UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...
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Two rival Shi’ite militias 111 have been blamed for much of the violence. The Badr<br />
Organization, formerly known as the Badr Brigade and SCIRI’s armed wing, is a powerful<br />
party that once took refuge in Iran from oppression by Saddam Hussein’s regime. 112 The<br />
Mehdi Army, which has on several occasions clashed with the MNF, was formed in 2003<br />
by the radical cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. 113 Some reports suggest that parts of the Mehdi<br />
Army are no longer under the control of Muqtada Al-Sadr and act independently under the<br />
command of other individuals, e.g. Abu Diri, who became known for killing Sunnis. 114<br />
According to the US Department of State, the Mehdi Army “has replaced al-Qaeda in Iraq<br />
as the most dangerous accelerant of potentially self-sustaining sectarian violence in<br />
Iraq”. 115<br />
Since the Shi’ites came to power in the January 2005 elections, and in particular under the<br />
term of SCIRI Minister of Interior Bayan Jabr, 116 Shi’ite militia members entered the ISF in<br />
large numbers. 117 The Mehdi Army has built a strong presence in the regular Police and in<br />
the 150,000-strong Facilities Protection Service (FPS), 118 while the Badr Brigade<br />
111<br />
In several incidents, the Badr Organization and the Mehdi Army have engaged in battles over power and<br />
influence among Iraq’s Shi’ites. For example, after the killing of a local head of intelligence in Al-Amarah,<br />
a member of the Badr Brigade, his family kidnapped a local Mehdi Army chief in October 2006. This incident<br />
triggered a cycle of violent reprisals between the two parties, leaving some 25 people dead and several dozens<br />
wounded; see AP, Relative quiet returns to Iraq’s south; concerns linger over emboldened militias, 21<br />
October 2006, http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-20-shia-militias_x.htm; John Ward<br />
Anderson, Sadr Militia Briefly Seizes Southern City, The Washington Post, 21 October 2006,<br />
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102000244_pf.html. See also:<br />
ICG, After Baker-Hamilton: What To Do in Iraq?, Middle East Report No. 60, 19 December 2006, p. 9-10,<br />
http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/middle_east___north_africa/60_after_baker_hamilton___what<br />
_to_do_in_iraq.pdf; Reuters Alertnet, Battle highlights splits in Iraq’s Shi’ite south, 29 August 2006,<br />
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=26222.<br />
112<br />
For more information on the Badr Organization, see UNHCR, 2005 Country of Origin Information Iraq,<br />
p. 61-62, see above footnote 53.<br />
113<br />
For more information on the Mehdi Army and the armed confrontations with the MNF in 2004, see<br />
UNHCR, 2005 Country of Origin Information Iraq, p. 62-64 and 89, see above footnote 53.<br />
114<br />
Scott Johnson, Iraq: A New Enemy Emerges – “The Shi’ite Zarqawi”, Newsweek, 13 November 2006,<br />
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15564792/site/newsweek/; Sudarsan Raghavan, Militias Splintering Into<br />
Radicalized Cells, The Washington Post, 19 October 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801865_pf.html;<br />
Sabrina Tavernise, Cleric Said to Lose Reins<br />
Over Part of Iraqi Militia, The New York Times, 28 September 2006,<br />
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/world/middleeast/28sadr.html.<br />
115<br />
US Department of Defense, p. 19, see above footnote 73.<br />
116<br />
Bayan Jabr became Finance Minister in the Government of Prime Minister Al-Maliki where he continues<br />
to control the Interior Ministry’s budget and police salaries; see: Perito, see above footnote 109.<br />
117<br />
See, for example, Perito, see above footnote 109; Filkins, see above footnote 103; RFE/RL, Charles<br />
Recknagel, Iraq: Sectarian Violence Highlights Increasing Power Of Militias, 22 March 2006,<br />
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/03/3f8ef645-5fec-497d-8502-99a72fc4c9d8.html.<br />
118<br />
The FPS was formed by the former CPA, and is charged with guarding government buildings and<br />
infrastructure, including hospitals, ports and power plants. See: CPA Order No. 27, Establishment of the<br />
Facilities Protection Service, 4 September 2003, available in UNHCR’s Refworld at http://www.unhcr.org/<br />
cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?docid=469cda862. There is no unified command and the various FPS units<br />
stand under the control of the respective ministers. FPS officers were issued police-style uniforms, badges and<br />
weapons, but did not receive police training nor were they given police authority. Loyalists to Muqtada Al-<br />
Sadr control the ministries of health, transportation and agriculture and, according to the Iraq Study Group,<br />
FPS units employed by those ministries are “a source of funding and jobs for the Mahdi Army”. Iraq’s<br />
Minister of Interior, Jawad Al-Bolani, accused the FPS of running death squads, but rejected the notion that<br />
41