Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Share

Almost every day, Aswat al-Iraq carries a news item about a bunch of people being arrested in Basra. But the articles never say who is being detained, or what the charges are, or what happens to those detained.

Anybody know? What is going on down there? Who is arresting whom?

ESSAM AL-SUDANI/AFP/Getty Images

EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, IRAQ
 

TOM RICKS

3:09 PM ET

March 26, 2010

jeez

No one knows nothing?

 

JWING

7:19 PM ET

March 26, 2010

Educated guess

There are two main groups that get arrested in Basra. 1) Is Shiite militiamen. These could be Special Groups, Mahdi Army, or some other militia offshoot. 2) Gangs. Since the militias have been largely driven from the streets, gangs have become a huge threat to Iraq. Many of these are former insurgents and militiamen who now that they no longer attack the security forces and U.S. have gone back to what they did before, rob, steal, smuggle, extort, etc. Especially in Basra because it is the major port and also because it is the hub of the oil industry there is plenty to steal and defraud.

 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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