Iraqis losing patience with militiamen ( Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has provided services but...)

Los Angeles Times ^ | May 27, 2008 | Tina Susman and Usama Redha, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia has provided services and protection to residents, but fighting in recent weeks has endangered their lives.

BAGHDAD -- Four summers ago, when militiamen loyal to hard-line Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr were battling U.S. forces in the holy city of Najaf, Mohammed Lami was among them.

"I had faith. I believed in something," Lami said of his days hoisting a gun for Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. "Now, I will never fight with them."

Lami is no fan of U.S. troops, but after fleeing Baghdad's Sadr City district with his family last month, when militiamen arrived on his street to plant a bomb, he is no fan of the Mahdi Army either. Nor are many others living in Sadr City, the 32-year-old said. Weeks of fighting between militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces, with residents caught in the middle, has chipped away at the Sadr movement's grass-roots popularity, Lami said.

More than 1,000 people have died in Sadr City since fighting erupted in late March, and hospital and police officials say most have been civilians. As the violence continues, public tolerance for the Mahdi Army, and by association the Sadr movement, seems to be shifting toward the same sort of resentment once reserved for U.S. and Iraqi forces.

"People are fed up with them because of their extremism and the problems they are causing," said Rafid Majid, a merchant in central Baghdad. Like many others interviewed across the capital, he said the good deeds the group performs no longer were enough to make up for the hardships endured by ordinary Iraqis who just want to go to work and keep their families safe.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Have we got a new trend,.,,,,for news about what is really happening in Iraq...?

We need analysis Help here!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

H/T to the Long War Journal sidebar for pointing to this.

[Vigilanteman]

For every neighborhood which decorates their lamp posts with a Mahdi militiaman, we should bring in a nice catered chicken barbeque with useful handouts like a box of laundry soap or bottle of cooking oil for everyone who attends the celebration.

I bet it wouldn't be too long before more Mahdi militiamen were decorating the lamp posts.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Hot Air commentary on this LA Times article:

Mahdi Army losing support — or just losing power?

*****************************EXCERPT********************

posted at 8:40 am on May 27, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

****************************snip************************

The LA Times now reports that the Mahdis have lost popular support because they have resisted the current operation to establish Baghdad’s authority on Sadr City. This feels like a chicken-egg argument. Even the anecdotes used by the reporters to make that argument sound more like the Mahdis lost popularity quite some time ago, but only with the Maliki push to displace the Mahdis have residents felt free to voice their dissent. The extremism didn’t start in March, for example, and neither did Mahdi interference with commerce and traffic.

What seems more likely is the dynamic we saw in Basra. No one dared to openly oppose the Mahdis while they kept a tight grip on the city, but as soon as that grip weakened, dissent flowered into defiance. People threw off the shackles of fear and oppression to welcome the Iraqi Army and began playing music and celebrating for the first time in years. As Sadr City gains confidence in Maliki’s tenacity and no longer fear retribution from the Mahdis, the people will defy them and lower-level functionaries will find better, more productive jobs.

Terrorists only get power from fear. Once that dissipates, they discover that they never had much support at all, and only the luckiest of them escape the fate of most terrorist oppressors: an abrupt end to life.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good idea.

[allmendream]

Very salient points.

[epluribus_2]

I think as it sinks in that the U.S. is not going to cut and run, the whole dynamic has changed for the insurgents and alQ. The iraqis were going with the presumed winners before because of how the whole world and us media/rats repeated the doom and gloom scenarios so much. Resolve backed by power is unbeatable.

[allmendream]

Agreed, and as a culture Arabs “like the strong horse” as OBL says. Al QED was never more popular in the Arab world than right after 9-11. They were never less popular when they dragged Saddam Hussein out of his “spider” hole.

Nowadays people in the Arab world have to be thinking to themselves “You know, if Osama Bin Lauden thought that the U.S.A. was too involved in the Middle East BEFORE 9-11, did he think killing 3,000 American civilians would make them LESS involved in the Middle East?”

I was having that same discussion with my brother. He said “How could they possibly think it would work?”

I replied “It has always worked for them in the past, they gave Arafat a Nobel Peace Prize.”

“Yeah, but that was Europe!” was his PRICELESS answer.

We are not Europe. We are America.

[Marine_Uncle]

As more Sadrist and loose affiliated by neighborhood, Iraqi across the sectarian divide see their future being better off with the Iraqi central and provincial governments willingness to bring them out of their squalid conditions brought on by decades of shear neglect, we shall see growing numbers leaving the militia. Some will boldly appose it most likely.
A lamb chop on every spit and a bucket of tomatoes and cucumbers and a social security check surely are better then one getting blown up by some assholes roaming the streets planting bombs.
Besides, their big shot leader has gone into hiding for whatever reason(s).
How can they be so sure they will not end up worse off if they do not start to get on the winning side.
A few turns of water main valves and the downward thrust of main circuit cutoff switches can make them far worse off then they would care to be.
Sadr City can be fully cordoned off. No one enters or leaves.
And surely this is on the minds of more of them as they see their militia getting it's teeth kicked out.

[Billthedrill]

"Everyone is trying to claw their way to the top," said Olson, comparing it to Robin Hood turning into Tony Soprano.

Robin Hood had better press agents.

Better outfits too.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And the first MSM outlet dares to report a bit of positive news....

This news is not from a MSM outlet however:

Al Qaeda Discusses Losing Iraq

[Marine_Uncle]

Roger. Just responded to your other post.

[PGalt]

Great post! Great thread! Thanks to all contributors.

[Allegra]

Lami is no fan of U.S. troops, but after fleeing Baghdad's Sadr City district with his family last month, when militiamen arrived on his street to plant a bomb, he is no fan of the Mahdi Army either. Nor are many others living in Sadr City, the 32-year-old said. Weeks of fighting between militiamen and Iraqi and U.S. forces, with residents caught in the middle, has chipped away at the Sadr movement's grass-roots popularity, Lami said.

Exactly what needed to happen.

It started happening a few months ago. The media can't conceal the progress anymore. It has become too powerful.

[elhombrelibre]

Yes, the general public had to get fed up with these gangsters to make conditions right. Zero tolerance is much better than acceptance when it comes to the Mahdi army.

[PsyOp]

"They used to come and take money on a monthly basis from us," he said, speaking for himself and other local merchants. He said the militiamen would demand to know the details of their businesses, whether their customers were Sunnis, Shiites or Americans, and whom they employed.

In short, the mahdi army is no more than a mafia run by Sadr as the head mafioso. Just another protection racket. Don't pay and your shop goes up in flames with blame put on evil Sunnis, Americans, etc.