Iraqi Shi’ite militia ready to join fight

A senior member of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Iraqi Shi’ite militia, the Mahdi Army, says the group is forming a squadron of up to 1,500 elite fighters to go to Lebanon.

The plan reflects the potential of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah to strengthen radical elements in Iraq and neighboring countries and to draw other regional players into the Lebanon conflict.

“We are choosing the men right now,” said Abu Mujtaba, who works in the loosely organized following of radical Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. “We are preparing the right men for the job.”

Mr. Mujtaba, who was interviewed in Baghdad, said some of the men have had special training but did not specify what kind.

Sheik al-Sadr’s black-clad armed militia numbers in the thousands, operates throughout central and southern Iraq and is thought to be responsible for numerous killings of Sunnis.

A rival Sunni cleric, Abdul Rahman al-Duleimi, said he knew about the militia’s recruiting effort and that he had appealed to his own followers to fight Israel.

“We know that the Mahdi militia is on this issue since the Lebanon-Israeli crisis started,” said Sheik al-Duleimi, whose house in Baghdad contains a large portrait of former ruler Saddam Hussein. The cleric is not related to Adnan al-Dulaimi, also a Sunni cleric and leader of a major faction in parliament.

Sheik al-Duleimi said that during prayers on Friday, he “called the people to volunteer, and if they cannot, they should donate anything. I called on people to donate even one bullet, because maybe this one bullet will kill one Israeli.”

Government officials said they knew nothing of the Mahdi militia’s plans, although Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has condemned Israel’s assault on Lebanon and said he will discuss it with President Bush during a scheduled visit to the White House tomorrow.

“The hostile acts against Lebanon will have effects on the region, and we are not far from what is going on in Lebanon,” Mr. al-Maliki said Saturday. “We will speak to the United Nations and American government to call for a cease-fire quickly.”

Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowafaq al-Rubaie, said he had not heard of any Iraqis planning to go to Lebanon, “and if I had heard it, I don’t have a comment.”

Mr. Mujtaba shrugged off the government reaction, saying the Mahdi militia has been keeping its moves quiet until it has everything ready.

“If some politicians or Iraqis laugh at us, I think the coming days will prove these reports and we will see who is defending Islam to prove he is a Muslim and who is not,” he said.

Other Shi’ite groups in Baghdad are rumored to be gathering donations to help the Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, where the Islamist group has come under fierce attack since kidnapping two Israeli soldiers on July 12.

Sheik al-Sadr has openly voiced support for Iran — Hezbollah’s main sponsor — and on Friday urged Iraqis to stand behind Lebanon to confront the “common enemy,” Israel.

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