Vol. 72/No. 24      June 16, 2008

Some 10,000 Iraqi government troops set up checkpoints and patrols throughout Sadr City following a cease-fire deal between al-Sadr and the government, reported the Times of London. For more than a year Sadr City has seen sporadic but fierce fighting by the Mahdi militia against U.S. and Iraqi troops. But this time Iraqi troops faced no resistance—“not even one bullet,” commented an Iraqi officer.

At his confirmation hearing to be next head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus noted that U.S. troops are not involved in the occupation of Sadr City except for a small strip of the city where U.S. and Iraqi troops had already been operating.

The deal follows another cease-fire agreement in Basra after a massive offensive by Iraqi troops against the Mahdi militia there in March. Al-Sadr’s supporters have weakened and divided in the face of the escalated U.S. military operations that began last year when the Bush administration sent an extra 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq.

As in the Basra offensive, Tehran played a central role in pressuring al-Sadr to stand down in Sadr City and in negotiating the agreement, according to Stratfor. The private U.S. intelligence outfit speculates that Iran wants to bring the contending Shiite political groups to the bargaining table as it seeks an arrangement with Washington.

To counter Iran’s influence the U.S. government is encouraging Sunni Arab regimes to give more financial support to the Iraqi government. But at a May 29 conference Iraqi prime minister al-Maliki received no commitments from neighboring Sunni-led Arab regimes to help eliminate or reduce its nearly $100 billion foreign debt. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sent only low-level envoys to the meeting.

U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice urged governments represented at the conference to extend debt forgiveness and open diplomatic offices in Baghdad. There has been no ambassador from any Sunni-led Arab nation stationed permanently in Baghdad since 2005.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Shiite supporters of al-Sadr protested across Iraq May 30 in opposition to a long-term security pact being worked out between Washington and Baghdad to replace the UN mandate used to justify the occupation of Iraq.
 
 
Related articles:
Washington intensifies war in Pakistan’s border region  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home