Splintering Shiite militia could pose new threat to U.S.

[maddezmom]

Source: Associated Press

Splintering Shiite militia could pose new threat to U.S.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 22, 2007

BAGHDAD - The violent Shiite militia known as the Mahdi Army is breaking into splinter groups, with up to 3,000 gunmen now financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal to the firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, adding a potentially even more deadly element to Iraq's violent mix.

Two militia commanders told the Associated Press that hundreds of these fighters have crossed into Iran for training by the Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

The breakup is an ominous development at a time when U.S. and Iraqi forces are working to defeat religious-based militias and secure Iraq under government control. While Sadr's forces have battled the coalition repeatedly, including pitched battles in 2004, they have mostly stayed in the background during the latest offensive.

The U.S. military has asserted in recent months that Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Quds force have been providing Shiite militias with weapons and parts for sophisticated armor-piercing bombs. The so called EFPs - explosively formed penetrators - are responsible for the deaths of more than 170 American and coalition soldiers since mid 2004, the military says.



Read more: http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/22/Worldandnation/Splintering_Shiite_mi.shtml

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[az chela]

1. withdraw the troops now!!!!!!!!

This is not our war.We are responsible for letting bush take us to Iraq under false pretenses and we have no reason to be there.
PEACE NOW