US Arrests Iraqi Shia Deputy Minister

[LoungeMachine]

US arrests radical Iraqi Shia deputy minister
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:38am GMT 09/02/2007

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/09/wirq09.xml

American and Iraqi troops stormed Baghdad's health ministry yesterday to arrest the deputy minister.

Hakim Zamali, a follower of the radical Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, is alleged to have overseen a murderous campaign against its employees by a sectarian militia. Shias loyal to al-Sadr control four government ministries.

A statement from the US military alleged that Zamali was a key figure in Sadr's Madhi army, which has been accused of waging a sectarian campaign against Sunnis.

advertisementAli al-Shammari, the Iraqi health minister, condemned the early morning raid. He said American troops had "humiliated" Iraq.

"They have kidnapped my deputy," said Mr Shammari.

Pictures from inside the ministry showed doors that were kicked in and tables and chairs overturned.

The US military statement said Zamali was suspected of funding militants through large-scale employment of Madhi army members.

It said: "These militia members are reported to target Iraqi civilians using [health ministry] facilities and services. The suspect's corruption is believed to have funnelled millions of US dollars into rogue [activities]."

[ODShowtime]

Being targeted for death by the health ministry? Man Iraq is fucked up!

[hideyoursheep]

Re: US Arrests Iraqi Shia Deputy Minister

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
US arrests radical Iraqi Shia deputy minister
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:38am GMT 09/02/2007

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/09/wirq09.xml

American and Iraqi troops stormed Baghdad's health ministry yesterday to arrest the deputy minister.

Hakim Zamali, a follower of the radical Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, is alleged to have overseen a murderous campaign against its employees by a sectarian militia. Shias loyal to al-Sadr control four government ministries.

A statement from the US military alleged that Zamali was a key figure in Sadr's Madhi army, which has been accused of waging a sectarian campaign against Sunnis.

advertisementAli al-Shammari, the Iraqi health minister, condemned the early morning raid. He said American troops had "humiliated" Iraq.

"They have kidnapped my deputy," said Mr Shammari.

Pictures from inside the ministry showed doors that were kicked in and tables and chairs overturned.

The US military statement said Zamali was suspected of funding militants through large-scale employment of Madhi army members.

It said: "These militia members are reported to target Iraqi civilians using [health ministry] facilities and services. The suspect's corruption is believed to have funnelled millions of US dollars into rogue [activities]."

The USA Today piece said Al-Sadr controls 6 branches of ministry,but oh,well.
It was also belived he used reconstruction money to fund Mahdi.
The bad news is obviously,they're crooked.
The good news is,if you choose to look at it,is they got caught,while Maliki and the other senior Iraqi officials didn't cry foul.
Why would they do such a thing,you ask?
Because it is their view that WE haven't been able to keep the sunnis off of them for the past 4 years,and were willing to steal to hire their own shiia security.Enter Al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army.
I'm not saying they're upstanding citizens,but I really can't blame them for wanting an equalizer to the sunni terrorists.
We do not conduct ourselves the same way these two groups do.
Like Einstein I don't know exactly how 07 is gonna go for Iraq,but I have this feeling 08 isn't going to include us.

[LoungeMachine]

Re: Re: US Arrests Iraqi Shia Deputy Minister

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
The USA Today piece said Al-Sadr controls 6 branches of ministry,but oh,well.

Damn you're picky


FROM USA-FUCKING-TODAY :


Iraqis arrest deputy health minister, allege links to Shiite death squads

BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S.-backed Iraqi forces stormed the Health Ministry and arrested the No. 2 official Thursday, accusing him of diverting millions of dollars to the biggest Shiite militia and allowing death squads use of ambulances and government hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings.
Shiite politicians allied with anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the arrest of Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and demanded that the prime minister intervene to win his release.

But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his senior advisers remained silent. Al-Maliki, a Shiite, is under strong U.S. pressure to crack down on Shiite militias and has pledged not to interfere in the security operation to rid Baghdad's streets of gunmen from both Islamic sects.

The arrest took place at 9 a.m., an hour after Iraqi government offices generally open. Iraqi troops pushed through the iron gates of the Health Ministry building in northern Baghdad, ordered people to drop to the ground and rushed to al-Zamili's ground-floor office, witnesses said.

One of al-Zamili's bodyguards said American soldiers accompanying the force asked everyone to step aside and approached the deputy minister, who introduced himself. A U.S. soldier handcuffed al-Zamili and led him away, the guard said on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisal.

AP Television News footage of al-Zamili's office showed overturned chairs and smashed computers along with scattered files and telephones on the floor. Dusty, white boot prints marked the door, apparently because the troops had kicked it in.

A U.S. military statement did not mention al-Zamili by name but said Iraqi special troops captured a "senior official" suspected of alleged corruption and links to al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. The Health Ministry is among six Cabinet posts controlled by al-Sadr, an ally of the prime minister.

The statement also alleged the senior official played a role in the deaths of several ministry officials, including the Sunni director of health in Diyala province. The director, Ali al-Mahdawi, vanished last June after coming to Baghdad for a meeting at the ministry.

According to the statement, the official was believed to have siphoned millions of dollars from the ministry to the Mahdi Army "to support sectarian attacks and violence targeting Iraqi citizens."

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said militiamen were also allowed to use government hospitals and clinics to gather information on Iraqis seeking treatment and "those Iraqis that were discovered to be Sunnis would later be targeted for attacks."

American officials had long complained that al-Sadr's followers were transforming hospitals into bases for the Mahdi militia and were diverting medicine from state clinics to health care facilities run by the cleric's movement.

The clinics helped al-Sadr build a powerful nationwide political movement modeled in part on the Shiite Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

The arrest is likely to add new strains to al-Maliki's fragile coalition as it embarks on a high-risk campaign to curb violence in Baghdad. Shiite politicians persuaded al-Sadr to pull his militiamen back from the streets in the run-up to the security campaign.

But a series of bombings and suicide attacks on Shiite civilians in Baghdad and the southern city of Hillah has led many Shiites to complain that U.S. and Iraqi forces have not launched the security campaign fast enough to protect them against Sunni extremists.

Nasr al-Rubaie, leader of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, called al-Zamili's arrest a "kidnapping."

Health Minister Ali al-Shemari also denounced the raid.

"This is a violation of Iraq's sovereignty," he said. "They should have a court order to carry out a raid like this."

U.S. officials have insisted that al-Maliki rein in al-Sadr's forces, and the prime minister told the cleric last month that he could no longer provide him with political protection in the face of U.S. pressure, according to al-Maliki's aides.

Curbing the militias is considered key to halting the wave of Sunni-Shiite reprisal killings that surged after last year's bombing of a Shiite shrine in the mostly Sunni city of Samarra.

Despite recent efforts, the violence showed little signs of receding.

At least 104 people were killed or found dead Thursday in Iraq, including at least 10 Sunni men gunned down in the village of Rufayaat, just east of Balad. Balad is a majority Shiite town 50 miles northeast of the Iraqi capital, but it is surrounded by territory that is mainly populated by Sunnis.

In the day's deadliest attack, a parked car bomb exploded at a food market in the predominantly Shiite town of Aziziyah, 35 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing 20 people and wounding 45, police said.

Another parked car bomb tore through a minibus in the mainly Shiite Amin neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad, killing seven passengers and wounding 10, police said.

Partners: USA WEEKEND | Sports Weekly | Education | Space.com
Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

[hideyoursheep]

Re: Re: Re: US Arrests Iraqi Shia Deputy Minister

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Damn you're picky

It's a more in-depth article,wouldn't you agree?

Unbelivable how our priorities lie with Anna Nichole Golddigger.

Embarrassing.

[pflo]

When I look at the globe it says "USA" on one side and "Iraq" is way over on the other side. How come the USA is in Iraq? Maybe my globe is outdated?

[VanHalener]

Originally posted by ODShowtime
Being targeted for death by the health ministry? Man Iraq is fucked up!

FUBAR

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by pflo
When I look at the globe it says "USA" on one side and "Iraq" is way over on the other side. How come the USA is in Iraq? Maybe my globe is outdated?

Canada and Afghanistan are pretty far apart,too.

Where are you going with this?

[Nickdfresh]

I don't think he knows...

[pflo]

Originally posted by hideyoursheep
Canada and Afghanistan are pretty far apart,too.

Where are you going with this?

That a UN SANCTIONED peacekeeping mission...big difference, my friend. The Afghan govt asked us for help.

[Nickdfresh]

No it isn't. It's a NATO counterinsurgency campaign.

[pflo]

Counterinsurgency = peacekeeping. Thats pretty indisputeable. Look up what "insurgency" means if you disagree. And YES, we were asked by the Afghan govt to participate.

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by pflo
And YES, we were asked by the Afghan govt to participate.

The Taliban asked you to the dance?WTF???:confused:

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by pflo
Counterinsurgency = peacekeeping. Thats pretty indisputeable. Look up what "insurgency" means if you disagree. And YES, we were asked by the Afghan govt to participate.

You have no clue what you're talking about, you should work for the Bush Admin. with your semantic bullshit.

Why don't you just provide a definition of "insurgency," and you'll see your choice of wording was poor to retarded.

The UN has peacekeeping missions whilst NATO mounts offensive counterinsurgency and counter-terrorist operations, which are far more aggressive and proactive than "peacekeeping" missions, and without the funny blue hats.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by pflo
Counterinsurgency = peacekeeping. Thats pretty indisputeable. Look up what "insurgency" means if you disagree. And YES, we were asked by the Afghan govt to participate.

Really, it's "indisuteable?" Look up the definition of "Counterinsurgency," and tell me about all of the "counterinsurgency" campaigns the UN has been involved in.