How the 'security' charade plays in Baghdad

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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IB10Ak06.html
Feb 10, 2007


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How the 'security' charade plays in Baghdad
By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS - An estimated 85,000 US and Iraqi troops are expected to patrol Baghdad's streets as part of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's US-inspired security plan to combat sectarian violence.

Fifty-four police stations, with 25,000 police officers, have been placed on high alert to combat the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Badr Organization of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and armed insurgents allegedly from al-Qaeda and the Ba'athists loyal to the late president Saddam Hussein. Ironically, both the Mehdi Army and the Badr Organization are allied to the premier.

On the first day of the security surge on Wednesday, 22 Iraqis were killed in Baghdad. Twenty-four hours later, US and Iraqi troops stormed the Iraqi Ministry of Health and arrested the deputy minister, Hakim al-Zamili, who is accused of being a member of the Mehdi Army.

Zamili is also accused of smuggling arms in ambulances and using ministry vehicles to evacuate members of the Mehdi Army from Sadr City during an Iraqi-US raid on the Baghdad Shi'ite slum. He is also said to have diverted huge sums of money to the Mehdi Army. ........