Iraqi Prime Minister disavows US raid

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 9:12 AM on October 26, 2006.

Juan Cole notes that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki condemned Wednesday's US-backed attack on Sadr City:

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. advisers launched a raid into the capital's Sadr Shiite slum Wednesday trying to capture a top militia commander wanted for running a Shiite death squad. The prime minister disavowed the raid, saying he was not consulted before the attack in which at least four people were killed and 18 wounded.

The AP article goes on to say that nobody has heard from US forces in Baghdad since the incident in Sadr City:

Since then there has been no update from the U.S. forces, and cellphone service across Baghdad was inexplicably out of service most of Wednesday making contact with Sadr City, in the extreme northeast of Baghdad, impossible.

This story illustrates the hopeless position of the US occupation. If US forces and US-controlled Iraqi troops crack down on death squads in Sadr City, they risk destabilizing al-Maliki's government.

[Informed Comment]

Tagged as: raid, us, sadr city, iraq, al-maliki

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.