.US forces tread a fine line in divided Iraq
A joint patrol of the 101st Airborne Division and the Iraqi army is prowling the streets of Adhamiya after midnight, enforcing Baghdad's curfew, when a tip is relayed to them that a number of the radical Shia Mahdi Army militia, some in police uniforms, have staged a kidnapping at one of the city's main hospitals.
The Mahdi Army is believed to be responsible for much of the sectarian killing in the capital in the past six months, so this could be a death squad in action. Or it could be a police unit, or both.
Captain Will Arnold, commander of the patrol, is at first reluctant to react to the kind of report that has in the past sent him criss-crossing Baghdad. "People are always [calling] about something they don't understand," he sighs. With paranoia over militia infiltration of the police at a high, some Sunni are convinced that anyone in uniform is Mahdi Army.
But soon more details emerge – the hostages are six Sunni patients, taken by a gang of men from the ministry of health's guard force. This is a common enough occurrence, according to Baghdad's Sunni. The minister of health, Ali Shemmari, is a member of the Sadrist political movement with which the Mahdi Army is affiliated. He is reported to have staffed his guard with former militiamen.
Sunni from the nearby district of Adhamiya shun this place, even though they have no medical facilities in their own neighbourhood. The only time they come is to check the morgue for their missing. Among the alleged hostages is one of the ministry's own top officials, a member of a Sunni political party who disappeared in June.
The patrol heads to the minister's office, where the alleged kidnap force was last spotted. Capt Arnold's men push inside, but virtually all the doors are locked and no one can be found to produce a key.
The hostages – if there are hostages – could be anywhere inside, or in surrounding buildings. To tear apart the building would almost certainly cause a political storm. Capt Arnold decides on a solution – five guards whose description matches the kidnappers will be arrested by the Iraqi army unit.
The next day the political storm erupts anyway. The minister of health delivers press statements calling the arrests a "provocation" and demanding an end to the US military occupation.
At the Iraqi army battalion headquarters that evening, planning for a key raid is interrupted about every 15 minutes by a call from the ministry of defence, demanding the release of the arrested guards. The staff colonel at the ministry tells the Iraqi battalion commander that the prime minister himself has ordered their release.
"Does the prime minister want to release kidnappers?" the US military adviser in the room asks flatly.
The detainees were still being held on Monday evening.
MSNBC
The Mahdi Army is believed to be responsible for much of the sectarian killing in the capital in the past six months, so this could be a death squad in action. Or it could be a police unit, or both.
Captain Will Arnold, commander of the patrol, is at first reluctant to react to the kind of report that has in the past sent him criss-crossing Baghdad. "People are always [calling] about something they don't understand," he sighs. With paranoia over militia infiltration of the police at a high, some Sunni are convinced that anyone in uniform is Mahdi Army.
But soon more details emerge – the hostages are six Sunni patients, taken by a gang of men from the ministry of health's guard force. This is a common enough occurrence, according to Baghdad's Sunni. The minister of health, Ali Shemmari, is a member of the Sadrist political movement with which the Mahdi Army is affiliated. He is reported to have staffed his guard with former militiamen.
Sunni from the nearby district of Adhamiya shun this place, even though they have no medical facilities in their own neighbourhood. The only time they come is to check the morgue for their missing. Among the alleged hostages is one of the ministry's own top officials, a member of a Sunni political party who disappeared in June.
The patrol heads to the minister's office, where the alleged kidnap force was last spotted. Capt Arnold's men push inside, but virtually all the doors are locked and no one can be found to produce a key.
The hostages – if there are hostages – could be anywhere inside, or in surrounding buildings. To tear apart the building would almost certainly cause a political storm. Capt Arnold decides on a solution – five guards whose description matches the kidnappers will be arrested by the Iraqi army unit.
The next day the political storm erupts anyway. The minister of health delivers press statements calling the arrests a "provocation" and demanding an end to the US military occupation.
At the Iraqi army battalion headquarters that evening, planning for a key raid is interrupted about every 15 minutes by a call from the ministry of defence, demanding the release of the arrested guards. The staff colonel at the ministry tells the Iraqi battalion commander that the prime minister himself has ordered their release.
"Does the prime minister want to release kidnappers?" the US military adviser in the room asks flatly.
The detainees were still being held on Monday evening.
MSNBC
posted by madtom at 4:29 PM
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