US and Iraqi forces arrested a top aid to Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday
Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, al-Sadr's media director in Baghdad, was captured during a 2 a.m. raid on a mosque in the eastern neighbourhood of Baladiyat, an official in al-Sadr's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.
The U.S. military said special Iraqi army forces operating with coalition advisers captured a high-level, illegal armed group leader in Baladiyat, but it did not identify the detainee. It said two other suspects were detained by Iraqi forces for further questioning...
The U.S. military accused the main suspect of having ties with the commanders of so-called death squads, which have been blamed for many of the killings that have left dozens of bodies, often showing signs of torture, on the streets of Baghdad.
The suspect was detained "based on credible intelligence that he is the leader of illegal armed group punishment committee activity, involving the organized kidnapping, torture and murder of Iraqi civilians," according to the military statement.
It also said he was reportedly involved in the assassination of numerous Iraqi security forces and government officials.
"The suspect allegedly leads various illegal armed group operations and is affiliated with illegal armed group cells targeting Iraqi civilians for sectarian attacks and violence," the statement said, adding he was believed to be affiliated with Baghdad death squad commanders, including Abu Dura, a Shiite militia leader who has gained a reputation for his brutality.
The official and an Iraqi police officer, who also declined to be identified for fear of reprisals, also said one of the mosque's guards was killed in a firefight during the raid that damaged the mosque walls, while four other people who were with the sheik were arrested.
This comes on the heels of the arrest of 400 members of al Sadr's Mahdi Army. For the first time since 2004, Sadr's crew is feeling the pressure
Mahdi Army fighters said Thursday they were under siege in their Sadr City stronghold as U.S. and Iraqi troops killed or seized key commanders in pinpoint nighttime raids. Two commanders of the Shiite militia said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has stopped protecting the group under pressure from Washington and threats from Sunni Muslim Arab governments.
The two commanders' account of a growing siege mentality inside the organization could represent a tactical and propaganda feint, but there was mounting evidence the militia was increasingly off balance and had ordered its gunmen to melt back into the population. To avoid capture, commanders report no longer using cell phones and fighters are removing their black uniforms and hiding their weapons during the day.
They have come to understand that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has stopped protecting radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr‘s Madhi Army.
And, it seems to me, Maliki is at a point of no return. He has betrayed the main force of his own political support and actually taken steps to disassemble the Shi'ite militia. If he stops now, he will likely be assassinated. His only hope for physical, and political survival is to see this through to the end.
And if that is indeed the case, the chances that Bush's new strategy for Iraq will succeed has just increased dramatically.
Where will that leave all those who are taking a stand against this plan and are unwilling to even to give it a chance?
In political deep water, potentially.
