Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

Iraqi City In The Grip Of Militias, Al Jazeera English, October 31, 2007

Amid warnings that southern Iraq could erupt into civil war when British troops withdraw, Basra’s chief of police has publicly admitted that his forces have been unable to clamp down on growing militia warfare in the city.

In recent months, rival Shia factions have been battling for control of the city which is considered the second largest in the country and home to Iraq’s only port.

This makes the Basra a vital outlet to the Gulf for marine transportation of oil and fuel products – a lucrative prize for any political faction looking to consolidate its power in Baghdad.

The ensuing power struggle has led to an exodus of Sunni, Shia and Christian families northwards and often out of the country.

Earlier this week, Major-General Jalil Khalaf, commander of the Basra police department, admitted for the first time that the militias have proven too strong for – and often infiltrated - his forces.

Speaking to As-Sabah, the official Iraqi daily, he said: “Most of Basra’s ports, especially Um Qasr, are under the control of militia gangs.

“The police force is incapable of executing its duties because its members report to Basra’s militias and (political) parties which own those militias.

Iraq | They say the Mahdi is coming back | Economist.com, October 25, 2007

Many Basrawis use the language of apocalypse to describe the rival Shia parties and their militias (the biggest calling itself the Mahdi Army) that are struggling for control of their city. The police force, set up by the British, is infiltrated by the militias and involved in crime. Some Basra people say the clashes, assassinations, kidnappings, the daily threat of violence and the enforcement of a rigid Islamist code of conduct amount to a “Shia Talibanisation”, with music and wedding parties banned and huge billboards warning women against venturing outside unveiled.

“We live a half-life in Basra,” says a university teacher. “There’s no space for life, no parks, theatres, cinemas or space for freedom. Civil and political activities are controlled. When you go outside, the fear is inside you that you may be followed and targeted. We’re living in a nightmare.”

Many Basra people blame the British for their plight but still say that their rapid withdrawal would lead to outright war between the militias. “We have a saying”, says another academic, “that a just non-Muslim ruler is better than a Muslim tyrant.” The British invaders, some Basrawis argue, could have won people over if they had showed a willingness to support the hidden Mahdi. “One of our traditions says that most of those standing against him will be Muslims and most of his followers will be from the Christian community.”

Iraq’s Basra police chief escapes assassination bid | Reuters, October 24, 2007

BAGHDAD, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The police chief of Iraq’s southern city of Basra said he escaped an assassination attempt on Wednesday by gunmen who opened fire at him from rooftops while he was getting into his car.

Major-General Abdul-Jelil Khalaf told Reuters by telephone that one of his bodyguards was wounded in the attack at a bustling outdoor market in the centre of Basra, Iraq’s second largest city.

The shooting came a day after clashes between the Mehdi Army militia of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and local security forces in the city. The militiamen freed an imprisoned comrade from the main police headquarters.

Tom Lasseter, Iranian-Backed Militia Groups Take Control of Much of Southern Iraq, Knight Ridder, May 27, 2006

BASRA, Iraq - Southern Iraq, long touted as a peaceful region that’s likely to be among the first areas returned to Iraqi control, is now dominated by Shiite Muslim warlords and militiamen who are laying the groundwork for an Islamic fundamentalist government, say senior British and Iraqi officials in the area.

The militias appear to be supported by Iranian intelligence or military units that are shipping weapons to the militias in Iraq and providing training for them in Iran….

Iranian influence is evident throughout the area. In one government office, an aide approached a Knight Ridder reporter and, mistaking him for an Iranian, said, “Don’t be afraid to speak Farsi in Basra. We are a branch of Iran.”…

British military officials suspect that the missile that was used to shoot down a British helicopter over Basra on May 6 came from Iran. Five British soldiers died.

“We had intelligence suggesting five surface-to-air missile systems being brought over from Iran only seven days before it went down,” said Maj. Rob Yuill, a British officer based in Basra.

Last month…, at least 200 people were killed in Basra, almost all of them by militia violence, according to an Iraqi Defense Ministry official there.A week with British troops in Maysan and Basra provinces and three additional days of reporting in the city of Basra made it clear that Iraqis here are at the mercy of Shiite militia death squads and Iran-friendly clerics who have imposed an ever-stricter code of de facto Islamic law.

The city of Basra has largely come under the control of Shiite clerics, who have banned alcohol sales. A woman without a headscarf is a rare sight. Record shops have been replaced with stores selling Quranic recordings. It’s difficult to purchase chess or backgammon sets; the games are frowned upon by hard-line clerics….

U.S. forces are dependent on a fragile re-supply line that runs from Kuwait north to Baghdad through southern Iraq. A regional government allied with Iran could pose a risk to that supply line.

Basra airport director kidnapped by unknown gunmen, The Times of India, October 10, 2007

BAGHDAD: The director of the international airport of Iraq’s southern port city of Basra was kidnapped by unknown gunmen outside his home on Tuesday night, a security official said.

Abdul Razak Kassem was abducted when he arrived back from work at his home in a residential area close to the airport, the official said.

There were no immediate further details. British troops pulled out of Basra city on September 2-3 but fears of a Shiite turf war remain and sectarian violence continues.

Some 5,250 British troops are now stationed at Basra airport but Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday that Britain would cut these numbers by more than half to 2,500 from early next year.

Insitute of Peace and War Reporting, Climate of Fear Stymies Basra Reporters, (2-Oct-07

Journalists risk death if they try to report candidly about the troubled city.

By Safa al-Mansoor and Dhiya al-Mussa in Basra

As a reporter for a US-backed radio station in the southern city of Basra, Majid al-Brekan had received threats before - but none like this.

One day in late March, as Brekan slipped into the driver’s seat of his car in front of his house, he noticed three masked men riding on a motorcycle behind him. Fearing trouble, Brekan quickly turned on his ignition and slammed on the accelerator. The men shot and damaged his car, but Brekan escaped without injury.

The incident shook the journalist so much that he decided to flee his home city. The press is not free in the southern oil-rich city, said Brekan bitterly, because journalists are in harm’s way.

“We are fearful and cautious about our work,” said Brekan, who works for Radio Sawa - an Arabic language radio station, funded by the United States government and broadcast throughout Iraq. “We can’t report the full story in detail because no one protects us.”

Local journalists who remain describe a climate of fear. They work quietly, not wanting to incite the wrath of the local Shia militias or Islamic parties that have taken control of the city since British forces stationed there handed it back to be governed by locals.

These include Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s political wing and Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia; the Shia Fadheela Party, which holds substantial political power in Basra; and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and its Badr Organisation, which Iraqi exiles in Iran founded in 1982 to oppose former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime. Basra’s Sunni citizens have largely been pushed out of the province.

Journalists say that openly criticising political parties or militias is a “red line” not to be crossed

Religious extremists killing women in Basra, Iraq, McClatchy Newspapers, www.kansascity.com, October 4, 2007

BASRA, Iraq | Women in Basra have become the targets of a violent campaign by religious extremists, who leave more than 15 female bodies scattered around the city each month, police officers say.

Maj. Gen. Abdel Jalil Khalaf, commander of Basra’s police, said Thursday that self-styled enforcers of religious law threatened, beat and shot women who they thought weren’t sufficiently Muslim….Often, he said, the “crime” is no more than wearing Western clothes or not wearing a head scarf….

The vigilantes patrol the streets of Basra on motorbikes or in cars with dark-tinted windows and no license plates. They accost women who are not wearing the traditional robe and head scarf known as hijab. Religious extremists in the city also have been known to attack men for clothes or haircuts deemed too Western.Like all of southern Iraq, Basra is populated mostly by Shiite Muslims, so sectarian violence is not a major problem, but security has deteriorated as Shiite militias fight each other for power. British troops in the area pulled out last month.

1,000 troops ‘home by Christmas’ as Iraq takes command of Basra - Times Online, October 3, 2007

Gordon Brown used a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday to announce the withdrawal of 1,000 British troops by Christmas, bringing the military presence down to 4,500.

Downing Street acknowledged that 500 of the 1,000-man cutback had been announced in June by Des Browne, the Defence Secretary.There are 5,250 British troops in Iraq, all based at the fortified Basra airbase outside the city.

…Iyad Allawi, a former Iraqi Prime Minister, claimed in an interview with The Times that fighting between rival Shia militias in the south, some backed by Iran, meant that Basra was on “the verge of explosion”.

In a snapshot of the unrest, the Basra police chief survived a third assassination attempt on Monday after a roadside bomb exploded near his car. In addition, the Basra council remains in crisis after a failed attempt to oust its governor.

Woman’s face covered by black paint in cell phone ad

‘Shiite Taliban’ rises as British depart Basra | csmonitor.com, September 18, 2007

Now, as the British prepare to exit Basra Province altogether after pulling out from this provincial capital last week, they leave behind what has been described by many here as an emerging “Shiite Taliban state,” a reference to Sunni extremists in Afghanistan.

And with the British gone, many say, they leave open the possibility that Iran could extend its influence within the mosques, religious schools, and militant party headquarters. Over the past four years, Basra has undergone its own Islamic revolution of sorts.

Posters of the leader of Iran’s 1979 social and religious revolt, Ayatollah Khomeini, who at the time imposed similar limits on his society, are plastered everywhere in Basra.

Public parties are banned. Selling musical CDs is forbidden in shops. Those who sell or consume alcohol face recrimination, even death. Artists and performers are severely restricted and even labeled as heretics. A famous city landmark, a replica of the Lion of Babylon statue that stood here for decades was blown up by militants in July. It was considered idolatrous, according to the strict interpretation of Islam.

Signs ordering women to cover up appear throughout the city. One woman, an Iraqi female activist from Basra, says the notices even threaten death. One banner, she says, said unveiled women could be murdered and no one could remove their bodies from the street.

British Commander Defends Basra Pullout - washingtonpost.com, September 22, 2007

LONDON, Sept. 21 — The commander of the British army said Friday that the recent withdrawal of British forces from downtown Basra was part of a “successful” strategic plan for Iraq and not the result of pressure from Shiite militias.

“To say that we were bombed out of Basra is just completely wrong,” Gen. Richard Dannatt said during a talk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research center in central London.

“We have been successful in southern Iraq,” Dannatt said. “Three of the four provinces that we were responsible for we have handed over to Iraqi control. That was always the plan. The optics of us drawing down and repositioning at the same time that the Americans were surging upwards — the optics, inevitably, were awkward.”

Patrick Cockburn: Ignominious end to futile exercise that cost the UK 168 lives - Independent, September 3, 2007

The British failure is almost total after four years of effort and the death of 168 personnel. “Basras residents and militiamen view this not as an orderly withdrawal but rather as an ignominious defeat,” says a report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. “Today, the city is controlled by militias, seemingly more powerful and unconstrained than before.”