The Baathists also opposed the bid.

"Conflicting parties worked together for a common goal, which was to abort the Basra autonomy bid. This happened through voter intimidation, but we will reassert our bid for autonomy next year," Basim Al Musawi, member of the Basra Governorate Council told Gulf News. Only 5 per cent of the votes counted favoured autonomy.

"It is ironic that the Baath party and Al Maliki's Dawa Party as well as the Islamic Supreme Council, worked together to obstruct the vote counting," Zahra Al Saadoun, a political researcher in Basra told Gulf News.

The failure of Basra's bid, scores a major political victory for the Shiite Alliance under Abdul Aziz Al Hakim, who has long rejected the project due to his vision for an expanded federal project to include nine Shiite provinces in the southern and central Iraq.

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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
US-Iraq Negotiating Status Of Forces Agreement
2008-06-04
A proposed Iraqi-American security agreement will include permanent American bases in the country, and the right for the United States to strike, from within Iraqi territory, any country it considers a threat to its national security, Gulf News has learned.

Senior Iraqi military sources have told Gulf News that the long-term controversial agreement is likely to include three major items. Under the agreement, Iraqi security institutions such as Defence, Interior and National Security ministries, as well as armament contracts, will be under American supervision for ten years.

The agreement is also likely to give American forces permanent military bases in the country, as well as the right to move against any country considered to be a threat against world stability or acting against Iraqi or American interests.

The military source added, "According to this agreement, the American forces will keep permanent military bases on Iraqi territory, and these will include Al Asad Military base in the Baghdadi area close to the Syrian border, Balad military base in northern Baghdad close to Iran, Habbaniyah base close to the town of Fallujah and the Ali Bin Abi Talib military base in the southern province of Nasiriyah close to the Iranian border."

The sources confirmed that the American army is in the process of completing the building of the military facilities and runways for the permanent bases. He added that the American air bases in Kirkuk and Mosul will be kept for no longer than three years. However, he said there were efforts by the Americans to include the Kirkuk base in the list of permanent bases.

The sources also said that a British brigade was expected to remain at the international airport in Basra for ten years as long as the American troops stayed in the permanent bases in Iraq.

Iraqi analysts said that the second item of the controversial agreement which permits American forces on Iraqi territories to launch military attacks against any country it considers a threat is addressed primarily to Iran and Syria.

Iran has raised serious concerns in the past few days over the Iraqi-American security agreement and followed it with issuing religious fatwas and called for demonstrations, mainly by the powerful Shiite leader Moqtada Al Sadr movement, who is close to Iran, against the agreement.
As I said long ago, THIS was one of our biggest goals in the Iraq war, and this agreement will be one of the most important victories of George W. Bush, creating the equivalent of several aircraft carrier groups on permanent station in the region.
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Iraq
'New clashes in Sadr City kill eight'
2008-04-27
Fierce overnight clashes between Shia militiamen and the United States and Iraqi forces in Baghdad’s Sadr City killed at least eight people, including two children, a local medic told AFP on Saturday.

The firefight in Sadr City erupted at around 8:00pm (1700 GMT) on Friday and continued until 8:00am on Saturday, the medic said. “Those killed include two kittens children and a fluffy bunny woman,” he said on condition of anonymity.

Witnesses told AFP that the clashes broke out as security forces were putting up concrete barriers in the southern section of the sprawling district – bastion of anti-American Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr – in east Baghdad.

American forces began building a concrete wall there last week, in a bid to prevent rocket and mortar attacks on the heavily fortified Green Zone, seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy. But the construction project has angered local followers of Al Sadr.

Militiamen from his Mehdi Army and security forces have been fighting since March 25 when Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki ordered a crackdown on Shia militiamen in the southern city of Basra.
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Iraq
Six dead as fighting continues in Baghdad's Sadr city
2008-04-21
Six people, including two children, have died as clashes made their way from Sadr city to another district in Baghdad on Sunday, officials said. The fighting erupted soon after Moqtada Al Sadr warned of “open war” if the government does not stop a US-Iraqi crackdown against his followers.

Police and hospital officials said six people, four men and two boys ages 8 and 10, were killed in fighting in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City after midnight.
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Iraq
US says 20 fighters killed in Baghdad clashes
2008-04-21
Twenty militia fighters were killed in clashes with US forces overnight during the "hottest night" in weeks, after cleric Moqtada Al Sadr threatened to declare open war, a US military spokesman said. Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover described a series of gunbattles and air strikes in the Sadr City slum, stronghold of the cleric's Mahdi Army fighters, in which a total of 20 fighters died. "I would say it's been the hottest night in a couple of weeks," he said.
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Iraq
Disputes stall Iraq’s 2008 budget in parliament
2008-01-23
BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers have refused to ratify the nation’s 2008 budget, the expected passage of which had been praised by Washington as a sign of progress, because of disputes over earmarks allocations, officials said on Tuesday.

Parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani called the heads of Iraq’s main political blocs to a meeting in his office late on Monday after they failed to sign off on the $48 billion budget, and urged them to pass it when parliament next sits on Thursday. ‘The speaker urged all members and heads of blocs who have reservations on the 2008 budget...to hurry and approve the budget in order to provide for the fundamental needs of the Iraqi people,’ Mashhadani’s office said in a statement issued on Tuesday. Mashhadani and Finance Minister Bayan Jabor met the leaders of the major blocs late on Monday to explain the government’s position, Mashhadani’s office said.

US officials in Baghdad have praised the budget and this month’s passage of a law allowing former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to rejoin the government and military as evidence of progress.

Lawmakers were also being urged to sign off on the increased budget to stimulate Iraq’s economy and take advantage of significant security improvements, with attacks across the country down by 60 percent since last June. But what had looked like a smooth passage of the budget disintegrated late on Monday amid continued disagreement between Shia , Sunni Arab and Kurdish lawmakers.

One key dispute was the 17 percent of the budget allocated to the largely autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, based on population estimates, with additional funds set aside to pay for Kurdistan’s peshmerga security forces. The Kurdistan issue has been simmering for months, with arguments over whether the allocation accurately reflected the Kurdish population.

In the absence of an accurate census, other lawmakers have argued that Kurdistan should only receive 12 percent of the budget. Several MPs also said Kurdistan should pay for the peshmergas itself.

Nassar Al Rubaie, head of a bloc loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr which walked out of the government last year, also voiced concern about what he said were inadequate allocations for teachers and concerns over food rationing. A representative of Shia Fadhila bloc said his group would not agree to the current form of the budget because of what he described as ‘unjustifiable allocations’.
Translated as "where's mine?"
The Iraqi National List led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the government had failed to provide any financial statements for several years.
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Iraq
Shia and Sunni MPs sign new ‘unity’ pact
2008-01-14
BAGHDAD - Parliamentary blocs representing Sunnis, Shias and independents on Sunday signed on to a common platform stressing the need for national unity and central control over oil reserves. The blocs, should they come together as is expected as a new political alliance, would be a dominant force in the 275-member parliament, with a total of more than 100 seats.

Among those who signed the statement of common understanding are the political wing of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, the secular Iraqi National List of former prime minister Iyad Allawi and the Sunni leader Salah Al Mutlak’s National Dialogue Front, a joint statement said.

The statement said the pact was signed ‘for the sake of the higher national interest, to maintain a united Iraq free of sectarian divisions ... and to support national reconciliation.’

The parties demanded that oil and gas ‘and other natural resources should remain Iraqi treasures’ and not be allowed to be signed away by regional powers. The statement expressed ‘deep concern at individual acts without reference to central government, such as the signing of contracts with foreign companies’ —- a reference to Iraq’s oil-rich autonomous Kurdish region, which has signed 15 crude oil contracts with 20 foreign concerns.
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Iraq
Al Hakim and Al Sadr make deal
2007-10-07
Shiite politician Abdul Aziz Hakim met with the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr on Saturday to come to an agreement on how to bring bloodshed to an end.

The resulting agreement consists of three points according to a statement made by Al Hakim: "First: the necessity to maintain and respect Iraqi blood [to stop bloodletting] under whatever circumstances or by any party. Bloodletting is contrary to all legislations and morals," it said.

The remaining two points talked about uniting their media and cultural efforts and setting up of a joint committee with provincial branches to keep order between their factions.
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Iraq
Iraq releases 135 suspects in relation to Karbala bloodletting
2007-09-09
BAGHDAD - Authorities Saturday released from custody 135 suspects who were rounded-up in relation to deadly clashes in a Shia pilgrimage site in Karbala which killed 52 Iraqis last month. Reportedly, only 15 of the discharged were Sadrists.

On August 28, Shias engaged in a deadly gunbattle near two sacred shrines in Karbala during an annual Shia festival as the holy city hosted over four million Shia pilgrims. According to police sources and witness reports, Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr’s armed supporters - enraged at being held back from visiting the shrines for security reasons - started shooting at Shia security forces, scaring the crowds of visitors. The incident was branded ‘the Karbala sedition’ and Shia clerics started accusing foreign forces and former Baath party supporters for causing the chaos that lead to the bloodbath.

Al Sadr called for an official probe into the incident after imposing a six-month freeze on his radical armed followers known as the Mahdi Army. But warned of ‘retaliation’ if the investigation was not neutral or was unnecessarily delayed. When scores of Mahdi army affiliates were rounded-up in Karbala- related arrests later, Sadr’s office decried ‘bias’ and ‘injustice’ and Sadr himself shot back with another ‘ultimatum.’

On Saturday, the head of Karbala’s Sadr office Abdel-Hadi Al Mohammedawy said that the authorities released only 15 out of 250 Sadrists held in custody.

Aqeel Al Khazaily, Karbala’s governor, said a special committee set to probe the incidents was still investigating, and was releasing only those who were proved not responsible for the acts of violence.
And the ones who are can go to Abu Ghraib.
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