(Updated: Originally published October 22, 2006)
Same shit, different YEAR! Not in the Times archives or in Google.
The first piece referred to battles in Amara that are allegedly being initiated by the Mahdi Army.
It tells us that the "Mahdi Army... has been able to operate virtually unchecked in Iraq and is widely accused of propelling the cycle of sectarian violence that has pushed the nation to the brink of civil war.... [the Amara battle] raised fresh questions, too, about the ability of the Iraqi government and security forces to maintain order once allied troops are withdrawn."
[Withdrawal? WTF they talking about that for?
And CUI BONO? Who benefits when questions are raised about Iraqis taking over?
As for the ability to "operate virtually unchecked in Iraq," that would seem to be the sole providence of the USA!
Is Sadr's group conducting airstrikes, conducting house-to-house searches, and rounding up the men folk for imprisonment and torture (if they are not outright killing the men, er, "militants").
And if they are, who trained them?
Article tags all this division within the Shia in Iraq on Sadr, but then notes that "Mr. Sadr's office disavowed responsibility for the fighting in Amara, and his role in the assault remained murky. But residents and local officials said the gunmen [Blackwaters?], who wore the black clothes and black balaclavas that have become the hallmarks of the Mahdi Army, claimed allegiance to Mr. Sadr."
[Aaaah, yes, the "hallmarks" of the Mahdi Army.
Not like the US would engage in black op deceptions by dressing in the "hallmarks" of the Mahdi Army or anything!
Oh, right, that's the Brits!]
No, what happened was that "Mahdi gunmen wearing black clothes and black balaclavas [really pushing the fashion wear, huh (stink)?] were patrolling neighborhoods in commandeered police vehicles and manning roadblocks, local leaders and residents said.
A Mr. Mahamedawy said by telephone early Friday afternoon:
"Policeman tried to protect the stations, but what can they do? They do not have enough weapons and ammunition compared with the militia, which has all kinds of weapons."
[Really? How can that be?
After all the successful US raids of weapons caches in their house-to-house sweeps?
All the money and weaponry the US has poured into Iraqi "security' forces, and yet they have nothing while the impoverished insurgents are loaded to the gills?
Yeah, the poor impotent Americans and their Iraqi stooges!
THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PILE LIE UPON LIE UPON LIE UPON LIE!!!!
THEY BIRTH LITTLE CONTRADICTIONS LIKE A WELFARE MOM!!
Oh, and never mind that "Witnesses said a message from Mr. Sadr was broadcast by loudspeakers atop vehicles Friday, calling on gunmen to lay down their weapons, though the order was widely disregarded."
[What kind of power does this Sadr have, anyway?
He's impotent, too?!]
"Western intelligence officials in Baghdad have also spoken of Mahdi Army splinter groups operating as freelance death squads beyond Mr. Sadr's control, but some American officers have questioned whether Mr. Sadr has adopted this notion in order to deflect responsibility for crimes committed by his men."
[Wow, talk about setting a guy up.
It's a lose-lose for Sadr: either he's powerless or he's a devious liar.
Wonder if he's modeling himself after Bush?]
And before you lose too much focus, it's pointed out that "Amara... has been a chokepoint for munitions and people entering from Iran."
[Yup, gotta do the bidding of the Zionist War Mongers by dragging IRAN into it!
Un-flipping-effin-believable!!]
Then I turn to Sabrina Tavernese's slam job on Sadr.
Too bad. I used to respect her reporting, but not now.
Look at the terms and adjectives she uses to describe Sadr and the Shiites:
"Iraq is awash in killings, and many are blamed on the Mahdi Army, the militia commanded by a glowering Shiite cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. An indignant Mr. Sadr called his men to fight against the American military twice in 2004. It was bloodied, but survived. Since then the Mahdia Army, and a growing criminal breakaway element, have grown into one of the government's biggest problems and are a major obstacle to the success of the American enterprise here."
[Glowering and indignant!?
Would that dear Sabrina would ever describe our Asshole Fuhrer's behavior in such a manner!
The credibility of this piece is already shot!
Sadr's ral transgression?
He's a "major obstacle to the success of the American enterprise."
May Allah bless him.
By the way, do you know the history of Muqtada?
He is the head cleric of the Mahdi Army now because his father was assassinated by Hussein's forces in 1999, and Muqtada's older brothers were killed resisting Saddam's regime.
Muqtada was the youngest boy, and certainly unprepared to fill such large shoes.
That is why my empathy extends to Muqtada.
Are not he and his followers the ones we went to "liberate?"
Apparently not. WTF?]
Anyhow, "Mr. Sadr and his Mahdi Army have emerged as one of the biggest puzzles of this war. The cleric controls a large and crucial block of seats in Parliament.... the group and its rogue elements have settled deeply into the crevices of Iraqi society, filling college security offices and student unions, as well as the ranks of the police and army. It is often at the center of the spasms of sectarian killings, like the violence last weekend in Balad, and it frequently battles rival Shiite groups, as in Amara, and earlier this month in another southern city, Diwaniya. But in a measure of just how complex Iraq has become, it is impossible to tell where the loyalties to Mr. Sadr end and criminal activities begin. Rogue groups of his former followers now run underground fiefdoms of sectarian killing and kidnapping -- and even a special market for victims' cars."
[Of course, only our sanctioned puppets and killers must be allowed to settle "deeply into the crevices of Iraqi society, filling college security offices and student unions, as well as the ranks of the police and army."
Not like Sadr and his followers LIVE THERE or anything, ya' know?
And I object to the term fiefdom regarding 'killing and kidnapping."
By the same measure, America is awash in the shit!
Just more Zio-prop from the Times. Some things never change.]
And the murderous Mahdis "mechanisms for killing have become more sophisticated. A senior coalition intelligence official at a briefing last month detailed an example of a Mahdi Army death squad. Group leaders are issued instructions on order forms listing a target person and an address, the official said. A group can consist of special forces, intelligence units and punishment committeees, complete with clerics who impose sentences. Some of the leaders may be inside the Interior Ministry, the official said. Others may work with their contacts within the ministry to obtain equipment such as cars."
[RED FLAG! RED FLAG!
PROP-OP! PROP-OP!
How the hell would the SCIO know with SUCH DETAIL the Mahdi's operational structures and procedures?
WORKING WITH THEM, perhaps?!]
So pity the poor Americans whose "military's task has been vastly complicated by the sheer relentlessness of the violence."
[Aawwwww. Maybe that's what happens to you when you wage an AGGRESSIVE WAR!!]
And in "a broadly held view among Shiites... the American military has unfairly focused on Shiite militias... Groups like the Omar Brigade, formed to kill Shiites and carry out lethal suicide bombings, went unchecked."
[The Omar Brigade? FORMED BY WHO?
But I'm sure the U.S. wouldn't support Sunni groups to kill Shiites, right, readers?
So this is the Omar Brigade, I've heard of the Wolf Brigade (U.S.-formed group with Saddam's ex-henchmen at the helm).
How many Brigades we got trained over there?]
Of course, the "Mahdi Army's victims are sad, struggling figures, often stuffed into the trunks of cars."
[Yeah, stuffing people in cars is a "sophisticated" method of killing that only the Mahdi Army has been able to discover and utilize, huh?
I guess I'll just dismiss all those organized crime dramas I've watched all these years.
Aaaah, what more would you expect from the NY Times regarding the Shiites?
Like those "in Ur, mourners... gathering for the funeral of a man and his 6-year-old son. A bombing on Monday in a nearby market killed them both. The family blamed a puritanical Sunni Islamic sect, the Wahhabis, whose name has become the Shiite codeword for Sunni extremists. A boy around the age of 8 took money from his father to buy candy at a market across the street. As he walked away, his father called after him: "Be careful of the Wahhabis." When asked why he had said it, his reply came fast and cold. "I want to teach him whom to hate."
[Yes, that's right!!!
Shiites teach their children to hate -- at least, according to the shitty, Zionist-controlled New York Times!
Well, FUCK YOU, Sabrina!
And by the way, why aren't we whole-heartedly behind the Shia for hating the Wahhabis -- you know, the RULERS of Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden's clan?
But the West isn't out to destroy Islam, oh, no!
