Factions of the Shi'ite Insurgency: Who's Who in Iraq

The author has labored to explain over many articles the simply number of Sunni insurgencies that sprung up in Iraq following the interim government's ineffective attempts at stifling early violence. It would appear natural that the Sunni political factions, having been displaced by the successful ousting of the Ba'ath Party in 2003, would make up a large number of the dissidents to oppose both the United States and the new predominantly Shi'ite government. However between the ambitions of figures such as Muqtada al-Sadr, the increased sectarian aggression spurred on by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006, and the instigations of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and other Persian factions, a whole new and relatively unexpected force had entered into the insurgent fray in the form of Shi'ite radicals and militias.

Many of these militias got their starts as simple bands of armed men hoping to stave off aggression that was spurred on by the al-Qaeda in Iraq factions. With the bombing of the Askariya Mosque (considered the holiest place in Shi'a Islam) and the rampant tit-for-tat killings it became imperative for the relatively unarmed Shi'ites to defend themselves against the trained and now experienced Sunni insurgencies that were plaguing the country side. This appeal to security was expanded upon by firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr whose anti-American sentiments took hold on many younger, radical Shi'ites.