Mahdism: Heaven on earth for cops

Following up on the story of the revival of law-enforcement interest in Mahdist groups referred to in the prior post, it appears Sunni political and security people are also getting in on the act, spinning the Mahdist revival as a new form of threat from Iran (in contrast to the story reported on the Supreme Council's Burathanews.net to the effect this is a Baathist/Gulf-States phenomenon). Which means the Mahdists are now being spun as sinister agents of Iran by Sunni security-and-political people, and as sinister agents of Sunni powers by the Shiite government.

Malaf Press, which is Sunni-oriented to a fault, if that is a permissible expression, says in a story posted this morning

High-level political and security sources said investigations in connection with the organization of the promised al-Yamani (the Adherents of the Mahdi) and the Army of Heaven, showed the involvement and entanglement of Iran in the support of these Shiite extremist deviant groups. And they added in conversation with Malaf Press that the followers and members of the Yamani group have been deputies or agents of the Iranian regime and its intelligence apparatus for a long time, and that some of them received training from the Iranian Quds Brigade.

The sources said the Iranian regime continues to provide arms and explosives to Shiite agents for use in operations against the Iraqi security forces, adding this is part of their continuing efforts to see Iraq partitioned, by continuing a level of chaos and escalating violence by way of this military and financial support. They said the fighting this year in Nasiriya and Karbala, and the fighting last year in Zarka, testified to the fact these groups have been given modern weaponry and high-level training, in addition to huge financial and other support.

The sources went so far as to offer an explanation why Iran has resorted to using these Mahdist groups, as follows:

This is happening [the sources said] at a time when Iran is getting a feeling of separation from [groups like] the Mahdi Army, the Sadrist movement, Hizbullah, and the Shiite religious parties which were all previously described as "followers" of Iran--and [a feeling that these groups are] embarking on a new path prioritizing Iraqi interests over those of prior, old, alliances.