Arabic international paper: Elements of Al-Mahdi Army Have Settled in Green Zone

[sabra]

http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=7611

Iraqi Judge: Elements of Al-Mahdi Army Have Settled in Green Zone

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- A judge in the Higher Criminal Court trying the former regime's key officials has confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that many elements from Al-Mahdi Army militia which is led by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have infiltrated and settled inside the Green Zone where senior Iraqi officials live. The area also includes the residences of Western diplomats and embassies, foremost of them the United States and Britain.

The judge, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity for security purposes, said in a telephone interview from his residence in the Green Zone that "elements of the Al-Mahdi Army have settled in the Green Zone as part of the force guarding former Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. They therefore constitute part of the force protecting some officials in the Unified Iraqi Coalition which is led by Abdulaziz al-Hakim."

[magellan]

1. If that's true

...then puppet plans to stop supporting/protecting the al-Mahdi militia are doomed and may well prove catastrophic for our troops.

[sabra]

2. considering they "infiltrated" the hanging of Saddam, this leads me to

believe it to be true.

[iconoclastic cat]

3. Why, what a nice wooden horse these Iraqi forces built for us!

Let's bring it indoors.

[sabra]

seems about right!

[annabanana]

4. THIS ought to help the jounalists that never venture

beyond the Green Zone sleep well.

[SoCalDem]

5. That's what happens when the majority of the force does not speak

the language or understand the customs. They are easily infiltrated because they must rely so heavily of local people . there are few people in Iraq now who have not had a family member/friend/neighbor killed or maimed by our invasion/occupation.It's obvious that "getting back at us" is high on their list...how better to do this than from within?

Infiltration is insidious, and it's kind of surprising that they did not expect this. The technique is exactly the same as their own takeover of media & government here in the US..

They might just be as dumb as they look :)