U.S. failure to neutralize Shiite militia in Iraq threatens to snarl pullout – report

BAGHDAD /Iraqi News A failed effort by the United States to neutralize a powerful Shiite militant group in Iraq has left in place a dangerous force whose attacks on American troops threaten to complicate the U.S. drawdown, the Washington Post quoted U.S. and Iraqi officials as saying on Thursday. Until this year, the U.S. daily said, the group’s leader, Qais al-Khazali, was in U.S. custody. His release came after negotiations with American and Iraqi officials that left the United States hopeful that Khazali would renounce violence and steer his men toward the political system, removing his group from the long list of threats facing U.S. forces. But the episode appears to have only increased the clout wielded by Khazali, a onetime deputy to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who has become the leader of one of the most organized and lethal Shiite militias in Iraq, one with close ties to Iran. The failed attempt at reconciliation also serves as a cautionary tale at a time when the United States is trying to neutralize insurgent groups not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan and elsewhere. This account of the U.S. military’s failure to wean Asaib Ahl al-Haq from militancy has been drawn from interviews with Sami al-Askari, an Iraqi lawmaker who was the government’s point man in the negotiations, and two U.S. military officials, who largely corroborated his description. “They’re going to try to target U.S. forces as we ramp up our drawdown,” Brig. Gen. Ralph Baker, a commander in Baghdad, said of Khazali’s forces. “It will be in an effort to claim some sort of credit for the removal of U.S. forces from Iraq.” U.S. and Iraqi officials suspect, however, that since his release, Khazali has traveled to Iran, where his family resides and where Asaib Ahl al-Haq’s leaders are based. He also has stopped talking to Iraqi government officials and to the U.S. military. And the cease-fire has broken down over the past six weeks. On Jan. 17, Iraqi and U.S. Special Forces soldiers took two Asaib Ahl al-Haq members into custody during an operation in Baghdad targeting members of another militia loyal to Sadr, called the Promised Day Brigade. The men were on a target list of Asaib Ahl al-Haq members circulated within the U.S. military. Days later, the Green Zone started getting attacked with powerful rockets, some of them landing in or near the U.S. Embassy compound. On Jan. 23, an American working for a military task force that analyzes sociological trends was kidnapped in Iraq, the first such case in more than a year. A Web site used by Asaib Ahl al-Haq has posted a video of the captive, Issa T. Salomi, and in recent days has published articles calling on Shiite militias to put their differences aside and reassert their commitment to fight what they see as the continued occupation of Iraq. The U.S. military now has no more than a handful of Asaib Ahl al-Haq members in custody. American and Iraqi officials worry that violence could intensify after parliamentary elections on Sunday, particularly if Shiite candidates favored by Iran do poorly. MH (I)/AmR 1