Shiite militias control southern Iraq

October 10, 2007 1:00 pm henrymunsonjr Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Basra, Shiite Militiamen in Iraqi Army and Police, Mahdi Army, Iraq

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.

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