Feb 09 2007

Update On Sadr-Shia Traitor In Iraq

Published by at 12:34 pm under All General Discussions,Iraq

I reported earlier on the Shia Deputy Health Minister who was apprehended the other day on suspicion of ties to Sadr-Mahdi death squads. Those ties appear to be much stronger, and it seems this man, al Zamili, was a leader of these traitorous killers:

A TOP government minister arrested in a security crackdown in Iraq yesterday was running a death squad from his office.

Deputy health minister Hakim al-Zamili was arrested at gunpoint when a joint US-Iraqi force stormed his headquarters.

…

Al-Zamili is a senior member of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s political group and is believed to have funded militia fighters.

He is thought to have used ambulances to ferry weapons to terrorists in al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army.

And he even had several people working in his own ministry executed for being on the wrong side of the sectarian divide between Shia and Sunni muslims.

Last night, a US military spokesman claimed al-Zamili used the Ministry of Health’s facilities and services “for sectarian kidnapping and murder”.

He added: “The suspect’s corruption is believed to have funnelled millions of US dollars into rogue militia.”

…

Last night, an official in Sadr’s political group accused the US military of trying to provoke a confrontation and called for al-Zamili’s immediate release.

The raid came just a day after the US military said they were launching a security offensive to stop the tide of deadly attacks in Baghdad.

The fact this man oversaw the deaths of people inside the Ministry means this guy has no prayer of getting out of this. And here is where this has left Sadr’s supporters – screwed. It is now clear they have killed Iraq government officials and employees who disagree with them. Now NO ONE is going to trust Sadr’s people. So it is no surprise Sadr’s people have decided to back off this mess and just whine a lot:

The arrest of an Iraqi official loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is the latest sign of growing U.S. pressure on the firebrand’s movement, but it is unlikely to tempt his militia into an all-out fight with American troops.

Shi’ite officials on Friday predicted the arrest of deputy health minister Hakim Zamili on Thursday would not be the last in what the Sadrists called American “provocation” as a major security crackdown gathers pace in Baghdad.

But the Sadrist movement, more pragmatic than in 2004 when its Mehdi Army launched two uprisings against Americans forces that killed hundreds of people, said it would not be drawn into a confrontation with U.S. troops.

Some Shi’ite officials outside the movement said it had too much to lose because of the political inroads it had made.

Well the media can spin this as they wish. But what was uncovered here was a death squad killing political opponents INSIDE the government of Iraq. Sadr was caught with his hand on the gun used to kill people trying to get Iraq on its feet and out from under outside influences. Sadr’s people are not stupid, just dangerous. But the long knives can come out for them just as well. It is clear there will be more purging in the government and of Sadr’s assassins. Even they are admitting this. It is also clear they have isolated themselves and could easily become the target of the Iraqi Government.

3 responses so far

3 Responses to “Update On Sadr-Shia Traitor In Iraq”

  1. lassoingtruth says:
    February 9, 2007 at 1:12 pm

    Strata, the “media spinning” to which you refer is not spinning but
    reporting in line with what intelligence analysts and Iraqi experts
    have been saying with little dissent. The al Sadr militia and he as a person has grown in popularity tremendously since 2004 and his
    militia and movement composes a large part of the new government.

    There are no “long knives.” Of course you would approve of US occupation staying as long as it took to manipulate an anti Sadr
    coalition into power, meaning several more years with the
    toll of corresponding loss of American life, some derived through
    the enemy making this meddling would naturally cause.

    Finally, you ahve convicted the man of treason. Is he being charged
    with treason? And what does your conviction of him without trial say about all your “democracy” pushing?

  2. lassoingtruth says:
    February 10, 2007 at 1:42 pm

    http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IB10Ak06.html

    “It is clear there will be more purging in the government and of Sadr’s assassins. Even they are admitting this. It is also clear they have isolated themselves and could easily become the target of the Iraqi Government. ”

    Not according to the Asia Times expert analyst.

  3. crosspatch says:
    February 11, 2007 at 6:06 am

    Why we love our troops

    An article on Hugh Hewitt’s blog that is from an interview with an NYT reporter. What the heck, the graf he put up should be reprinted far and wide:

    But I can speak to you about how we correspondents at the New York Times feel about the American military in Iraq. We have covered the disasters. We’ve covered what happened at Abu Ghraib. We’ve covered what happened at Haditha. But I think I could say this on behalf of all of us who work at the New York Times, and who depends a great deal for our security on American forces, governments…there’s an old saying that countries get the kind of governments they deserve. Well, I would say that may be true also of the military. And the United States military that we encounter are wonderful. They’re magnificent. They’re extremely brave, that goes without saying. They make an enormous effort to perform a civic as well as military duty in Iraq. They are people of honor, and they’re people of whom America can be proud. And I say that without…in an unhyphenated, unqualified way, and I hope that that finds its way into the columns of the New York Times, in the way that we report on this war. America has a fine military, a fine Army, a fine Marine Corps and Navy, and whereas we experience, it, and they’re in an extremely difficult situation, what General Casey, the departing commander describes as a very convoluted situation from which there is no certain, safe, successful exit.