U.S., Iraqi officials cite ‘gangs,’ not Mahdi Army, as enemy

[unhappycamper]

U.S., Iraqi officials cite ‘gangs,’ not Mahdi Army, as enemy
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, April 14, 2008

BAGHDAD — American forces and the Iraqi government are officially resisting any attempts to connect recent fighting to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army.

Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a Multi-National Force–Iraq spokesman, described a brightening security picture in Basra and Baghdad to a group of reporters in the capital Sunday — initially without any mention of the militant group.

Instead, he said the Americans and Iraqi security forces have been battling “armed criminals” and “gangs” who possess illegal weapons. Driscoll noted that Iraqi Security Forces arrested more than 400 criminals during the fighting, including several death-row convicts at large in Basra.

Since al-Sadr declared a truce with coalition forces last year, the military has taken great pains to distinguish between the mainstream Mahdi Army and breakaway elements that it calls “special groups.”

That view is at odds with many Iraqis, most of whom simply call any Shiite militants Mahdi Army. During last week’s fighting in Shula, for example, informants filled tip lines with information that they’d seen Mahdi Army members amassing in the streets. Iraqi commanders attributed the lull after fighting exploded in March to al-Sadr’s realization that his army was losing. Some Iraqi government officials have even warned the Americans that the distinction between the Mahdi Army and special groups isn’t always so clear.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54038

[annabanana]

1. This belongs on the front page! All of the corporate media is doing it.

They are doing everything possible not to reference Al Sadr and the Mahdi Army. They are being called "militant militias" and every other generic term you can imagine. It is hard to believe that this is an accident and that there is no "order form the top" to do this.