Sadr introduces ID cards. posted by Richard Seymour

New Labour wish they were this guy. Moqtada al-Sadr has introduced ID Cards for people wanting to get in and out of Sadr City and other Sadr-controlled areas. The Washington Times reports: "The system keeps terrorists out, but has created a mini-state beyond the government's control."

The Mahdi Army is feared throughout Baghdad because of its reputation for attacking the U.S. military and those working for the Americans, the young Shi'ite said.

"If I show this badge to a Sunni in Baghdad, he respects me," he said proudly. "The Mahdi Army also kills Ba'ath party leaders who killed a lot of people -- but they just kill the leaders."

Even Western security companies, some of whom have clients working in the city, are cooperating with the system.

The report also mentions that "Political leader Ahmed Chalabi, once favored by the Pentagon but now apparently operating on his own, reportedly controls some of the 5,000 U.S.-trained fighters that arrived with him in 2003." Hang on a minute - wasn't it Chalabi who got Guardian journalist Rory Carroll freed when he was kidnapped? How, I wonder, did he do that?

Meanwhile:

Iraqis have long said the Interior Ministry is infiltrated by insurgents as well as the pro-Iranian Badr Brigade. Many Iraqis are loath to give information to the ministry for fear they will be killed. The ministry has also been accused of organizing Shi'ite hit-squads to execute Sunnis -- leading to increased fears of a large-scale sectarian conflict. Britain's ambassador to Iraq, William Patey, has asked for an investigation into these claims, Reuters news agency has reported. Interior Minister Bayan Jabor, a SCIRI party member, has denied the existence of any such death squads.