"They kidnap 10 Sunnis, they get ransom on five, and kill them all, in each big kidnap operation they make at least $50,000, it’s the best business in Baghdad," – a Shia man close to the Mahdi Army, in the Guardian.
Of course, it’s actually quite hopeful to think that the sectarian murders and kidnapping are motivated in part by financial gain. Better than religious zeal – because it can be bought off. But the enmeshment of the police and the militias in Baghdad is now complete. Their interaction with the Iraqi "national" army is routine but not universal. From a Mahdi Army warrior:
"We have specific units that we work with where members of the Mahdi Army are in command. We conduct operations together. We can’t ask any army unit to come with us, we just ask the units that are under the control of our men. The police are all under our control, we ask them to help or inform them that shooting will take place in a street and it involves the Mahdi Army, and that’s it."
(Photo: Mohammed Sawaf/AFP/Getty.)
The Dish 