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As British troops exit Basra, Shiites vie to fill power vacuum
What happens in the city may may provide a window on the future for the rest of Iraq.
from the September 17, 2007 edition
Page 4 of 4
Britain's 'light touch'
Martin Navias, an analyst with Britain's Center for Defense Studies, offers a similar assessment. "The light touch [of the British approach here] has allowed various competing groups to gain ascendency in Basra, and Britain has very little control. We are really marginal there."
The British have been preoccupied with training the police and Army, ensuring that key supply routes from Kuwait are secure, and shielding themselves from an increase of attacks by militiamen. Otherwise, they left the competing Islamist parties and militias to their own devices.
British troops in Basra turned down repeated requests by the Monitor for interviews.
In a statement issued Friday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown touted the training of 13,000 Iraqi soldiers as his Army's crowning achievement and said that full control of security in Basra would be handed to the Iraqis by the end of the year, with British forces assuming an "overwatch" role.
He said supply routes would continue to be protected by the British.
Asked on Wednesday if US troops may have to fill any void left by the British, General Petraeus said more Iraqi soldiers would be dispatched to Basra while American Special Operations soldiers would conduct pinpoint missions with their Iraqi counterparts as they did March 20, when they captured in Basra two senior leaders of the Mahdi Army and a Lebanese operative with the pro-Iranian militia Hizbullah.
Now, the Mahdi Army has put banners in Basra warning against "the secret US Army."
In his testimony in Washington last week, Petraeus called Iran's deepening influence in Iraq, particularly in the south, one of the most "unsettling" developments of the past eight months.
He said the various Islamist parties and militias have found a way to "accommodate" one another in order to keep Basra functioning.
"Interestingly there is an accommodation down there right now that is the kind of Iraqi solution to problems in the south that is mildly heartening, I guess is the way to put it," he said. "We are in a wait-and-see approach with Basra but we have every expectation that Basra will be resolved by Iraqis."
A guide to the key Shiite players in Basra
Sadrists and Mahdi Army: The movement of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is a formidable force in Basra. The Mahdi Army is estimated to number 17,000 in the province. Security officials say that some of the Basra militia are infiltrated by Iran and beholden to Tehran. It opposes a super-Shiite region, but supports the ouster of the Fadhila governor.
The Council: The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, previously known by its acronym SCIRI, embraces four other affiliate parties
in Basra:
• The Badr Organization – Once the council’s Iranian-trained paramilitary arm, known as the Badr Brigade.
• The Shaheed Al-Mihrab Organization – A nationwide movement headed by Ammar al-Hakim, the son of the Council’s chief.
• The Sayed Al-Shuhada Movement (Master of Martyrs Movement).
• The Hizbullah Movement in Iraq (no relation to Lebanese Hizbullah) and another small Iraqi party called Hizbullah al-Iraq
(see below).
All five parties were previously based in Iran and have strong ties to Tehran. The Council and its affiliates hold 21 of
the 40 seats in the provincial council. Badr still controls several police units, including customs.
The Pentacle House: The Council and its four party affiliates make up the Bayet al-Khumasi, or the Pentacle House. The goal:
to create a nine-province Shiite group called the “South of Baghdad region.” Billboards in Basra tout the project as a “Shiite
Renaissance.”
The Islamic Fadhila (Virtue) Party: Fadhila is a national party founded by Basra natives. Its spiritual leader is Najaf-based cleric Ayatollah Muhammad al-Yacoubi, who broke ranks with Moqtada al-Sadr in 2003.
The movement continues to espouse Sadrist ideas but has increasingly fashioned itself as a Shiite Arab Islamist party opposed
to Iranian meddling in Iraq. It opposes the pro-Iranian Council and its affiliates over a number of issues, including the
supersouthern region.
Fadhila holds 12 seats in the Basra provincial council, including the governorship and one of the two deputy governor slots
in Basra. Fadhila dominates the 15,000-strong oil protection force.
Thaar Allah (God’s Revenge) Party: A small party based in Basra and headed by Yousif al-Mussawi. He is suspected by many city
residents of being an Iranian agent. The party derives much of its funding from wealthy merchants who rely on it for protection.
It has allied itself with the Council and its Pentacle House in the fight to oust the Fadhila governor. Mr. Mussawi blames
the governor for the death of three members of his family during a raid on his party headquarters in 2006.
Hizbullah al-Iraq: A small party headed by tribal chief Abdul-Karim al-Mahamadawi, based in neighboring Maysan Province.
The Prince of the Marshes, as Mr. Mahamadawi is known, has a large, armed tribal following and presence in Basra. He has tense
relations with the Council and its affiliates.
Mahmoud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi: The cleric broke ranks with the Sadrists and is believed to be in the holy city of Karbala with
the bulk of his militia. But he still has a following in Basra. His posters adorn many streets. The controversial cleric has
challenged the authority of the marjiya, the Shiite religious authority dominated by the Najaf-based Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
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