Iraqi Army or Mahdi Army? Video Shows Iraqi Soldiers Covering Mahdi Army in Attack on Sunni area

[laststeamtrain]

Iraqi Army or Mahdi Army?
Video Shows Iraqi Soldiers Covering Mahdi Army in Attack on Sunni area

The Haqq Agency posted a video of an alleged joint operation between an Iraqi Army unit and the Mahdi Army at the border of the predominately Sunni district of Fadhil in central Baghdad. The video clearly shows a member of the army unit wandering around and using his cell phone to film Iraqi soldiers and gunmen in plainclothes, who he refers to as members of Jaish Al-Imam (the army of the imam). The blurry video, which is dated May 10, 2007, is possibly filmed at the neighboring Shi’ite-majority Abu Saifain district, southeast of Fadhil.

The cameraman addresses the soldiers by their first names (Basim, Maitham, Azhar, Hameed), and he is apparently familiar with the militiamen, as they smile back at him while they reload their weapons in preparation for the assault on Fadhil. He repeatedly shouts a Shi’ite slogan, “Ali wiyak, Ali,” which means “May Ali be with you,” in reference to the first Shi’ite imam Ali bin Abi Talib, the nephew and son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed, as the gunmen and militiamen spray the street with bullets. In another instance, he shouts “Ali yinusrak ‘ala ahl al Fadhil, al manaweech,” meaning “May Ali grant you victory over the residents of Al-Fadhil, the bastards.”

A militiamen dressed in a tracksuit is seen firing a rocket-propelled grenade in the direction of Fadhil, while an Iraqi soldier toting a PKC machine gun provides cover from behind a concrete bloc. The cameraman then hands over his cell phone to a fellow soldier and says, “Film me while I go shoot a few bullets.” He then fires randomly from behind the concrete bloc, as he screams, “Those Wahhabis, the brothers of whores.”

Shi’ite political parties often accuse residents of Al-Fadhil of harboring Sunni insurgents, who use the district to prepare car bombs against the nearby Shi’ite areas of Sadriya and Abu Saifain. According to the Associated Press, Sunni insurgents hijacked two buses and abducted at least 15 passengers as they passed through the district yesterday. The insurgents then clashed with Iraqi security forces from the narrow alleys of the district, according to Iraqi police.

This video, and others circulating by bluetooth technology in Baghdad and posted on Internet message boards, are often used by members of the Sunni community in Iraq as evidence of the sectarian tendencies and the infiltration of U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces by Shi’ite militias. Scenes like these also raise questions on the ability of the U.S. to use Iraqi security forces to rein in Shi’ite militias thought to be responsible for revenge attacks and death squad activities against members of the Sunni minority in Baghdad.

http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3010

[acmavm]

1. No theocratic government will ever rule in Iraq. No sectarian

violence will ever occur there either.

Remember that shit coming from the criminals in the bush** administration right after Shock and Awe? I do.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. David Gergen posed an idea that Iraqi government is using us

to pay for training so that they can kill all of the Sunni's if/when we leave (paraphrased). In his words, "They're wily people."