The Iraqi government formally launched a long-awaited security crackdown in Baghdad on Wednesday, with U.S. and Iraqi troops stepping up patrols, establishing new checkpoints and randomly searching cars to stop the violence in the capital. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the sweep, code-named Operation Imposing Law, would target those "who want to continue with rebellion."

A U.S. soldier died Wednesday after coming under small arms fire a day earlier from insurgents while on patrol north of Baghdad, the military said. Separately, another soldier died Tuesday in a non-combat-related incident that is under investigation, it said.

The deaths raise to at least 3,128 members of the U.S. military who have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an AP count.

The U.S. military announced last week that the clampdown had already begun, but Iraqis had seen little evidence of that before Wednesday. President Bush has committed 21,500 more Americans to the operation, which is expected to involve a total of 90,000 Iraqi and U.S. soldiers.

There were conflicting reports, meanwhile, about the whereabouts of Moqtada al-Sadr, whose militia have been blamed for some of the worst sectarian killings in the past year, after a U.S. official said the radical Shiite cleric had fled to Iran ahead of the security operation.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman, insisted that al-Sadr had left the country, although he declined to comment on the reasons or give other details.

"We will acknowledge that he is not in the country and all indications are in fact that he is in Iran," Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad.

But several of the cleric's supporters denied the reports, with one official saying the cleric had met with government officials late Tuesday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where he has his headquarters.

Lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of Sadrist bloc in parliament, also insisted al-Sadr had not left the country.

"The news is not accurate because Muqtada al-Sadr is still in Iraq and he did not visit any country," lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of Sadrist bloc in parliament, told the Associated Press.

Also on Wednesday, CNN reported that a Shiite militant group has issued a video of Iraqi-born U.S. Army translator Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old reserve soldier from Ann Arbor, Mich., who was abducted by gunmen on Oct. 23.

The video was broadcast by CNN and it was unclear when it was made. Al-Taayie's uncle identified him from the video, the network said. The video did not immediately turn up in an AP search of militant Web sites.

Caldwell said officials were aware of the video and were analyzing a copy of it.

As the new checkpoints were set up in the city of 6 million of people, huge traffic jams developed and cars were forced to zigzag through soldiers' positions and barricades.

Dozens of people left their buses to cross the central Sinak Bridge on foot rather than wait for the vehicles to move through the jams. At one checkpoint, Iraqi troops stopped a convoy of three white SUVS that are commonly used by Iraqi government officials and checked their identification.

Al-Maliki discussed the security plan during a meeting with officials in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad.

"We have started today the new security plan. And we warn everyone who runs against it: Now we are ready to impose law on all those who want to continue with rebellion," he said. "Baghdad operations started today under code name 'Imposing Law.'"

"By God willing, the new plan will have fruitful outcomes, not because of the use of force but because of those who declare their love to Iraq and its people," he said before going to the entrance of the Imam Hussein mosque to address thousands of supporters massed in the streets.

The pep talk came a day after the Iraqi commander of the Baghdad security crackdown, Lt. Gen. Abboud Gambar, announced that Iraq will close its borders with Syria and Iran and ordered the return of unlawfully seized homes as part of the drive to end the violence that has threatened to divide the capital along sectarian lines.

Despite the stepped-up security, a parked car bomb struck a predominantly Shiite district elsewhere in central Baghdad, killing four civilians and wounding 10, police said.

In the western city of Ramadi, a suicide car bomber struck a police station, killing at least eight policemen and wounding seven, police said. The Warar station had just been rebuilt three months ago as part of reconstruction efforts in the volatile capital of Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.

A suicide car bomber also targeted an Iraqi army patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing one soldier and four civilians and wounding 20 other people, police Brig. Abdul Karim al-Jubouri said.

Gambar said Baghdad's nighttime curfew would be expanded by an hour, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and permits allowing civilians to carry weapons in public would be suspended during all of the operation, which he suggested could last weeks.

The commander also said those who had occupied homes of displaced families would be given 15 days to return the properties to the original owner or prove they had permission to be there.

The general did not say when the borders would close, but another official said it was expected in two days. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, added that the borders would only partly reopen after the 72-hour closing.

The United States has long charged that Iran and Syria let extremists use their territory to slip into Iraq to attack U.S. and Iraqi forces as well as civilians.

Iraqi authorities have routinely echoed the U.S. charges against Syria, but they rarely make that claim about Iran, which has close ties with Iraq's Shiite-led government.

The campaign is widely seen as possibly the U.S. military's final attempt to calm the city. It will be the third attempt by U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies to end violence in Baghdad since al-Maliki took office in May 2006.

Gambar said he would report to al-Maliki weekly to discuss progress in the operation.

His address suggested Iraqi authorities plan to exercise wide powers while waging the crackdown. A criminal court, for example, will hold emergency hearings on cases such as murder, theft, rape, kidnapping, damaging public property, and the possession and transfer of arms and ammunition, he said.

Gambar, a Shiite and a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War when he served in Saddam Hussein's army, said security forces also plan to monitor mail, parcels, telegrams and wireless communication devices during the operation.

He said security forces would try to avoid intruding in places of worship, but added that they would do so in "extreme emergencies when it is feared that these places pose a threat to the lives of citizens or if they are used for unlawful purposes." U.S. and Iraqi authorities have often said Sunni Arab insurgents use mosques to store arms or fire at troops.

Al-Maliki urged unity in ending the violence.

"We will not kneel down nor succumb no matter how much the process takes blood from us," he said while some people on the street chanted anti-American slogans. "By targeting civilians, the terrorists think that they can stop our progress, but our fingers are on the trigger and all the Iraqi people . . . are rising to rebuild the new Iraq."

Some in the crowd waved photos of al-Maliki signing the execution order for former leader Saddam Hussein.

"We welcome this visit of the man whose blessed hands have approved the execution of the tyrant Saddam," said 36-year-old Mohammed Hussein. "We wish him all the best and we wish that God will help him to achieve stability and security for our country. We also wish that he can provide services and job opportunities."

3.

U.S. SAYS POWERFUL IRAQI CLERIC IS LIVING IN IRAN
By Mark Mazzetti

New York Times
February 14, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/world/middleeast/14sadr.html?ref=world

WASHINGTON -- The powerful Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has left Iraq and has been living in Iran for the past several weeks, senior Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

With fresh American forces arriving in Baghdad as part of the White House plan to stabilize the capital, officials in Washington suggested that Mr. Sadr might have fled Iraq to avoid being captured or killed during the crackdown.

But officials also said that Mr. Sadr, who has family in Iran, had gone to Tehran in the past and that it was unclear why he had chosen to leave Iraq at this time. Mr. Sadr’s departure from Iraq was first reported Tuesday night by ABC News.

Neutralizing the power of Mr. Sadr, whose Mahdi Army has sporadically battled American forces for the past four years, has been a particular concern for American officials as they try to rein in powerful Shiite militias in Baghdad.

With the new American offensive in Baghdad still in its early days, American commanders have focused operations in the eastern part of the city, a predominantly Shiite area that has long been the Mahdi Army’s power base.

If Mr. Sadr had indeed fled, his absence would create a vacuum that could allow even more radical elements of the Shiite group to take power.

Last year’s election of Nouri Kamal al-Maliki as prime minister enhanced Mr. Sadr’s political stature inside Iraq. Mr. Maliki was elected with the backing of a political bloc led by Mr. Sadr.

American and Iraqi officials have said that recent intelligence points to signs of fracturing within the Mahdi Army, and that radical splinter groups who are not under Mr. Sadr’s control could be carrying out commando-style raids and assassinations.

Officials have suggested that these splinter groups could be receiving orders from officials in Iran, but have not offered direct evidence to back up their claims.

An aide to Mr. Sadr, reached by telephone on Tuesday night, denied that Mr. Sadr had left Iraq and said that the cleric was planning a televised address in the next several days.

Last week, during a raid in Diyala Province, Iraqi forces killed an aide of Mr. Sadr’s who American military officials said had been leading “rogue” elements of the Mahdi Army and fomenting violence against Iraqi civilians and police.

Three days later, Iraqi and American troops arrested the second-highest-ranking official in the Health Ministry, who they said was running a Mahdi Army splinter group and funneling millions of dollars to rogue Shiite militants.

The raids were carried out after Mr. Maliki dropped his protection of Mr. Sadr.

American officials said Tuesday that Mr. Sadr may have seen these operations coming and fled the country to avoid his own arrest.

But military officials in Iraq have also been wary of moving directly against Mr. Sadr, fearing that capturing or killing the militant cleric would further stoke the sectarian violence inside Iraq and turn more Shiites against the Maliki government.

In 2004, American forces arrested several of Mr. Sadr’s top aides and shut down a newspaper allied with the Mahdi Army, setting off bloody clashes in eastern Baghdad and the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

The news of Mr. Sadr’s departure from Iraq came amid an escalating war of words between the Bush administration and top Iranian officials. In recent days, White House and military officials have accused the Iranian government of supplying Shiite militias with the materials to make deadly roadside bombs.

Iranian officials have denied the charges.

--Marc Santora contributed reporting from Baghdad.

4.

U.S. MILITARY INSISTS CLERIC LEFT IRAQ
By Qassim Abdul-Zahra

** U.S. Military Spokesman Insists Cleric Has Left Iraq, Despite Denials From Al-Sadr Supporters **

Associated Press
February 14, 2007

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2874177

BAGHDAD -- The chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said Wednesday that Moqtada al-Sadr has left the country and is believed to be in Iran, despite denials from the radical Shiite cleric's supporters. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell declined to comment on the reasons al-Sadr had left the country or give more details.

"We will acknowledge that he is not in the country and all indications are in fact that he is in Iran," Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad.

Lawmakers and officials linked to al-Sadr have denied that he had left the country, with one saying the cleric had met with government officials late Tuesday in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

An Iraqi government official said al-Sadr was in Najaf as recently as Tuesday night, when he received delegates from several government departments. The official, who is familiar with one of those meetings, spoke on condition of anonymity because he has no authority to disclose information on his department's activities.

Lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of Sadrist bloc in parliament, also insisted al-Sadr had not left the country.

"The news is not accurate because Moqtada al-Sadr is still in Iraq and he did not visit any country," al-Rubaie told the Associated Press.

Caldwell's statement came after another U.S. official said al-Sadr left the country some weeks ago and is believed to be in Tehran, where he has family. The U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss U.S. monitoring activities, said fractures in al-Sadr's political and militia operations may be part of the reason for his departure. The move is not believed to be permanent, the official said.

Al-Sadr's headquarters are in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, although his Mahdi Army militia has its stronghold in the Shiite district of Sadr City in Baghdad.

Al-Sadr is a key political backer of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, but the Iraqi leader has promised not to let that interfere with efforts to crack down on militia violence along with Sunni insurgents as part of the current crackdown.

Two key members of al-Sadr's political and military organization were gunned down last week, the latest of as many as seven key figures in the al-Sadr organization killed or captured in the past two months.

A close aide who meets regularly with al-Sadr said the cleric was not in Tehran, said the report probably stemmed from a campaign by al-Sadr's people to put out false information about his movements amid fears he will be detained by U.S.-led forces. The cleric also is sleeping in different places each night, the aide said.

An official in al-Sadr's main office in Najaf also said the cleric had decided not to appear publicly during the current month of Muharam, one of four holy months in the Islamic calendar.

"The leader Moqtada al-Sadr is inside Iraq now," he said.

Both officials also declined to be identified because they weren't authorized to disclose the information.

The black-turbaned cleric rarely appears in public or announces his movements and his Mahdi Army militia has mostly been keeping a low profile ahead of the security sweep.

Al-Sadr was reportedly going to make a speech Monday in Najaf to mark the anniversary of the bombing of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, but he did not do so. The anniversary fell on Monday, according to the Islamic lunar calendar.

A spokesman for the Sadrist bloc said the assertion that al-Sadr had fled was part of a "psychological war" by U.S.-led forces to try to prod the cleric into the open.

"The leadership of Muqtada al-Sadr is a brave one and will not leave the field," Saleh al-Ukaili said.

Al-Sadr's militia is blamed for much of the sectarian violence and is widely seen as the main threat to Iraq's unity and high on the list of targets for the Baghdad security operation.

A ragtag but highly motivated militia that fought U.S. forces twice in 2004, the Mahdi Army is blamed for much of the sectarian strife shaking Iraq since a Shiite shrine was bombed by Sunni militants a year ago. U.S. officials have for months pressed Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to move against the militia, but he has so far done little to comply, largely because he does not want to lose al-Sadr's support.

Al-Sadr, who is in his mid-30s, rose from obscurity after the ouster of Saddam Hussein to lead a movement of young, underprivileged Iraqis united by opposition to U.S. military presence as well as hunger for Shiite domination.