Attrition taking toll on Mahdi army

Strategy Page:

Eight weeks of fighting have caused the Mahdi Army over 4,000 casualties (dead, wounded, captured, deserted). For an outfit estimated to have a peak strength of 6,000, that's some pretty serious losses. The Mahdi Army can quickly recruit new gunmen. Nearly every family has at least one firearm. But the new recruits are green, and die easily in combat, if they don't run and hide when the shooting starts. So the Mahdi Army has a manpower shortage. More resilient are the pro-Iran factions, which are sometimes led by Iranian Special Forces (Quds Force) operatives. There are several of these running around (and pursued by Iraqi troops and American Special Forces).

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This is another demonstration of how foolish the militia has been in its fight with the US and Iraqi forces since the Basra operation. It is also a blow to the Iranian influence in Iraq. Hezballah had supposedly trained these militia troops, but they have shown little ability to effect the outcome of the battle in Sadr City.

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