[Dean's World] Dave Price: Sadr's Group Fractured

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Price:
Sadr's Group Fractured
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1174062301.shtml


   Apparently the extremists within Sadr's organization are [1]unhappy
   with the moderates

     BAGHDAD - An attack against the top Sadr City official has created
     tension in the ranks of Shiite militiamen with some blaming a
     faction unhappy about cooperation with Americans, a local commander
     said Friday.
     Gunmen opened fire on the convoy carrying Rahim al-Darraji Thursday
     in eastern Baghdad, seriously wounding him and killing two of his
     bodyguards on Thursday, police and a local official said.

   This is especially interesting because it implies Sadr himself may be
   joining the moderates. He's been hedging his bets all along, and it
   appears he may be giving a tacit blessing to coalition operations that
   target the more unruly factions of his [2]Mahdi Army.

     When reporting on an early October 2006 clash between the Mahdi
     Army and Coalition troops in Diwaniyah, BBC news suggested that
     currently the Mahdi Army is not a homogenous force, with local
     groups apparently acting on own orders [18].
     In September 2006, a senior coalition intelligence official had
     remarked to reporters how there were political fractures within
     Al-Sadr's organization in protest of his relatively moderate
     political course of action [19], with one coalition intelligence
     official claiming that at least six major leaders no longer answer
     to al-Sadr and as many as a third of the army was now out of his
     direct control [20].

References

   1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq;_ylt=AmKFaIpudDSWh9x605zSkYdX6GMA
   2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi_Army