'A Criminal Enterprise
At the peak of the militia’s control last summer, it was involved at all levels of the local economy, taking money from gas stations, private minibus services, electric switching stations, food and clothing markets, ice factories, and even collecting rent from squatters in houses whose owners had been displaced. The four main gas stations in Sadr City were handing over a total of about $13,000 a day, according to a member of the local council.
“It’s almost like the old Mafia criminal days in the United States,” said Brig. Gen. Jeffrey W. Talley, an Army engineer rebuilding Sadr City’s main market.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/world/middleeast/27mahdi.html?_r=3&hp=&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
The New York Times has latterly accepted that its political allegiance can no longer trump its professional requirement to report facts. This is a very interesting article, especially if you remember the unadulterated horseshite that was very recently coming from every part of the left including the New York Times. I blogged not long ago about numerous articles in the MSM saying that for all intents and purposes, the Shia militias including the JAM were boy scouts who provide all manner of services to the local populace, up to and including helping old ladies across the street. That horseshite came straight from the JAM and Badr Brigades propaganda workshops. It was reported verbatim. Now that journalists can actually talk to the locals, and especially the tribal leaders who form the spine of governance in Iraq, a different story is emerging. Fancy!
One day there will a special punishment for journalists who are willing to lie for loathesome terrorists just so they can advance some political agenda. I hope it involves fire ants in some way.
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