NYT: Crackdown on Militias May Add to Instability in Iraq

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Crackdown on Militias May Add to Instability in Iraq
By JAMES GLANZ and STEPHEN FARRELL

BAGHDAD — A crackdown on the Mahdi Army militia is creating potentially destabilizing political and military tensions in Iraq, pitting a stronger government alliance against the force that has won past showdowns: the street power wielded by the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s military operations against the Mahdi Army that Mr. Sadr leads have at least temporarily pacified Sunni political leaders, who had long called on Mr. Maliki to fight Shiite militias with the same vigor that his forces use against Sunni insurgents.

And both the Kurds and some of Mr. Maliki’s Shiite political rivals, who also resent Mr. Sadr’s rising power, have been driven closer to Mr. Maliki. This may give him more traction to pass laws and broker deals.

But the badly coordinated push into Basra has unleashed a new barrage of attacks on American and Iraqi forces and has led to open fighting between Shiite militias. Figures compiled by the American military showed that attacks specifically on military targets in Baghdad more than tripled in March, one of many indications that violence across Iraq has begun to rise again after months of gains in the wake of an American troop increase.

The statistics threaten to reignite public concern about the cost of the war, just as the top American military commander and the senior American diplomat in Iraq testify before Congress on Tuesday.

The increase in overall attacks, to 631 in March from 239 in February, reflects new strikes against the Green Zone, the fortified headquarters for Iraqi and American senior officials, as well as renewed fighting in Sadr City between the Mahdi Army and American and Iraqi forces.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?ex=1365307200&en=ca72f70138513361&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss