European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 312007 9 t a r Sand stripes Page cookies boys make troops take notice Mahdi army Back with a vengeance in new Baghdad by Monte Morin stars and stripes Baghdad the music said it All cookies boys were Back in town us army capt Bruce beards Ley and his civil affairs team had barely stepped from their hum vees in this dust blown Quarter of new Baghdad recently when a Bank of speakers stacked be Side a tattered Market began blaring a Mahdi army militia chant its their version of a shops psychological said Beardsley a 38yearold reservist and Maryland police officer its their Way of saying the americans May be Here but so Are we after fleeing to neighbouring Iran or lying Low in the face of a widely publicized us troop surge militiamen under the com Mand of Radical cleric Muntada Al Sadr whom us servicemen Bers have dubbed Moo toe Are flowing Back into Eastern Baghdad sewage scented sprawl the militias return has been marked by a recent Spike in Road Side bomb attacks aimed at us troops As Well As a rocket or mor tar attack on a nearby Forward operating first of its kind since the Start of the new Bagh dad Security plan in the two months since Gen David Petraeus the top us com Mander in Iraq began implement ing a plan to flood Baghdad with thousands of additional us and iraqi troops in an Effort to quell violence Between shiite and sunni muslims american soldiers and cooperative iraqi Security forces had enjoyed an unprecedented Calm in Baghdad shiite dominant de East injured civilian workers including nonus citizens know and protect your Legal rights attorneys  nationwide toll free 8887327425 i 01 in i Soi vim i i in Emu re 11 it tomorrow with your copy of ires x v or Flett Oit Many Are confused by health and nutrition claims scene your entertainment and lifestyle source out every sunday photos by Monte and stripes above a group of local garbage collectors and suspected Mahdi army militiamen in the East Baghdad neigh boyhood of Lubawy cast wary glances at us soldiers and their iraqi interpreters during a recent visit to the groups office below an iraqi woman walks her children past a group of us soldiers with company c 1st battalion 8th cavalry regiment 1st cavalry division in Lubawy in areas like new Baghdad which skirts the vast Mahdi Mili Tia stronghold of Sadr City tacks and execution style Mur Ders plummeted by More than 70 percent in the last several weeks How Ever us troops Here have experienced an increase in attacks involving a particularly deadly form of Roadside bomb called an explosively formed projectile or exp in one particularly devas Tating ambush a Roadside bomb killed six soldiers with the fort Hood Texas based 1st Battal Ion 8th cavalry regiment 1st cavalry division five men suspected of planting the bomb were later captured by 18 Cav troops and in another example for Ward operating base Rusti Mayah in new Baghdad was struck by rockets or mortars tues Day first such incident of in direct fire in months the uptick in violence coincides with a trend of timing seen in the of the last four years april has proved to be a particularly combative month at the same time Sadr has made recent statements renouncing his Call for peace at the Start of the Security plan news of the surge freaked everybody out Beardsley said of the militiamen they thought it was going to be a Saddam style surge and that we would kill everybody instead it was an american surge the soldiers killed in the March 15 Roadside bomb attack were attached to the 2nd brigade combat team 2nd infantry Divi Sion and were involved in the construction of a network of com Bat outposts that have become the hallmark of Petraeus Campaign in the past two months thou Sands of us troops have relocated from sprawling bases and taken up positions in Small aus Tere outposts and joint Security stations in neighbourhoods throughout Baghdad the tiny bases which Lack Many of the amenities soldiers have grown used to have been established in former government buildings abandoned bunkers snack food factories and other available structures they put us in the neighbor Hood it col Jeffery Sauer com Mander of the 18 Cav said of the outposts we live breathe eat and sleep that neighbourhood now four months ago our presence was real transitory Sauer and other us command ers Hope the neighbourhood pres ence will prevent shiite militia violence from spiralling out of control they have used the Lull in hostilities to capture Many of the mid level Mahdi commanders who remained in the area and have also established relation ships with residents who Are cooperating with us forces when the death squads moved through the neighbourhood every one would Button up and hide said capt Evans Hanson a spokesman for the 18 Cav people Are realizing now that there not As omnipotent As they were in the last few weeks weve been Able to expose their impotency we need to keep this momentum going during a recent visit to the neighbourhood of Obaidy beards Ley was met by an iraqi Man who said Sadr men were indeed re turning to the area and that the us military should confiscate their Small arms such As Kalash Nikov rifles and pistols at the Start of the Security plan the militia escaped from the City the Man said but now they Are starting to come Back i believe in democracy so i will speak frankly the americans Only search for heavy weapons that will Hurt american forces this is wrong the militia is not stupid they dont keep heavy weapons in their Homes but if american forces find aks Kalashnikov in their Homes they leave them Why is this Beardsley told the Man that under iraqi Law families were Al Lowed to possess an ak47 As Sault Rifle and that the us Mili tary could not confiscate them the Man Shook his head the militia has come Back to exert pressure again he said gravely the final result will be them killing people with 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