Liberate Sadr City and Defeat the Mahdi Army
By the end of 2006, nearly half of Baghdad and most of Iraq remained largely uncontested by Coalition Forces. Despite the large amount of money and resources going into the war effort, the American military lacked the manpower necessary to secure key strongholds throughout the Iraq that had fallen prey to powerful criminal organizations after years of neglect.
Of all these “militias”, none had gained so much influence and power as the Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi, lead by Muqtada al-Sadr from their stronghold in the densely packed district of Sadr City. Millions of people suffered under the Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi, who enforced the brutalities of sharia law without mercy while Al-Sadr’s militia served as judge, jury and executioner.
When President George W. Bush announced the “troop surge” in 2007, the American Army gained enough combat power to push across the Tigris and fight back the influence of the Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi. That advance brought public works projects, micro-loans and new schools — all of which served to undermine Al-Sadr’s militia.
By the spring of 2008, American troops had pushed the Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi all the way back to the border of Sadr City and starved them of supplies. Tensions were at an all-time high, and with the Iraq Army’s invasion of Basra — an attack on Al-Sadr’s black-market oil trade — the one of the largest battle’s of the war kicked off just a few kilometers from the “Green Zone” in the heart of Baghdad. Outnumbered and spread thin, American troops set out to defeat the Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi once and for all.