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Article: A Day When Mahdi Army Showed Its Other Side; Militia Seen as Heroic In Aiding Bomb Victims
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 27, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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In the chaos, Ayad al-Fartoosi thrived.
Against a backdrop of death and panic in Sadr City last Thursday,
he strode confidently through streets littered with burning cars and
charred bodies. At one moment, he was guiding an ambulance carrying
bomb victims through traffic. At another, he was searching cars at a
checkpoint. By evening, he had helped to seize a would-be car bomber
and to retrieve corpses. By nightfall, he was patrolling the streets
of his neighborhood.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Fartoosi has been a
militiaman with the Shiite Muslim Mahdi Army of firebrand cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr. Last week, he also served as a relief worker, a
policeman, a traffic controller and a ...