Shiite militia emerges as Iraqi security threat

BAGHDAD — A Muslim imam dropped his cloak to the sidewalk. It was a signal for the gunmen to move.

They surrounded the top Iraqi security official in a north Baghdad district. Iraqi military vehicles — commandeered by other Shiite militiamen — screeched into a cordon, blocking his exit. A gun was put to his head.

Brig. Gen. Falah Hassan Kanbar, a fellow Shiite, managed to escape when his bodyguards pulled him into a vehicle that sped down an alley.

Details of the Aug. 5 ambush emerged this week in interviews with Kanbar, U.S. military and intelligence officials.

It remains unclear whether the thugs sought to kill Kanbar or simply intimidate him, but suspicions over the source of the brazen assault pointed in just one direction: the powerful Shiite armed faction known as the Mahdi Army and its increasingly unpredictable trajectory.

Vast network

The vast Mahdi network — ranging from hard-core fighting units to community aid groups — is emerging as perhaps the biggest wild card as Iraq's U.S.-backed government stumbles and the Pentagon struggles to build a credible Iraqi security force to allow an eventual U.S. withdrawal.

Just a few months ago, the Mahdi Army and its leader, firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, were seen as reluctant — but critical — partners with Iraq's leadership. Al-Sadr agreed to government appeals to lessen his anti-American fervor and not directly challenge the waves of U.S. soldiers trying to regain control of Baghdad and surrounding areas.

But now, the once-cohesive ranks of the Mahdi Army are splintering into rival factions with widely varying priorities.

Some breakaway guerrillas are accused by Washington, D.C., of strengthening ties with Iranian patrons supplying parts for powerful roadside bombs — which accounted for nearly three-quarters of U.S. military deaths and injuries last month. The devices suggest that Shiite militias could replace Sunni insurgents as the top threat to U.S. troops.

Other Mahdi loyalists are seeking to expand their footholds in the Iraqi military and police, frustrating U.S. attempts to bring more Sunni Muslims into the forces as part of national reconciliation goals.

The Mahdi Army, meanwhile, appears to be going through its own leadership crisis. Al-Sadr has been unable to rein in the renegade Mahdi factions. On Friday, a U.S. military commander said al-Sadr had returned to Iran, where he spent several months earlier this year. Al-Sadr's top aides called the claim baseless.

But there is no dispute that Mahdi Army operatives are busy planning for the future.

Solidifying control

The militia is working behind-the-scenes to solidify control of rent markets, fuel distribution and other services in Shiite neighborhoods — taking a page from other influential groups across the region, such as Hezbollah, that have mixed militia muscle and social outreach.

U.S. officials believe the head of the Kazimiyah faction is Hazim al-Araji, a Shiite imam and brother of Bahaa al-Araji, a Sadrist member of parliament. Through the al-Araji brothers, the Kazimiyah group has close ties to Iraqi politicians in the Green Zone, as well as to clerics in the holy city of Najaf, home to al-Sadr as well as Iraq's top Shiite religious figure, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

"With that political cover, these guys can get away with anything," said Lt. Col. Steve Miska, head of the 1st Infantry Division's Task Force Justice and the top U.S. officer in Kazimiyah.

Each day, militiamen in civilian clothes patrol in the winding streets surrounding the Imam al-Kadhim shrine. U.S. forces keep their distance. They fear an all-out insurrection if they crack down on the Mahdi Army. Also, they acknowledge that the Mahdi presence helps keep Sunni insurgents away.

The neighboring Shiite enclave of Shula is the base for the Mahdi Army's hit men, who kidnap and kill Sunnis — and increasingly, fellow Shiites — after trying them in Islamic courts, U.S. officials said.

The surge in Mahdi Army activity in Kazimiyah has also meant increased attacks on U.S. forces.

In the past four months, more than a dozen powerful, armor-piercing bombs were found in Kazimiyah. The so-called EFPs — explosively formed penetrators — are the type the U.S. thinks are funneled to the Mahdi Army by Iranian agents. In May, an American soldier was killed by an EFP planted near the gates of a U.S. base in Kazimiyah.

Last week, U.S. soldiers arrested an Iraqi army commander accused of involvement in planting roadside bombs to target U.S. forces. A known Mahdi Army operative, Maj. Ali Farhan, is also suspected of funneling weapons to militiamen and allowing them to pass freely through Iraqi checkpoints. He remains in U.S. custody.

On Tuesday, U.S. aircraft and soldiers attacked a suspected Shiite militia cell accused of importing the bombs and sending members to Iran for training. The U.S. military said 32 suspected militants were killed and 12 captured.