Another Sunni province in Iraq turning against Al Qaeda; meanwhile Sadr's militia is terrorizing Iraqi policemen elsewhere in Iraq

The Associated Press reports:

American forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis — some of whom had been hung from ceilings and tortured for months — in a raid Sunday on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Military officials said the operation, launched on tips from residents, showed that Iraqis in the turbulent Diyala province were turning against Sunni insurgents and beginning to trust U.S. troops.

As the AP went on to report:

"The more contact we have (with) the Iraqi citizens, the more confidence that they develop in us, and in the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army. That leads to greater cooperation from the Iraqi citizenry," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman.

Meanwhile, as the AP goes on to report:

...in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned from an elite police unit and handed over their weapons, saying they were afraid of the Mahdi Army militia of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, police said.

As one officer told the AP: "I fear reprisals, I want to keep my family and relatives safe."

Elvis confirmed to be in Najaf

U.S. Army inspecting a child's throat in Najaf

The New York Times confirmed that Moqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and leader of the Mahdi Army, is in Najaf. From the Times report:

The powerful Iraqi cleric Moktada al-Sadr surfaced in his home base of Kufa in southern Iraq today, delivering a sermon in a local mosque after what American intelligence officials called a four-month sojourn in Iran.

The cleric, addressing a large crowd amid heavy security, called for American forces to leave Iraq, but pointedly did not say how quickly those troops should leave, as he has in the past. A longer timeline would serve to give Mr. Sadr’s Mahdi Army extra time to prepare for the departure of the Americans.

Mr. Sadr called for an end to fighting between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi forces and police, asking his followers to conduct peaceful demonstrations instead. And though the Mahdi Army has been heavily involved in the nation’s brutal sectarian violence, he requested reconciliation between Shiites, Sunnis and Christians.

But as the Times went on to report:

“He has a great deal of administrative and management work to do,” said Toby Dodge, a Middle East expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “He has to reassert control over an increasingly wayward military organization.” Mr. Dodge, who recently spent a month in Iraq, added, “Clearly, he needs to make his mind up whether his military organization is a tool of rampant sectarianism or a tool of national reconciliation.”

Well, I'm hoping that Sadr's return means that we'll soon be seeing the Madhi Army performing throat inspections instead of sectarian executions and helping to restore Iraq's infrastructure as opposed to trying to tear Iraqis apart for a change.

SecDef Gates warns Iraqis: "The clock is ticking"

From the Associated Press via the Wall Street Journal:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq Thursday to warn Iraqi leaders that the U.S. commitment to a military buildup there is not open-ended...."I would like to see faster progress," he said, adding that momentum by the Iraqi government on political reconciliation as well as legislation on sharing oil revenue would "begin the process to send a message that the leaders are beginning to work together." He said that, in turn, would create an environment in which violence could be reduced.

As the AP press noted: "The four bombings throughout Baghdad that killed 183 people was the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop increase began nine weeks ago."

As to who exactly carried out the market bombing in Bagdhad that left some 140 people dead, the AP quoted a U.S. military spokesman who said that initial intelligence points ot al Qaeda. As the AP went on to say:

The attacks appeared to be yet another attempt by Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda to force Shiite militiamen back onto the streets. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr had ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to put away their weapons and go underground before the security crackdown began, leaving regions like those bombed on Wednesday highly vulnerable.

U.S. officials have reported a decrease in sectarian killings in Baghdad since the U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown was launched Feb. 14. But the past week has seen several spectacular attacks in the capital, including a suicide bombing inside parliament and a powerful blast that collapsed a landmark bridge across the Tigris River. The number of bodies dumped in the streets of Baghdad also has risen significantly.

An Iraqi military spokesman told the AP that 95 percent of those killed yesterday were civilians.

Is the Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army splintering?

The Associated Press is reporting that "Shiite militia may be disintegrating":

The violent Shiite militia known as the Mahdi Army is breaking into splinter groups, with up to 3,000 gunmen now financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal to the firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, adding a potentially even more deadly element to Iraq's violent mix.

Hundreds of these fighters are alleged to have gone to Iran for training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. This is the same force that is believed to have trained Hezbollah as well as jihadists in Bosnia and Afghanistan.

Al-Sadr has not been seen in Iraq since early February. "Conditions are not suitable for him to return," one of his aides told the AP. "His safety will not be guaranteed if he returns."

According to the AP:

In recent weeks, Mahdi Army fighters who escaped possible arrest in the Baghdad security push have received $600 each upon reaching Iran. The former Mahdi Army militiamen working for the Revolutionary Guards operate under the cover a relief agency for Iraqi refugees, they said.

Once fighters defect, they receive a monthly stipend of $200, said the commanders.

Estimates of the strength of Mahdi Army fighters range between 10,000 and 60,000 men.

But as the AP observes, "Like many of Iraq's warring parties, it's a loosely knit force."