Word: deraa
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Dates: during 2006-2006
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...urge to attach a name and a face to the enemy in Iraq, thus raising the illusory hope that the elimination of one key figure will solve whatever it is that is fueling the violence. But it didn't work with al-Zarqawi and won't with Abu Deraa because it's not about one man or even one organization. It's about the disintegration of a society in the aftermath of an unprovoked invasion and occupation. It's about us. JOHN HUBERS Chicago...
...word "rogues" to describe some of the militias. But just how rogue are they? How much control does al-Sadr have over somebody like Abu Deraa, the militia leader in Sadr City...
...into civil war. Sunni leaders and some government officials blame him for the June 21 murder of one of Saddam's lawyers, the July 9 daylight slaughter of up to 50 Sunnis and the July 15 kidnapping of 30 officials from the Iraqi Olympic Committee. Unlike al-Zarqawi, Abu Deraa issued no statements and released no videos, except for a semicomic webcast, available on YouTube, that shows him offering a Pepsi to a camel. Still, his renown has spread beyond Iraq. On Internet bulletin boards he is hailed as a Shi'ite hero. A typical message reads, "Abu Deraa...
...ruthlessness of Abu Deraa--and perhaps his growing fame on the Shi'ite street--has caused even al-Sadr to distance himself from his former protégé. Last month al-Sadr put Abu Deraa on a list of people no longer part of the Mahdi Army. U.S. officials began to describe Abu Deraa as a "rogue militia leader" and a "free agent" no longer in al-Sadr's control. But some of al-Sadr's associates continue to praise Abu Deraa. Falah Shansal, a member of parliament from the al-Sadr bloc, told TIME last week that Abu Deraa...
...long as Abu Deraa enjoys al-Sadr's tacit protection, he won't be easy to run down. U.S. forces believed they had him surrounded in Sadr City last month, but the militia leader narrowly escaped. A U.S. air strike is believed to have killed several of his closest fighters and severed an arm of one of his sons. "This is an honor for him, me and the family," Abu Deraa told TIME. The victims of Abu Deraa's brutality can only hope there are more such honors in store...