Militia feeds off help of U.S. - Training boosts Iraqi cleric's army

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070204/NEWS07/702040573/1001/BUSINESS05

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military's drive to train and equip Iraq's security forces has unwittingly strengthened anti-American Shi'ite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, which has been battling to take over much of the capital.

U.S. Army commanders and enlisted men who are patrolling east Baghdad, which is the front line of al-Sadr's campaign to drive out rival Sunni Muslims, said al-Sadr's militia has heavily infiltrated the Iraqi police and army units trained and armed by the U.S. military.

"They'll wave at us during the day and shoot at us during the night," said 1st Lt. Dan Quinn, a platoon leader in the Army's 1st Infantry Division. He said that people in the United States "think it's bad, but that we control the city. That's not the way it is. They control it, and they let us drive around. It's hostile territory."

The Bush administration's plan to secure Baghdad rests on adding about 17,000 more U.S. troops to the city. Most of those soldiers would work to improve Iraqi security units so U.S. forces can hand over control of the area and withdraw to the outskirts of the city.

The problem, many soldiers said, is that the approach has been tried before and resulted only in strengthening al-Sadr and his militia.

[rodeodance]

1. and it seems the PLAN is to hand control COMPLETELy over!!