Baghdad: October 12, 2007 - Shiite Residents across Baghdad, who once used to keep full faith in Mahdi Army for their protection against Sunni militants, look to have changed their views. They have developed so much hatred against them that they treat them not more than street thugs without any philosophy.

These hatred feelings by Shiite has  unlocked a door for the American military, since the Americans had always stood against the Mahdi Army for a long time.

In fact, the war between both factions i.e. Sunni and Shiite has changed the phase now. Their war led them no where but to force them to become criminals to survive, even Shiites killed Shiites.  Residents blamed the Mahdi Army, which controls the neighborhood.

When the Shiite neighborhoods realized that no one was there to look after their interests, they have now shifted their stand to find out the one who could enable them to survive. 

In interviews, 10 Shiites from four neighborhoods in eastern and western Baghdad described a pattern in which militia members, looking for new sources of income, turned on Shiites.

The pattern appears less frequently in neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shiites are still struggling for territory. Sadr City, the largest Shiite neighborhood, where the Mahdi Army’s face is more political than military, has largely escaped the wave of criminality.

Shiite sheiks, the militia’s traditional base, are beginning to contact Americans, much as Sunni tribes reached out early this year, refocusing one entire front of the war, officials said, and the number of accurate tips flowing into American bases has soared.

Shiites are “participating like they never have before,” said Maj. Mark Brady, of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad Reconciliation and Engagement Cell, which works with tribes. (IR Summary).

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Among the people killed in the neighborhood of Topchi over the past two months, residents said, were the owner of an electrical shop, a sweets seller, a rich man, three women, two local council members, and two children, ages 9 and 11.

It was a disparate group with one thing in common: All were Shiites killed by Shiites. Residents blamed the Mahdi Army, which controls the neighborhood.

“Everyone knew who the killers were,” said a mother from Topchi, whose neighbor, a Shiite woman, was one of the victims. “I’m Shiite, and I pray to God that he will punish them.”

The feeling was the same in other neighborhoods.

“We thought they were soldiers defending the Shiites,” said Sayeed Sabah, a Shiite who runs a charity in the western neighborhood of Huriya. “But now we see they are youngster-killers, no more than that. People want to get rid of them.”

While the Mahdi militia still controls most Shiite neighborhoods, evidence suggests that Shiites are starting to oppose some parts of the militia is surfacing on American bases.

Shiite sheiks, the militia’s traditional base, are beginning to contact Americans, much as Sunni tribes reached out early this year, refocusing one entire front of the war, officials said, and the number of accurate tips flowing into American bases has soared.

Shiites are “participating like they never have before,” said Maj. Mark Brady, of the Multi-National Division-Baghdad Reconciliation and Engagement Cell, which works with tribes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/world/middleeast/12mahdi.html?th&emc=th