Al-Sadr plans to turn militia into civic organisation

Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has decided to disarm his once-dominant Mahdi Army militia in Iraq and turn into a social service organisation.

The Mahdi Army will now be guided by Shiite spirituality instead of anti-American militancy, a media report has said.

The group will now focus on education, religion and social justice, according to a brochure obtained by the The Wall Street Journal which is confirmed by Sadr's chief spokesman, Sheik Salah al-Obeidi.

"It (the army) is not allowed to use arms at all," the brochure reportedly says.

Posters bearing the indication that a new direction for the Mahdi Army will be announced at this week's Friday prayers have been put up in some areas of Baghdad, the Journal said.

The move, the paper said, would represent a significant turnabout for a group that was seen as one of the most destabilising anti-American forces in Iraq.

For quite several years, the Mahdi Army, headed by a Shiite cleric used to control a sizable part of Baghdad and other cities.

However, the group recently has been hit by a largely successful Iraqi military crackdown against militia members operating as criminal gangs.

Also, the public support for Sadr is dwindling, the journal said. Residents who once viewed the Mahdi Army as champions of the poor became alienated by what they saw as its thuggish behaviour.

"The military welcomed the news, but the proof is always in the actions and not just the words, so we'll take a wait-and-see approach," US military spokesman Col. Jerry O'Hara was quoted as saying by the paper.
NDTV

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find this to be alarming news. I only hope that those that watch the front office see it too.