Iraq's biggest aid agency? Muqtada al-Sadr

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http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/16/901428.aspx

BAGHDAD – For Um Wissam, a small office packed with food aid in Shiite-dominated Sadr City is a lifeline. With her son killed two years ago, the widow has nowhere else to turn for support.

"They're really great," she said. "They give us whatever they possibly can."

"They" are fervent anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.

A new report from Washington-based Refugees International says that Muqtada and his Mahdi Army are the largest "unofficial" aid agency in the country. And they're not alone. In the patchwork quilt of sectarian neighborhoods that make-up Baghdad, almost all aid is delivered through political and religious groups, according to report co-author Kristele Younes.