Activities
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Since August 2006, the Mahdi Army has rarely challenged coalition troops on a wide scale. Neither the coalition nor the Iraqi government has made any move to arrest al-Sadr. Nor have they challenged the Mahdi Army's de facto control over a number of areas in southern Iraq. The Mahdi Army has participated in battles against Sunni insurgents and operates its own justice system in the areas it controls.
One member of Iraqi intelligence has predicted that a new highly specialized incarnation of the Mahdi Army will number from 150 to 200 and carry out attacks against high profile leaders to resist the occupation. Aaos al Khafagy, the general commander of the Mahdi Army in Nasariyah, meanwhile predicted the new group would consist of “thousands” of men highly skilled in guerrilla warfare. Khafagy further stated that the Mahdi Army would resist occupation through the political process.
Read more about this topic: Mahdi Army
Famous quotes containing the word activities:
“The old, subjective, stagnant, indolent and wretched life for woman has gone. She has as many resources as men, as many activities beckon her on. As large possibilities swell and inspire her heart.”
—Anna Julia Cooper (1859–1964)
“Both gossip and joking are intrinsically valuable activities. Both are essentially social activities that strengthen interpersonal bonds—we do not tell jokes and gossip to ourselves. As popular activities that evade social restrictions, they often refer to topics that are inaccessible to serious public discussion. Gossip and joking often appear together: when we gossip we usually tell jokes and when we are joking we often gossip as well.”
—Aaron Ben-Ze’Ev, Israeli philosopher. “The Vindication of Gossip,” Good Gossip, University Press of Kansas (1994)
“Juggling produces both practical and psychological benefits.... A woman’s involvement in one role can enhance her functioning in another. Being a wife can make it easier to work outside the home. Being a mother can facilitate the activities and foster the skills of the efficient wife or of the effective worker. And employment outside the home can contribute in substantial, practical ways to how one works within the home, as a spouse and as a parent.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)