Militia break-up poses questions

Baghdad: Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri Al Maliki's insistence on dissolving the Mahdi Army militia has prompted many questions concerning the Shiite leader Moqtada Al Sadr's options, the Iranian role, and US and various Iraqi political forces' positions.

"Al Maliki and others should realise that dissolving the Mahdi Army and disarming it is unacceptable and its leader Sadr will not consider this step an option," Talal Al Sa'adi, a prominent figure in the Al Sadr trend, told Gulf News.

According to political reports in Baghdad, the trend has divided into two wings. The first is led by Lua'a Smisim and Riadh Al Nouri who was murdered in Najaf. Both support dissolving the Mahdi Army. The second is led by Salah Al Obaidi and Ahmad Al Shaibani who oppose this.

"The split in dealing with the Mahdi Army is not limited to the Sadr trend but also to the Shiite coalition led by Abdul Aziz Al Hakim and the Dawa Party led by Nouri Al Maliki," Munaf Al Yasiri, a member of the Shiite Fadhila party, told Gulf News.

"Both men and with the national security adviser Muwaffaq Al Rubaie support a military solution in dealing with the Al Sadr trend unlike the former Prime Minister Ebrahim Al Jaafari and the Dawa Party prominent figure, Ali Al Adeeb, who opposes military action and stands with building confidence with the trend and then asking it to dissolve its army".

Meanwhile, Iraqi political analysts believe that dissolving the Mahdi Army is unacceptable to the Shiite leader and also to Iran.

Prominent opponent

"Iranians believe that dissolving the Mahdi militia means abandoning the weapons which they could fight Americans with inside Iraq in case of the outbreak of any American-Iranian war," said Harith Al Somaida'ai, a political researcher, told Gulf News.

"Thus Iran is the most prominent opponent to dissolving the Mahdi Army," he added. According to Iraqi intelligence reports, Iran has two options which are either achieving its strategic goal of destabilising the US presence in Iraq by supporting Shiite armed militias with weapons, money and training on one hand, or satisfying its allies, Al Hakim and Al Maliki on the other.

Adnan Al Adhami, a former employee at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, told Gulf News: "There is a genuine difference between Iran's relationship with Al Sadr, and both Al Hakim and Al Maliki. The latter is involved in a political process sponsored by the United States but Al Sadr refused to join it and insisted on remaining outside this process thus he is the only ally who can be trusted to destabilise the American presence in Iraq."

Kurdish political circles said there is a Shiite-Kurdish movement, supported by the Americans, to win the Shiite leader, Moqtada Al Sadr, and convince him to join the political process. This move is considered an important step in the process of dialogue and coexistence with the Americans.

That would put Al Sadr at a crossroads. The first option he would have is to accept affiliation to the current political position which is sponsored by Americans and possibly be considered a target by extreme leaders in the Mahdi Army. The second option is to keep his hardline revolutionary position in resisting the US occupation.

Iraq: 11 killed in bomb blast

A surge of violence in Baghdad killed 11 people, including five civilians who died when they were struck by a roadside bomb in the city centre aimed at a police patrol, officials said on Monday.

The bomb attack struck at around 11am in Nidhal Street, one of the capital's main thoroughfares, Iraqi security and medical officials said. Five passersby were killed and nine people wounded, two of them policemen, a security official said.

The US military, meanwhile, said six "criminals" were killed late Sunday by US forces in east Baghdad, where security forces have been battling Shiite militiamen since April 6 in clashes in which around 90 people have died. The clashes have been focused mainly in Sadr City, bastion of the Mahdi Army militia of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr.

- AP