U.S. forces draw bead on Mahdi Army

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraq’s prime minister has told Shiite militiamen to surrender their weapons or face an all-out assault, part of a commitment President Bush outlined on Wednesday to bring violence under control with a more aggressive Iraqi Army and 21,500 additional American troops.

Senior Iraqi officials said Wednesday that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, under pressure from the U.S., has agreed to crack down on the fighters even though they are loyal to his most powerful political ally, the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Previously, al-Maliki had resisted the move.

Bush laid out his new plan to quell violence in and around the Iraqi capital in a televised address to the nation Wednesday night. In earlier operations, the president said, “political and sectarian interference prevented Iraqi and American forces from going into neighborhoods that are home to those fueling the sectarian violence.

“This time, Iraqi and American forces will have a green light to enter those neighborhoods,” Bush said. “Prime Minister Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated.”

Before Bush spoke, a senior Shiite legislator and close al-Maliki adviser said the prime minister had warned that no militias would be spared in the crackdown.

“The government has told the Sadrists: ‘If we want to build a state we have no other choice but to attack armed groups,’ ” said the legislator, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the prime minister.

Al-Maliki on Saturday announced that his government would implement a new security plan for Baghdad, which consists of neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweeps by Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops.

In the past, the Iraqi government has tried to prevent American military operations against the Mahdi Army, while giving U.S. forces a free hand against Sunni militants. The Bush administration has pushed al-Maliki, who took office in May, to curb his militia allies or allow U.S. troops to do the job.

Although al-Maliki withdrew political protection from the Mahdi Army, there was no guarantee the Shiite fighters would be easily routed from the large and growing area of Baghdad under their control.

The militia has more fighters, weapons and sophistication today than it did in 2004, when it battled U.S. forces to a standstill in two strongholds, the Shiite holy city of Najaf and Sadr City, Baghdad’s sprawling Shiite slum.

Sunni militants, meanwhile, have put up fierce resistance in the five days since al-Maliki announced his new security initiative for Baghdad.

Iraqi and U.S. troops have battled Sunni insurgents along Haifa Street in central Baghdad in two major battles.

Eighty suspected insurgents were killed in the fighting – 50 of them on Tuesday alone, in an assault backed by U.S. troops, fighter jets and attack helicopters.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died, many of them in the capital in the past year – after the war became a religious conflict between Sunnis and Shiites. Sectarian violence began after the February bombing of a major Shiite shrine by al-Qaida in Iraq.

Under the new security plan, an Iraqi general said, U.S. and Iraqi troops will sweep Baghdad neighborhoods in an effort to dislodge the Mahdi Army, as well as Sunni extremists – including al-Qaida in Iraq and two of its allied groups, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army and the Omar Brigade. The general spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Americans plan to put 400 to 600 U.S. soldiers in each of nine districts to back up Iraqi units, a senior Bush administration official said Wednesday. Others will be held in reserve throughout the capital to deploy quickly on the request of Iraqi commanders.

Police on Wednesday reported that at least 92 people had died violently or been found dead across the country.

In a single deadly attack, Sunni gunmen opened fire on a convoy of buses carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims home from the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia, according to police and Akeel al-Khazaali, the governor of the southern province of Karbala.

The U.S. military announced Wednesday that four more American soldiers died of combat wounds in Iraq.