Second, the Iraqi Resistance is both Sunni (Arab and some Kurdish) and Shia (Arab and some Kurdish), which the Occupation plays down or ignores or obscures for obvious reasons.
Third, the current government of collaborators (and possible secessionists, both Kurdish and southern Shia) wants to use Shia and Kurdish militias to put down the Resistance. However, it's not clear just how much control the government of collaborators actually have over the militias, which hold their allegiance to Shia and Kurdish leaders who do not control the Occupation, though some leaders may participate in the current collaborationist government while militia members are inducted into the US-sponsored Iraqi military.
Here is an example of Shia-on-Shia violence (most likely); it appears almost as a postscript to the main article, but it was the most interesting part for me:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050603/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
>>_Sheik Safwan Ali Farhan, a senior member of the Shiite Badr Brigade militia, died after being shot Monday in eastern Baghdad, police said.>>
It might be that the Sadrists did it, or it might be that some of his own got him, and the nationalist parts of the Badr are defecting to the Sadrists.
For background on the Sadrist vs. other Shia conflict, see this very well-written analysis:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/691/re4.htm
See also this next article, which explains why al Sadr's side in the Shia vs. Shia conflicts find allies amongst the Sunni (both Arab and some Kurd), and the fate of the Sunni-Sadrist Shia Resistance depends on their being able to paint the Shia Badr militias and the Kurdish militias as collaborationist traitors to the nation of Iraq. The Occupation's last best hope is to somehow 'professionalize' and instituionalize the militias as the Iraqi Army/National Guard/National Police. Both sides have huge tasks, since the armed Resistance really can't match the firepower of the Badr and Kurdish militias but the US owned and operated Occupation is universally hated in Iraq. There has been mainstream media coverage of the so-called US mistake in not trusting the Baathists to run the country and disbanding the military and police, but the actual problem in terms of getting Iraqis to fight for them was the Pentagon's inherent distrust of the Badr Brigades because of the Iran connections. Will the Occupation and the Badr elements collaborate even more to put down the Resistance, or will they end up in conflict themselves over who will control Iraq. If the US intention is to have permanent bases in Iraq--subsidised by oil sales--then even if the Sunni-Sadrist Resistance is destroyed, the conflict will not end. The other sources of future conflict might be mostly secular Kurds (now in the government) vs. religious Kurds and religious Shia Arabs (even if not Sadrist), and secessionists vs. nationalists (even if they had previously collaborated with the Occupation).
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/740/re2.htm
One excerpt that gets to the crux of the matter:
>>A member of the [Sadrist] Al-Mahdi Army, who preferred to remain anonymous, explains: "Would the Peshmerga and Badr Brigades arrest members of the Al-Mahdi Army in the event of another Najaf? Yes they would. We know that they were involved in the attacks on Najaf and Falluja, but on the Americans' side. They fought us for reasons that have nothing to do with national pride. It's a grave situation. Everyone knows that there's no link between the Badr Brigades and us."
Another fighter continues: "It would have been better if the new Iraqi president had talked about building a new national Iraqi army without all this talk of Peshmergas [Kurdish militias], Badr Brigades and rebellions. There's enough tragedy in this country as it is." Another questions the new president's approach, saying that while he won't sign the order to execute Saddam Hussein, his words will result in the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis, especially since members of the Peshmerga and Badr Brigades have their own, incorrect understanding of what constitutes security issues. >>end of excerpt
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