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Baghdad, 5 May (AKI) - Radical Iraqi Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, is reported to have assumed the title of Grand Ayatollah after concluding his studies in the holy city of Qom in Iran. Sources close to the cleric's faction released the news to the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat. Around 70 supporters of al-Sadr on Sunday concluded a conference in the Turkish city of Istanbul where they elected new leaders and mapped out their future. Al-Sadr, who leads the Mahdi Army militia, also met both Recep Tayyip Erodgan, the Turkish prime minister, and president Abdullah Gul in Ankara on Friday during...

May 3, 2009 Al-Sadr resurfaces in Turkey, meets with Turkish President and Prime Minister Why is this jihadist meeting with the "moderate" and "pro-American" leaders of Turkey? They're talking about the "security of Iraq." Since all parties involved are proponents of Sharia rule, likely that is what will be advanced as a result of this meeting. "Radical anti-US cleric Sadr resurfaces in Turkey," from AFP, May 2 (thanks to all who sent this in): Iraq's Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr – not seen in public for nearly two years – held face-to-face talks with Turkey's top two leaders Friday, the...

The US military broke up an Iranian-backed terror cell associated with Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army during a raid in Al Kut in central Iraq. Iraqi officials are claiming the US military conducted the raid without approval. Coalition forces killed one Iranian-backed terrorist and captured six others during a raid that targeted a financier that supports both the Mahdi Army Special Groups and the Brigade of the Promised Day. One woman was also killed during a gunfight that broke out during the raid; the woman was caught in the crossfire. The Brigade of the Promised Day was created by Sadr...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2009 – With violence levels greatly reduced, meddling from outside influences is a concern surrounding upcoming Iraqi elections, a U.S. commander in Iraq said today. Army Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, commander of Multinational Division Center, said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has pledged that Baghdad will do all it can to prevent defrauding of the Jan. 31 provincial elections by internal and external forces. “We agree with [Maliki] that everybody should let Iraqis make their own decisions in this election,” he told reporters at a news conference in Baghdad. “What’s important to Iraq is that elections be...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2009 – U.S. and Iraqi forces in Iraq’s Diyala province are preparing for rising violence amid upcoming provincial elections, an Army commander in Iraq said at a Pentagon news conference today. Army Col. Burt Thompson, commander of the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, said he anticipates an increase in violent activities as the Jan. 31 polling date nears. “It's pretty clear what they'd be going after,” Thompson said, referring to potential election saboteurs. “It's to sway the hearts and the minds, to intimidate those civilians from going and voting.” Thompson, speaking via video teleconference...

NAJAF, Iraq – Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi resistance Wednesday to stage "revenge operations" against American forces to protest Israel's Gaza offensive. The statement issued by his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf came as criticism is mounting over civilian deaths in Gaza. The State Department dismissed al-Sadr's calls, describing them as "outrageous."

Supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have staged a mass demonstration in Baghdad in protest against plans to extend the US mandate in Iraq. An estimated 50,000 protesters chanted slogans such as "Get out occupier!". Iraqi and US negotiators drafted the deal after months of talks but it still needs approval from Iraq's government. Under the agreement US troops would withdraw by 2011, and Iraq would have the right to prosecute Americans who commit crimes while off-duty. The UN mandate for US-led coalition forces expires at the end of this year. About 144,000 of the 152,000 foreign troops deployed there...

BAGHDAD – Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday called on Iraq's parliament to reject a U.S.-Iraqi security pact as tens of thousands of his followers rallied in Baghdad against the deal. The mass public show of opposition came as U.S. and Iraqi leaders face a Dec. 31 deadline to reach agreement on the deal, which would replace an expiring U.N. mandate authorizing the U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Al-Sadr's message was read by his aide Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi before a huge crowd of mostly young men waving Iraqi and green Shiite flags and chanting slogans including "no, no to the agreement"...

Shi'ite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr stepped back into Iraq's political fray Friday with an offer that (if genuine) Washington would be hard-pressed to refuse: Set a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and the Mahdi Army will begin to disband. "The main reason for the armed resistance is the American military presence," said Sadr emissary Salah al-Ubaidi, who spoke to reporters in Najaf Friday. "If the American military begins to withdrawal, there will be no need for these armed groups." Sadr in the past has vowed to expand the humanitarian work of his movement but promised to maintain...

Report: Sadr to disarm Mahdi Army Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Wednesday, August 6, 2008 Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr intends to disarm his once-dominant Mahdi Army militia and remake it as a social-services organization, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The transformation would represent a significant turnaround for a group that has been one of the most destabilizing anti-American forces in Iraq. A new brochure, obtained by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by al-Sadr’s chief spokesman, Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, states that the Mahdi Army will now be guided by Shiite spirituality instead of anti-American militancy. The group will focus...

BAGHDAD -- Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- long a thorn in the side of the U.S. military and Iraqi government -- intends to disarm his once-feared Mahdi Army militia and remake it as a social-services organization. The transformation would represent a significant turnabout for a group that, as recently as earlier this year, was seen as one of the most destabilizing anti-American forces in Iraq. For much of the past several years, the Mahdi Army, headed by Mr. Sadr, a Shiite cleric, controlled sizable chunks of Baghdad and other major cities. Its brand of pro-Shiite activism had the side effect...

Seems like Moqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American Iraqi Shiite cleric hiding in Iran, has decided to become Iraq’s version of Benedict Arnold: The Mehdi Army of Moqtada Sadr is evolving into a clandestine movement following Iraqi military operations targeting the group, intelligence suggests.The military wing of the Sadrist Movement, the political party loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, is “turning itself into a secret armed organization,” an Iraqi intelligence official told the Gulf News on condition of anonymity.Iraqi intelligence reports suggest the group’s numbers have dwindled from around 50,000 to as few as 150 in the past few years.Intelligence officials credit...

Muqtada al Sadr. Muqtada al Sadr has ordered the Sadrist political movement to boycott the upcoming provincial elections. Sadr's order comes one day after his order to disband the Mahdi Army as a fighting force and the creations of a small, armed wing to attack Coalition forces exclusively. Sadrist aides claim Sadr rejects the election process and fears being associated with the occupation. "Sayyid Muqtada does not believe in elections or in the coming provincial governments as long as the occupation forces are here," Salah al Obaidi, a senior aide to Sadr, told The Washington Post. "We don't want...

Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called for restraint in an apparent bid to exert control over his Mahdi Army militia fighters. A statement read after Friday prayers in the holy city of Kufa says the Shiite militia will continue to resist U.S.-led forces in Iraq but fighting should be limited to a select group. He says "weapons will be in the hands of this group exclusively and will only be directed at the occupier," using standard rhetoric for the American forces in Iraq. He warns those who disobey will be "disowned by me."

LONDON, June 4 -- For much of the world, Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic primaries was a moment to admire the United States, at a time when the nation's image abroad has been seriously damaged. From hundreds of supporters crowded around televisions in rural Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, to jubilant Britons writing "WE DID IT!" on the "Brits for Barack" site on Facebook, people celebrated what they called an important racial and generational milestone for the United States. "This is close to a miracle. I was certain that some things will not happen in my lifetime," said Sunila...

I sat down for my weekly visit with Bill Roggio from Long War Jounral.Org. This episode features all the latest on the fight with the Mahdi Army in New Baghdad and Moqtada Al Sadr’s inability to rally the Arab Street to his side. We also discuss the increasing action between the Iraqi army and the Iranians who keep trying to bring the fight into Iraq. We also discuss the current situation Vis a Vis the Iranian nuclear program and whether diplomacy is an option. Finally we look at the fruits of bad diplomacy in the form of the Taliban and...

BAGHDAD - Lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accused the Iraqi government of trying to crush the movement and warned Saturday of "black clouds" on the horizon for truces that have eased fighting between al-Sadr's militia and security forces. The Sadrist Movement has heightened its rhetoric against the government in recent days, raising concerns over the cease-fires in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City district, the stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Still, the lawmakers and other al-Sadr officials said they are adhering to the truces. The cease-fires are crucial to Iraqi security forces' sweeps in...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, May 20 (Reuters) - Iraq's army moved on Tuesday to take control of Baghdad's Sadr City, power base of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, in another step to stamp government authority over areas previously outside its control. A spokesman for Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, Major-General Qassim Moussawi, said soldiers had launched "Operation Peace" in the sprawling eastern Baghdad slum early on Tuesday. Iraqi soldiers, who previously controlled only the outer perimeter of Sadr City, advanced deep into the poor suburb, home to 2 million people, without meeting any opposition, he said. "We are taking control of three-quarters...

London, Asharq Al-Awsat - In response to the claim that the Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr is present in the Iranian city of Qom, Asmaa al Mousawi, leading member of the Al Sadr political bloc in Iraq, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “We can neither confirm nor deny this information and we cannot discuss the whereabouts of Sayyed Muqtada al Sadr for security reasons.” A reliable Iraqi source based in Qom told Asharq Al-Awsat Friday, “Al Sadr is held in a house affiliated to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. He is isolated from others; nobody is allowed to see him and he...

It is the latest issue of Covert Radio and the LongWar Journal.Org. Today Brett speaks with Bill Roggio and Bill Ardolino. Bill Roggio breaks down the latest from the front lines in the war on terror, including Al Qaeda terrorists who have moved from Iraq to Afghanistan. Then Bill and Brett are joined by Bill Ardolino who was embedded in Iraq until a few days ago. Bill Ardolino, brings us the latest stuff from the ground, including the growing anger among Iraqis at Iranian meddling, and the degree to which the US Military is taking out the Mahdi Fighters. Finally...

Brand News episode of Covert Radio is now available; Brett Winterble interviews Bill Roggio to talk about Iraq, Iran and the growing Shiite unease with Al Sadr's Mahdi Army. Bill also shares his insight on Khatami's recent comments about exporting revolution. Brett and Bill also talk about the recent over the horizon strikes into Somalia.

The newspapers are predictably filled with articles about how 52 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq last month – the highest toll since September. Iraqi civilian casualties are also said to be at the highest level since August. These losses are being used to cast aspersions on claims of progress in Iraq. Even one death is too many and 52 deaths is tragedy multiplied 52-fold. But let's keep some perspective. As the icasualties.org website makes clear, for better or worse, April was still one of the lighter-casualty months during the long war in Iraq. More important, casualties cannot be looked at...

The gloomy election year refrain is that America is mired in Iraq, took its eye off Afghanistan, empowered Iran and is losing the war on terror. But how accurate is that pessimistic diagnosis? First, the good news. For all the talk of a recent Tet-like offensive in Basra, the Mahdi army of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr suffered an ignominious setback when his gunmen were routed from their enclaves. This rout helped the constitutional — and Shiite-dominated — government of Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki renew its authority and has encouraged Sunnis to re-enter government. Two great threats to Iraqi...

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraqi police say gunmen have assassinated a local commander of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of Basra. A police official says Ali Ghalib, a commander of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in the Hakimiya neighborhood in central Basra, was gunned down by gunmen on a motorcycle as he was driving on Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The assassination comes amid intensified clashes between al-Sadr's followers and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government.

Brand New Episode of Covert Radio is now up and ready for you to download. This week, Brett talked to Bill Roggio from the Long War Journal. Bill just returned from Iraq a couple of weeks back and he has some great insight into Basra, Al Sadr, and the latest moves by Al Qaeda in Iraq in Mosul. Bill also shares his thoughts on the Northwest Province in Pakistan. You can download it directly from here. brettwinterble.libsyn.com or over at BrettWinterble.com

When the Sadr-Maliki story first broke during the initial push into Basra I noted something was distinctly missing from the news about Maliki’s failed efforts and Sadr’s grand victory - there was no dancing in the streets in response to the news stories? There were no cheers for Sadr, no celebrations by the Iraqi people. If this was the Muslim Street rising up to throw off the occupiers from the West - where were the throngs of people taking to the streets? It struck me as very odd that the only spontaneous cheer to rise up from the initial operations...

An Iraqi soldier with the 1st Iraqi Army examines one of more than 160 mortars found during Operation Charge of the Knights in Basra April 19. Some of the markings on the weapons indicate a manufacturing date in 2007. U.S. Army photo. BASRA — The Iraqi Army discovered a large weapons and munitions cache in a house located in the Al Hyyaniyah area of Basra April 19. Soldiers from the 1st Iraqi Army discovered the cache during the search phase of Operation Charge of the Knights. The cache consisted of a large number of weaponry with Iranian markings. The cache...

The Iraq Status report has a translation of al-Qaeda's Zawahiri's call to do or die in Iraq. The full text follows after the Read More. The most comedic moment comes when he tries to revile Moqtada al-Sadr as a poseur and a loser; saying in effect that the Boy Wonder is all hat and no cattle. What old whiskers fails to realize is that he might very well be talking about himself. "Iraq today is now the most important arena in which our Muslim nation is waging the battle against the forces of the Crusader-Zionist campaign. Therefore, backing the mujahidin...

New York Times VideoIn Sadr City, Hashem Hadi Obaid translates sermons by preachers loyal to Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric, into sign language.Iraq's most anti-western demagogue is determined to bring the message to those who can't hear it. In Sadr City, Hashem Hadi Obaid translates sermons by preachers loyal to Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric, into sign language.

via translation - Sadr threat of an "open war" if the attacks against him are continuing NAJAF (Iraq) - The head radical anti-American Moqtada Sadr threatened Saturday to launch "an open war" if the operations of American and Iraqi forces against his movement continued, in a statement signed by him and published in Najaf (south of Baghdad). "I give a final warning, and I gave my word to the Iraqi government to choose the path of peace and stop the violence against its own people, if it is a government of destruction," the young religious leader. "If it does not...

Excerpt - BASAR, Iraq, April 18 (Reuters) - Iraqi troops cordoned off the Basra office of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's followers on Friday and prevented them holding prayers in a move that seems sure to inflame tensions. The government and Sadr followers confirmed the operation, which comes nearly a month after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in Basra, sparking violent clashes across the south and in Baghdad. "We have orders from the prime minister to take back all the governmental buildings that are occupied by parties and political movements in Basra within 48...

Murder's Mess for Muqtada April 16, 2008 New York Post Amir Taheri Riad al-Noori liked to boast that a "host of angels" protected him, along with his 250 heavily armed bodyguards. Yet, he has just been gunned down in his home in Najaf, Iraq's principal "holy" city, by a three-man hit team that managed to get away without any of the angels or bodyguards making a move. Noori was a bad man but an important player in the dirtiest corner of Iraqi Shiite politics. He headed the special bureau of Muqtada al-Sadr, the maverick mullah sponsored by Tehran. Himself a...

[...] Now the Shia-led Iraqi government focuses on its chief Shia nemesis. How the Iraqi government handles Sadr matters. In August 2004, Sadr's thugs grabbed the Grand Mosque in Najaf. Sadr was counting on Americans to bomb the mosque. The United States opted to follow the political lead of Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Sistani's aides told coalition officers: "Let us deal with Sadr. We know how to handle him and will do so. However, the coalition must not make him a martyr." The Iraqi way often appears to be indecisive, until you learn to look at its counter-insurgency methods...

BAGHDAD - Iraq's government moved Sunday to restore discipline within the ranks of the security forces, sacking more than 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted during recent fighting against Shiite militias in Basra. At the same time, Iraq's Cabinet ratcheted up the pressure on anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr by approving draft legislation barring political parties with militias from participating in upcoming provincial elections.

THE toll from fierce fighting in Baghdad’s Sadr City has risen to at least 200 dead and more than 1,000 injured, according to doctors in the besieged suburb. US and Iraqi troops killed at least 13 gunmen in heavy fighting there yesterday against the Mahdi Army loyal to the radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. The reports from Sadr City hospitals suggest far higher casualty figures than previously reported, although they cannot be independently verified. Dr Qassem Mudalal, the director of the Imam Ali hospital, said: “There are 230 killed, I can confirm, in the hospitals of Sadr City. I’ve...

BAGHDAD - Gunmen assassinated a top aide of anti-American leader Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday, sharpening a Shiite power struggle that has already triggered fighting between the cleric's followers and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. Riyadh al-Nouri, director of al-Sadr's office in Najaf, was gunned down by an unknown number assailants near his home after returning from prayer services, police and Sadrist officials said. Al-Sadr blamed the Americans and their Iraqi allies for the killing but called for calm — presumably to avoid a showdown at a time his Mahdi Army militia is under pressure by Iraqi and U.S.-led forces in Baghdad...

Just scrolled on bottom of screen that Al Sadr is Dead ??? Anybody confirm !!

From on the ground in Najaf, Eye Raki reports Mookie has returned to home in Najaf. Also, he has lost a lot of weight. Perhaps the Britney Spears diet?: "I was introduced by a mutual friend to an officer in the Ministry of Interior who confirmed the reports. I wanted to go to look out for any unusual activity around his house but the street leading to his home was blocked off by IP's who wouldn't give us a straight answer as to why we are not allowed through...Could this be a turn around in Iranian foreign policy and possibly...

This is barely being reported on the MSM and yet it’s developing into a major clash. The recent Arab summit in Damascus was a flop and left Syria with a lot of anger and embarrassment. The Israelis have openly admitted to bombing that mystery installation in Syria for being a nuclear bomb assembly factory set up by the North Koreans. This ruination of their plans has naturally outraged the Syrians. At the same time, many Arab states are exasperated with Syria for their continued support of Hizbollah in Lebanon and their efforts to control that country. The other Arab states...

Iraq's top Shiite religious leaders have told anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr not to disband his Mehdi Army, an al-Sadr spokesman said Monday amid fresh fighting in the militia's Baghdad strongholds. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki demanded Sunday that the cleric disband his militia, which waged two uprisings against U.S. troops in 2004, or see his supporters barred from public office. But al-Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said al-Sadr has consulted with Iraq's Shiite clerical leadership "and they refused that." He did not provide details of the talks. The Mehdi Army has borne the brunt of an Iraqi government crackdown on what...

BAGHDAD (AP) — Aides to Muqtada al-Sadr called Monday for dialogue to resolve a violent standoff with the Iraqi government, saying that the radical Shiite cleric would disband his militia if senior religious leaders ordered it. The overture came as Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City faced continued clashes between al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia fighters and Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces. Also Monday, a U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire after a roadside bombing in Baghdad, the military said, pushing the two-day American death toll to at least eight. The attack occurred in an eastern section of...

(Evil genius Muqty "Mookie" Al-Sadr controls Iraq's future with the power of his mind.) The title of this post is taken from a Stephen Cobert riff on something Rudy Guliani said of Mitt Romney (the then-perceived leader in the Republican presidential race) after having failed to place in the first three successive Republican primaries: "I think I’ve lulled him into a false sense of security.” Yesterday, (Iraqi blogger) MHZ posted about going to hear American reporter Dahr Jamail talk about Iraq. At his book-signing, MHZ took Jamail to task for (as he saw it) boosting for Sadr. Besides calling for...

Iraq's major Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties have closed ranks to force anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to disband his Mahdi Army militia or leave politics, lawmakers and officials involved in the effort said Sunday. Such a bold move risks a violent backlash by al-Sadr's Shiite militia. But if it succeeds it could cause a major realignment of Iraq's political landscape. The first step will be adding language to a draft election bill banning parties that operate militias from fielding candidates in provincial balloting this fall, the officials and lawmakers said. The government intends to send the draft to parliament within...

MORE ISLAMIC THAN IRAGI, HE SAYS Al-Sadr emphasizes the religious character of his movement. Of course, Western analysts will continue to dismiss him as a Misunderstander of Islam.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, returning from the southern city of Basra, claimed Tuesday that a week-old operation against Shiite militias has been a "success" despite a cease-fire that did not disarm the gunmen and left him politically battered. The Shiite leader stopped short of declaring an end to the offensive that began a week ago Tuesday in Basra, sparking retaliatory clashes in Baghdad and other southern cities, and criticism that his government was unprepared for the fierce backlash. Militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, meanwhile, thanked his fighters for "defending your people, your land and your honor." Sporadic fighting...

About three days ago, when the clash between the Iraqi Army and the Madhi army was in its fourth day, I asked a senior officer returned from Iraq after his presentation whether Maliki would go all the way against Sadr. He said he didn't know, but added that militias were a problem that had to be eventually addressed. Another questioner asked about the quality of the Iraqi Armed forces, and on this point the answer was more definite. The quality was uneven. Many parts of it were rudimentary; some parts of it were extraordinarily good.But the subject of the talk...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Iraqi government has welcomed an order by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to pull his fighters off the streets. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told FOX News that the decision is "positive and responsive." Al-Dabbagh said the move would "help the government confront those who are violating the law" and that it would help to "isolate those who are trying to destroy the government effort". He said Iraqi security operations in Basra would not end until the "criminal elements" operating there are removed. Also praising al-Sadr's orders was Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who said it was "a...

Iraqi Special Forces, advised by Coalition troops, take on the Madhi Army in Sadr City. This is the one of the most intense firefights ever caught on film, and it explains why al Sadr has already begged for a truce. The overweight and/or underage dopes of the Madhi Army are no match for the increasingly lethal Iraqi forces. Prime Minister Maliki has the upper hand now. Listen for the GAU minigun ripping away at 50 rounds per second.

NAJAF, Iraq, March 30 (Reuters) - Followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will not hand over their weapons as part of a move to end a week of fighting in Iraq, a top Sadr aide said. The aide, Hazem al-Araji, also said that Sadr's followers had received a guarantee from the government that it would end "random arrests" of Sadr followers. "The weapons of the resistance will not be delivered to the Iraqi government," he told journalists at Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf after distributing a statement from Sadr calling on followers to stop fighting. Sadr's statement...

Baghdad, Iraq (AHN) - In a surprise move Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr on Sunday ordered his fighters off the streets of Basra and other cities in Iraq. Sadr said in a statement that his movement wanted the Iraqi people to stop the bloodshed and for Iraq to maintain its independence and stability. He had previously defied the Iraqi government's deadline to turn weapons in for cash. According to reports, it is unclear if all of Sadr's followers will comply with his order. According to reports, the United States has used ground troops in Basra.