Evidence Shi'ite trying to clear out Sunni residents

U.S. soldiers uncover evidence that Shi'ite militia is engaged in a systematic campaign of violence to clear out Sunni residents

By MARK KUKIS/BAGHDAD

Posted Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006

The place was empty when U.S. soldiers burst in, raiding a house in Baghdad's violent Washash neighborhood in the hopes of finding killers involved in sectarian murders. By the look of things, no one had been there for some time, even though neighbors in the area reported seeing people dragged inside in recent weeks. But apparently someone involved in the area's sectarian violence had been there recently: left behind was a leather-bound day planner that gave a disturbing picture of the systematic nature of Baghdad's bloodshed.

Though the book was largely blank, inside were several sheets of loose paper covered in Arabic writing. Back at Camp Taji, a massive U.S. Army base north of Baghdad, translators sifted through the papers and found evidence backing up what some U.S.troops who patrol Washash have come to suspect — that Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army are conducting what amounts to an ethnic cleansing campaign in Washash, a predominantly Shi'ite area with pockets of Sunni residents.

Ethnic Cleansing in 'Little Sadr City'?

AUDIO: Papers found by U.S. troops suggest Shi'ite militia are systematically killing or forcing Sunnis out of their homes. TIME's Mark Kukis reports from Baghdad.
Sadr's militia, the document suggests, are systematically driving Sunni families from their homes around Washash, which some U.S. troops who patrol there have taken to calling Little Sadr City. Among the papers found in the raid is a list of 65 houses around Washash where Shi'ite families have replaced Sunni families. On other pages were drafts of threat letters clearly intended for delivery to Sunni homes. And there was a roster of "virtuous families" in the Washash area with house numbers written next to their names, so the militia relocation agents could keep track of people deemed fit to stay.

"They're very well organized," said Capt. Johnny Sutton, whose troops head up U.S. patrols in Washash.     READ MORE

Today From Iraq...

AlDhari’s Outcry Must be Heard

alquds alarabi :: 2006-11-28 ::

    The rising sectarian bombings that have engulfed Iraq in the past few days are evidence that Iraq has sunk deeper into the ugliest civil war which cannot be brought to a halt with whatever means being adopted by the current rulers of Iraq at the moment. It is also absolutely clear that the current “Iraqi government” which was allegedly “democratically elected” under occupation is unable to provide the most basic form of security to the people it was supposed to be representing, nor do the US forces of occupation along with their allies and mercenaries all of whom are fundamentally responsible for Iraqi security as an occupation power.

    Dr Harith AlDhari, the head of the peaceful Association of Muslim Scholars, was 100% correct when he accused this government for being sectarian and placed the responsibility upon its shoulders along with the occupation for these hideous and despicable indiscriminate crimes against the ordinary and innocent people of Iraq irrespective of their ethnicity, sect, color, race or religion. He was also right to demand from the international community to withdraw their recognition of this evil regime which has proven to be a menace to its people.     MORE