A radical Shiite leader secretly traveled to Iran last month to confer with Tehran’s leadership just as the U.S. was building up forces to combat the cleric’s militiamen in Baghdad, according to a military source.
The source said the trip by Muqtada al-Sadr underscored the degree to which Iran is not only financing and arming al-Sadr’s Mahdi army, but also influencing the cleric’s strategic decisions. Al-Sadr is a main foe of the U.S. presence in Iraq, controlling a militia of tens of thousands that attacks Sunni and American targets.
President Bush announced a new U.S. offensive Jan. 10. Part of the plan is for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, after resisting the move for months, to order his forces to take down al-Sadr’s army and associated death squads.
Intelligence reports indicate al-Sadr traveled to Tehran after Bush announced the reinforcement of 21,500 American troops. Bush also said U.S. troops would begin targeting Iranian agents in Iraq. The command has seized about a dozen Iranians on suspicion of aiding al-Sadr’s Shiite insurgents with training, weapons and money.
The source said commanders believe al-Sadr is now executing a strategy of dispersing his army and laying low until the latest coalition sweep is over. The source asked not to be named because he is not authorized to disclose the information.
Al-Sadr has become one of the most powerful Shiite leaders in southern Iraq. Pentagon officials say his overall goal is to force the expulsion of U.S. forces and establish Shiite religious rule modeled on Iran. The military says al-Sadr’s army of tens of thousands include death squads that invade Sunni neighborhoods and commit horrendous murders.
P.J. Crowley, a former Clinton administration national security aide who is now at the Center for American Progress, said the al-Maliki government must separate al-Sadr from hismilitia.
“Al-Sadr is a number of things,” Crowley said. “He is a political figure. He is the head of an armed militia that challenges the state’s monopoly on the use of force. And he’s an indicted criminal. Ultimately, the challenge for the al-Maliki government is to force al-Sadr to choose a role, and if that role is constructive, then there’s hope.”
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a military analyst who advocates air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, said Tehran has positioned more than 300 al-Quds agents in Iraq. Al-Quds is the special operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which enforces the regime’s rule.
“They are building a whole infrastructure so that if we leave in a vacuum, the Iranians will take over,” McInerney said. “They are paying judges, police chiefs, fighters.”
After complaining of Iranian meddling for years, the U.S. command in Baghdad on Sunday presented what it considered solid proof that Tehran is arming Shiite insurgents.
You can reach national security correspondent Rowan Scarborough at [email protected]
