Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 16/08/07 - 03/11/07

Bush warns Australia on Iraq troop pullout
US says ready to step back into Basra as British pull out, coalition forces needed in Iraq.

US President George W. Bush Friday urged Australian opposition leader Kevin Rudd to reconsider his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq if elected prime minister.

Bush, who will meet with Rudd and Prime Minister John Howard on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Sydney next week, said he was willing to work with whoever was voted Australian leader at this year's election.

But he urged Rudd to reconsider his centre-left Labor Party's election promise to remove an Australian combat force from southern Iraq.

"I don't know Mr Rudd, I'm looking forward to getting to know him," Bush told Australia's Sky News.

"So I look forward to sharing my views and would ask, if he were to win, that he would consider conditions on the ground before making any decisions.

"What matters is success. And I would be glad to explain to him why I am optimistic that this hard work will achieve what we all want, which is, over time, fewer troops -- and peace."

The US president said coalition forces needed to deal a major blow to extremists in Iraq because military failure would lead to "turmoil and chaos in the Middle East and other attacks in the US and other nations."

"We need all our coalition partners," he said.

Although he refused to speculate on the outcome of the Australian election, Bush was strong in his praise of Howard, whom he described as a close personal friend.

"I think he is a man of steel, because he's a man who stands on conviction and principle," he said.

"I remember John Howard has been behind in polls before and he's won, so certainly I'm not going to prejudge the decision of the Australian people."

The US president deflected questions about the future of the US-Australia alliance, Canberra's most important security pact, if Labor won power but said he would work hard to ensure ties remained strong.

"It is a relationship based upon our common values, it's a relationship based upon good economic ties and it's a really important relationship," he said.

"And I presume whoever the US president is after me, and the prime ministers to come in Australia, will understand how important that is."

US says ready to step back into Basra as British pull out
The US military is ready to intervene in southern Iraq to quell any unrest as British forces prepare to pull out from their last base in the oil port of Basra, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Press reports in London suggest that the British departure and handover of security control to Iraqi forces may be imminent, although the official line is that it will take place before the end of the year.

US forces will not allow any security advances in southern Iraq to be abandoned, Brigadier General Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning at the Department of Defense, told reporters.

As requirements on the ground dictate, "they will reposition forces with the battlefield geography in mind so that they don't give up gains that they've made in different areas, including in Basra and the south," he said.

"As the UK forces reposition ... all that will be taken into account as well as what the security needs for each region are," Sherlock said.

Iraqi forces are hopeful that the redeployment, which will leave just 5,000 British troops in the country to train and support Iraqi forces, will herald a new start for Basra.

Bush warns Australia on Iraq troop pullout | Iraq Updates

Iraq to sign security agreement with U.S.-FM

Iraqi Foreign Minster Hoshyar Zibari said on Thursday an expanded conference for Iraq's neighboring countries is to convene in Baghdad in early September, unveiling that Iraq is seeking a long-term security agreement with the U.S. next year once the U.N. mandate given to the Multi-National Forces' presence in the country was over.

"Iraq is currently making preparations for a meeting that will include Iraq's neighbors, U.N. Security Council permanent members and G8 on the experts' level during the first week of September in Baghdad," Hoshyar Zibari told a news conference today in Baghdad.

The Iraqi minister stressed that the meeting is expected to review the points implemented by the three work committees set up by the Sharm al-Sheikh conference held in May in the fields of energy, security and Iraqi refugees.

"The conference is also to discuss the preparations for the ministerial conference scheduled in Istanbul," Zibari told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Foreign Minister unveiled that Iraq "is seeking the signatory of a long-term security agreement with the U.S. next year once the U.N. mandate given to the presence of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq was over."

Minister Zibari noted that the agreement recently reached among the Iraqi political leaders included a clause indicating the readiness of the Iraqi government to have a long-term partnership with the U.S. in security.

"This agreement will help us and our friends to act together in the security aspect," the Iraqi Minister said.

Zibari told reporters "the United Nations will review the presence of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq at the end of this year and we will act to issue a new resolution from the Security Council on new joint security arrangements."

"The move needs much efforts but it is a step towards enhancing the sovereignty of Iraq," said the minister noting that "it is still too early to discuss establishing U.S. bases in Iraq according to this agreement but there will be U.S. troops' presence for a long time with smaller size and different missions."

Zibari considered such a move as "an internal issue and has nothing to do with the neighboring countries."

The Iraqi Foreign Minister also touched upon the Iranian artillery shelling against the Kurdish villages in northern Iraq saying "the shelling has become a routine action that targets residential areas in Sulaimaniyah and Arbil everyday."

"The Iraqi government informed the Iranian ambassador of its protest against these operations demanding an immediate halt to the shelling into the Iraqi territories," Zibari added.

The Iraqi minister who warned that the shelling will harm the relations between the two countries threatened that "the Iraqi government will not sit idle towards the continued Iranian shelling of the Iraqi territories."

"We are not so weak to the extent that all countries intervene and do what they like in Iraq while we keep silent," the minister noted.

"There are measures that we will take through diplomatic channels hopefully to end the shelling," said Zibari who also admitted the presence of Iranian opposition groups on the Iraqi territories.

Iraq to sign security agreement with U.S.-FM | Iraq Updates

Iraqi Shiite heir steps into a tough role
Ammar Hakim, scion of a top clerical family, is set to lead a party that is the chief U.S. ally in Iraq, but has deep ties to Iran.

When a Shiite religious leader's phalanx was waved through a security cordon and into the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala on Monday night, a crowd of rival militiamen grew incensed, sparking fighting that claimed the lives of at least 50 people and left parts of the holy city smoldering.
The man at the center of it was a soft-spoken 36-year-old cleric who has emerged this summer as the likely next head of the party that is the United States' most powerful political ally in Iraq.

Ammar Hakim is far from the secular, Western-educated men whom U.S. policymakers hoped would govern this land once Saddam Hussein was toppled. He wears the black turban of those who claim to be descended from the prophet Muhammad and was educated in the Shiite seminaries of Iran.

In the last few months, Hakim has taken the helm of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, stepping in for his father, Abdelaziz Hakim, while he is being treated for lung cancer.

The younger Hakim's rise comes at a crucial time for the party. The supreme council commands one of the two largest Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq's parliament but has been losing influence on the streets to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada Sadr, who controls the other bloc. If Hakim is able to counter Sadr, it could boost the Bush administration's hopes of maintaining Iraqi support for a continued U.S. presence here.

The increasingly violent feud pits the well trained men of the supreme council's Badr Organization against Sadr's seemingly less disciplined, but larger, Mahdi Army. At stake are political influence and control of the vast oil wealth in the overwhelmingly Shiite south.

This week's battle in Karbala shut down a major religious pilgrimage and sparked attacks against supreme council offices across Baghdad. Shiite leaders, who rarely accuse each other publicly, blamed the violence on remnants of Hussein's regime.

Ammar Hakim and Sadr are close in age, and both are the charismatic scions of clerical families that have long vied for leadership of Iraq's Shiite majority. But Hakim, a polished orator with a classical Arabic diction, is a sharp contrast to the gruff Sadr, who speaks in the colloquial dialect of the Iraqi poor. Hakim plays down the rivalry, noting that his mother is from the Sadr clan.

Hakim was groomed from an early age for a leadership role. The family home in Najaf was a frequent hide-out for men battling the Iraqi regime. In a recent interview with The Times, he said that from age 4, it was his job to pass food in secret to the fugitives. By the time he was 7, he was acting as a lookout to help his father elude Hussein's henchmen.

"I was able to spot the security men even if they were dressed in civilian clothing," he said, breaking into one of many smiles. His family fled to Iran in 1979 to escape persecution, and by age 9, Hakim was addressing thousands of Shiite faithful at mosques and religious festivals there.

Many here and in Washington are suspicious of Hakim's close ties to Iran, where he has spent more than half his life. Iran's Revolutionary Guard trained, equipped and at one point led the Badr Organization, which fought alongside Iran during the 1980s war against Iraq.

By contrast, Sadr is an Iraqi nationalist who routinely denounces both U.S. and Iranian influence, although he, too, has accepted assistance from Iran and spends considerable time there.

During constitutional negotiations after Hussein was ousted, some supreme council members advocated giving senior Shiite clerics, or ayatollahs, veto power over legislation. Hakim argued for changing the country's name to the Islamic Republic of Iraq, a proposal he now says was intended to recognize that most Iraqis are Muslim, not to exclude those who are not.

Hakim has alienated Sunni Arabs by pushing for greater regional autonomy and, until recently, resisting proposals to allow members of Hussein's ousted Baathist regime to take jobs in the government and military.

His tendency to travel in flashy convoys studded with gunmen have led some to dub him "Uday" Hakim, after Hussein's corrupt and violent son.

In February, U.S. troops detained him for several hours over questions about his passport as he returned from Iran in a heavily armed convoy. He complained at the time of being blindfolded and stripped to his underwear but accepted an apology from then-U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

Hakim emphasized his independence from Tehran in the interview, which took place in a marble hall furnished with gilt-trimmed sofas at his party's heavily guarded headquarters in Baghdad.

"We are not agents of Iran," he said. He pointed out that it was his father who had encouraged Iran to open a dialogue with the United States about Iraq, and he said it was in Iraq's interests to maintain good relations with both countries.

He cautioned against a sudden drawdown of U.S. forces, saying it would be dangerous for Iraq. He said he supported a U.S.-sponsored bill to regulate the distribution of Iraq's massive oil wealth. And he expressed willingness to compromise with Sunni Arab politicians.

At a time of mounting frustration with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite with the rival Islamic Dawa Party, Hakim distanced himself from moves to replace the Iraqi leader.

"The problems of Iraq cannot be reduced to one person . . . especially as there are no other alternatives," he said, a view shared by U.S. diplomats. "We have to put up with each other." The two groups are part of a larger ruling bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance.

But analysts say it is too soon to say whether Hakim intends to chart a course similar to his more reticent father's, or whether he could steer the party in a new direction.

"Getting into power and consolidating it is a long process in these systems," said Juan Cole, an expert on Shiite politics at the University of Michigan. "So it is a little unlikely that he would take early initiatives that differed starkly from his father's direction until he felt like he had his own power basis."

The elder Hakim's direction is one that U.S. officials describe as a voice of moderation in Iraq, de****e the party's strong Islamist values and close ties to Tehran. U.S. officials regard the Badr Organization, which has been accused of running death squads targeting Sunnis, as more restrained than the Mahdi Army, also blamed for sectarian killings. And Badr has avoided open confrontations with U.S. forces, unlike Sadr, who has led two uprisings against American troops.

The tacit alliance has shielded Badr fighters from U.S. raids. But with tension mounting between the U.S. and Iran, it is increasingly difficult for Hakim's party to juggle the relationships with its two key benefactors.

There are signs that the supreme council is seeking other ways to counter Sadr's influence. Its leaders have adopted a nationalist tone closer to Sadr's, saying they will be guided by Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, rather than Iran's spiritual mentor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Hakim family returned to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Only a few months later, a massive car bomb outside the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf killed Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr Hakim, who had founded the supreme council in 1982 as a political home for Iraqi exiles in Iran.
The day his uncle was killed, Hakim said, he had prayed behind him at the shrine.

"He went to ride in his car, but I stayed behind to salute the people as he requested," he said. "I wish he had never made that request. I wish I had left with him. He became the 63rd martyr of my family."

Hakim says he has survived 13 assassination attempts, the most recent in April, when gunmen attacked his convoy as he drove through Baghdad on his way back from Najaf.

"Some people believe, when I have so many cars and guards, it is a kind of luxury," he said, seemingly bemused.

Within Iraq's clerical families, leadership is traditionally passed from father to son, but Hakim's ascent to the head of the supreme council is not assured. Talk of corruption has shadowed him, fueling disenchantment among some in Najaf, the party's stronghold.

"His influence doesn't go beyond the women who admire his looks," said Ali Hasnawi, a restaurant owner there.

An investigation by Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity found no evidence of wrongdoing by Hakim.

"I always find myself in a position where I have to explain myself," Hakim said. "In our society . . . we only praise the dead."

There are others in the party with more experience, such as Adel Abdul Mehdi, who is the supreme council's chief negotiator and a possible candidate for prime minister.

Asked whether he harbors prime ministerial ambitions, Hakim smiled again and shook his head.

"No," he said, adding that he looked forward to his father's return to work. "I don't feel very happy and relaxed in the position that I am now."

His confident demeanor, however, belies those words. A dynamic campaigner, Hakim heads the party's multimillion-dollar Shahid Mihrab foundation, which supports religious and welfare programs across Iraq.

Like his father, who had tried to make Abdul Mehdi prime minister, he may prefer the role of kingmaker. But it remains to be seen whether he can compete against Sadr and other Shiite leaders.

"The battle, I think, for Ammar is not taking over [the party], the battle is to shine at the center stage of Iraqi politics," said Vali Nasr at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

"He can very easily be anointed. . . . Whether he is a figurehead or an effective head remains to be seen."

Iraqi Shiite heir steps into a tough role | Iraq Updates

LUKoil's share in Iraqi oil project to be determined

LUKoil's share in the Iraqi Western Kurna-2 project is expected to be determined after negotiations with the country's government and adoption of appropriate legislation, the Russian oil company's President Vagit Alekperov told a press conference, answering a question concerning LUKoil's intentions of obtaining a controlling stake in the project. The Russian oil giant will discuss its part in the development of the Western Kurna-2 oilfield with the Iraqi Oil Ministry and its project partners, Russian Zarubezhneft and US ConocoPhillips. Once all aspects of the project's implementation have been evaluated, LUKoil will be able to decide on the terms and conditions of its participation in the project.

LUKoil's share in Iraqi oil project to be determined | Iraq Updates

Another Iraq report: remake the national police force

Washington - An independent commission is expected to recommend to Congress that Iraq's 26,000-strong national police force be restructured to purge it of corrupt officers and Shiite militants, The New York Times quoted unnamed administration officials as saying Friday.

The group making the report, which is expected to be delivered next week as Congress reconvenes from its summer break, is a special commission established by Congress to look only at security issues. It is headed by General James Jones, the former top US commander in Europe.

A second report due next week from the legislature's investigative arm, details of which were leaked on Thursday, is expected to find that Iraq has only scored well on three of 18 benchmarks set by Congress to justify continued US involvement in Iraq.

US President George W Bush has energetically defended the role of the US in Iraq, and says the country and Congress should be patient about his strategy of boosting troop numbers until it hears a third set of reports from US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus, the top US commander there, by September 15.

Another Iraq report: remake the national police force - Middle East

Syria to stem flow of refugees from Iraq

Damascus- Syrian government sources said Friday that from September 10, Iraqis wanting to visit Syria will have to apply for a visa at the Syrian embassy in Baghdad. The measure, considered a bid to stem the flow of refugees from Iraq, had been decided after consultations with the Iraqi government, sources said.

Since the ouster of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in spring 2003, around 1.4 million Iraqis have fled to Syria. The refugees, most of whom entered without a visa, are proving a burden on the Syrian economy.

Syrian politicians have long criticized the entry requirements which the US stipulates for its own intake of Iraqis.

A member of the government said recently: "First they turn Iraq into a dangerous place and now they don't want to admit the refugees and are saddling the Arab neighbours with the burden."

Germany's Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul had earlier this week paid tribute to Syria's efforts to care for Iraqi refugees and announced 4 million euros (5.4 million dollars) in aid.

Last week Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had conferred with Syrian President Bashir al-Assad on the refugee problem.

Syria to stem flow of refugees from Iraq : Middle East World

Food aid for Iraqis an SMS away

Geneva - UN agencies harnessed mobile phone technology Friday to inform more than 30,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria of the first food distribution programme by sending them a text with the details.

The SMS campaign was launched by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, the World Food Programme and Syrian Arab Red Crescent to alert families, mainly in Damascus, to the first food ration.

Ten thousand messages were sent to families for food assistance.

'We find many Iraqi refugees have mobile phones to keep in touch with family or friends who have been displaced or who have left Iraq. It is a very effective way of getting the message out to tens of thousands of people,' said UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis speaking in Geneva.

Food rations are to be distributed on a monthly basis and are expected to benefit 50,000 refugees by the end of 2007 at a cost of 2.2 million US dollars.

More than 4 million Iraqis are estimated to have left their homes with around 2.2 million of them having left the country. Of those, an estimated 1.4 million have sought refuge in Syria.

Food aid for Iraqis an SMS away - Middle East

Shiite cleric blames Iraqi security forces for Karbala clash (Extra)

Baghdad - A representative of Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Friday blamed the Iraqi security forces for the clashes which broke out this week around the holy Shiite city of Karbala between militia and the security forces.

In a sermon following Friday prayers, Shiekh Abdel-Mahdi al- Karbalaey told hundreds of worshippers: 'The security forces did not perform their role properly and was informing Baghdad of lies about its control over the situation.'

'What happened in Karbala was organized and predetermined to violate the holiness of shrines and deprive the pilgrims from their visit,' al-Karbalaey said.

The fighting broke out Monday ahead of the visit of hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims from all over Iraq to the shrines of Imam Hussein and his brother al-Abbasr in Karbala, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.

'The administrations of the two shrines had earlier received intelligence reports about a plan to stir clashes between gunmen and Iraqi police to create chaos in the area,' the cleric said.

He added that the security forces did not rush to take control of the situation.

The clashes lasted till Wednesday and left at least 50 dead and hundreds more wounded.

Shiite cleric blames Iraqi security forces for Karbala clash (Extra) - Middle East_

Iraqi government hails decision to freeze Mahdi armyAdds: Adds report of pledged halt to Iranian shelling, ReportersWithout Borders statement on journalist death toll (Roundup)

Baghdad - The Iraqi government has hailed the decision of Shiite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr to freeze the operations of his so-called Mahdi Army for six months, the independent Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported Friday.

The agency said the government statement, which was issued late Thursday, described the move as 'chance' for all militias in Iraq to follow this step.

'The Iraqi government welcomes Sadr's decision, which was a promising step towards consolidating security and stability nationwide ... and a chance for all militias, with their (diverse) political and ideological affiliations, to follow his lead and maintain Iraq's unity and sovereignty,' the statement said.

Al-Sadr on Wednesday ordered a freeze on the activities of his Mahdi Army for six months and announced that the armed militia was to be restructured 'in a way that will maintain its ideology.'

The Mahdi Army, also known as the Mahdi Militia or Jaish al-Mahdi, is a paramilitary force created by al-Sadr in June 2003.

His decision came after Mahdi Army militants were accused of engaging in armed clashes with Iraqi security forces in the holy city of Karbala this week, as well attacks on Shiite Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) political party offices around Iraq.

The fighting broke out Monday ahead of the visit of hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims from all over Iraq to the shrines of Imam Hussein and his brother al-Abbas in Karbala, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.

A representative of Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Friday however blamed the Iraqi security forces for the Karbala clashes.

In a sermon following Friday prayers, Shiekh Abdel-Mahdi al- Karbalaey told hundreds of worshippers: 'The security forces did not perform their role properly and were lying to Baghdad about their control over the situation.'

'What happened in Karbala was organized and predetermined to violate the holiness of shrines and deprive pilgrims of their visit.'

'The administrations of the two shrines had earlier received intelligence reports about a plan to stir clashes between gunmen and Iraqi police to create chaos in the area,' the cleric said.

He added that the security forces take control of the situation soon enough.

The clashes lasted until Wednesday and left at least 50 dead and hundreds more wounded.

Elsewhere, pan-Arab news channel al-Arabiya quoting Tehran government sources reported that the Iran had promised Kurdish political parties that it would halt shelling of Iraq's Kurdish autonomous area.

The Iranian army has since the beginning of the month targeted positions in the northern provinces of Sulaymanyah and Arbil alleged to be occupied by anti-Iranian Kurdish militants of the Party for Freedom and Life in Kurdistan (PJAK).

A spokesman for the Iraq customs service said Friday that Iranian artillery had the previous day shelled a customs post in the Haj Omran region. No information as to damage sustained was however given.

Meanwhile Reporters Without Borders on Friday revealed that the murder of an Iraqi translator and interpreter employed by the US television network CBS News brought to 200 the number of journalists and media workers killed in Iraq since the start of the US-led invasion in March 2003.
The body of Anwar Abbas Lafta was found on 25 August, five days after he was abducted in Baghdad.

'We are appalled by this latest murder and by the new overall toll,' the press freedom organisation said in a statement.

'This unbearable litany of death must stop and for that to happen, the Iraqi authorities must at least try to adopt measures to combat violent crime and impunity,' the statement continued.

'Those who murder journalists in Iraq unfortunately have nothing to fear from the police and judicial authorities.'

Separately, a US Marine and a US army soldier were killed in two separate attacks while conducting combat operations in northern Anbar province, the US military reported on Friday.

The deaths occurred Wednesday, the statement said, but no further details were immediately available.

In another development also in Anbar province Wednesday, US Marines engaged with an armed group belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq, killing 12 fighters and destroying two vehicles near the town of Karmah, the US military said Friday.

Iraqi government hails decision to freeze Mahdi armyAdds: Adds report of pledged halt to Iranian shelling, ReportersWithout Borders statement on journalist death toll (Roundup) - Middle East_

Iraq hopes other armed groups will follow Sadr's lead

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq said on Friday that it hopes other armed groups follow Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's decision to freeze his militia as Sunni Arabs expressed optimism the ban would reduce attacks on their people.

The suspension of Sadr's dreaded Mahdi Army militia was an "an opportunity for other militias of different political affiliations" to give up their arms and help reduce bloodshed in the country, the prime minister's office said.

On Wednesday Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army to suspend its activities for six months after allegations that the militia was involved in deadly firefights the previous day in the shrine city of Karbala during a major Shiite festival.

At least 52 people were killed and 300 wounded in Tuesday's clashes between policemen and gunmen as hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims marked the anniversary of the birth of an eighth century imam.
Sadr denied any involvement in the violence but quickly ordered a freeze on his militia's activities.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said Sadr's decision would help in achieving stability in the country and could persuade other militant groups to do the same.

"The Sadr movement is an important political power in Iraq and will remain active in the political process," the premier's office said.
The statement was at pains to stress that the Baghdad government was not accusing Sadr's men of responsibility for the Karbala carnage.

"The measures taken by the government following the tragic events in Karbala do not point the finger at the Sadr movement. The government will only chase after those elements who committed the crimes," it said.

Over the past 18 months the Mahdi Army has gained notoriety, accused of killing thousands of Sunni Arabs since the brutal Shiite-Sunni sectarian conflict broke out in February 2007.

Iraq has around a dozen militias loyal to various political groups, and intense infighting between them has often caused outbreaks of violence on the streets of the war-ravaged country.

Recent months have seen mounting reports of intra-Shiite violence between the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organisation, the militant wing loyal to the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) party headed by powerful Shiite politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim.

The two groups have clashed in many central and southern provinces.
Sunnis also welcomed Sadr's move.

"If the call involves stopping displacement (of Sunnis) and burning mosques, it would be a good step," said Omar Abdul Sattar Mahmud, lawmaker from the Iraqi Islamic Party, a key Sunni parliamentary group.

Since the sectarian conflict erupted, dozens of Sunni and Shiite mosques have been destroyed in tit-for-tat attacks.

Mahmud called on the Shiites to review their policies to "help strengthen official institutions as the Shiites now rule the country.

"If the call from Moqtada al-Sadr serves that objective it would be okay," he told AFP.

The Sunni Muslim Scholars Association, a religious body accused of having links with anti-American Sunni insurgent groups, gave a mixed reaction to Sadr's ban.

"If the (Mahdi) Army drops resisting the occupiers then it would be a wrong decision and Sayid Moqtada or anyone else has no right to give such an order," said association spokesman Mohammed Bashar al-Faydhi.

But if the "order is meant to stop the bloody activities of the Army against innocent people and displace and kill them, then it is a sound decision."

Iraqi troops surrounded the revered Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines in Karbala ahead of Friday prayers.

The main prayers were to be led at the Imam Hussein shrine by Imam Abdel Mahdi Karbalae, a representative of senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a source from the shrines' administration said.

An AFP photographer said people were queuing in blazing heat as they waited to undergo strict security checks before being allowed into the Imam Hussein shrine.

Meanwhile insurgents killed two more American troops in the Sunni province of Anbar, taking the US military's losses since the March 2003 war began to 3,731, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.

Iraq hopes other armed groups will follow Sadr's lead - Yahoo! News UK