Research Guide Homepage: Groups CENTCOM: Peace Brigades

Alternate Names

Mahdi Army
Jaish al-Mahdi
Jaysh al-Mahdi
Army of the Mahdi
Imam Al-Mahdi Army
Sunni Mahdi

Video

News and Media

Baghdad’s Shia Militia Plans for War on ISIS
Jacob Siegel . The Daily Beast. July 2014. A commander of Moqtada al Sadr’s newly renamed ‘Peace Brigades’ describes plans to reunify Iraq—with a little help from Iran. Will they fight ISIS as hard as they fought the U.S. Army?
Iraq crisis: rebranded insurgents gain whip hand on streets of Baghdad
Martin Chulov. The Guardian. June 2014. The Mahdi army, now renamed the Peace Brigades, parades its power in the Iraqi capital as it prepares to do battle with Sunni rebels in the north
The Mahdi Army: Turbans, Kalashnikovs and plans to 'slaughter'
DW. A notorious Shiite militia is preparing to march on its rapidly-advancing ISIS enemy. In the past, the Mahdi Army was known for death squads, arbitrary shootings, kidnappings and bombings.
Shiite ‘peace brigades’ send signal of aggression with major rally in Baghdad
Loveday Morris. The Washington Post. June 21, 2014. After militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took Mosul and other Iraqi cities, the government issued a call for volunteers to join the army. Many Iraqis answered.

Public Websites and Articles

Iraq's al-Sadr Movement
Elie Abouaoun. United States Institute for Peace. June 2011.
Renewed Violence in Iraq
Douglas A. Ollivant, Council on Foreign Relations, August 2012
Rethinking Sadr: From Firebrand to Iraqi Statesman?
Renad Mansour. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. November 2014.
Urban Warfare The 2008 Battle for Sadr City
David E. Johnson, M. Wade Markel, Brian Shannon.RAND.

Basic Information

"The Mahdi Army was formed by Moqtada al-Sadr and Imad Mugniyah in April 2003. Initially, around three hundred recruits from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were sent to Lebanon where they were trained by Hezbollah." Mapping Militant Organizations-Stanford

Books

The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
Call Number: DS79.76 .F53 2008
A prizewinning "New York Times" correspondent chronicles a remarkable chain of events that begins with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continues with the attacks of 9/11, and moves on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Longest War by Peter L. Bergen
Call Number: HV6432 .B46 2011
New York Times bestselling author Peter Bergen's definitive account of al Qaeda's evolution since 9/11 and the U.S. government's responses.

Government and Military Papers

The Future of Moqtada al-Sadr’s New Jaysh al-Mahdi
Babak Rahimi. CTC Sentinel. January 15, 2009
The Return of Moqtada al-Sadr and the Revival of the Mahdi Army
Babak Rahimi. CTC Sentinel. June 3, 2010

Databases

Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
CNAS is an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit organization that develops strong, pragmatic, and principled national security and defense policies.
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
The Center’s 220 full-time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analysis and develop policy initiatives that look to the future and anticipate change.
Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
The largest central resource for DoD and government-funded research, reports and papers.
Global Terrorism Database (GTD)
GTD is an open-source database with information on terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2015. Includes systematic data on domestic and international terrorist incidents and now includes more than 150,000 cases
The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL)
Resources in the HSDL cover a wide range of homeland security topics and are carefully selected and evaluated.
RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution dedicated to high-quality and objective research and analysis and with sophisticated analytical tools.
Strategic Studies Institute (SSI)
SSI conducts strategic research and analysis and serves as a bridge to the wider strategic community with analysis, reports, newsletters, papers and more.

Terrorism - Gov + Mil Sites

The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point
The CTC produces in-depth research reports on terrorist ideology, terrorist strategy and structure, and emerging threat.
Department of State. Bureau of Counterterrorism.
Resources including annual Country Reports on Terrorism.
FBI. Terrorism.
Data on Threats, Most Wanted, links to other resources.
Foreign Military Studies. Ft. Leavenworth
Translated selections and analysis from a diverse range of foreign articles and other media.
Global Incident Map
Events, attacks, incidents and more tracked by location and filed by type.
National Counterterrorism Center. Terrorist Profiles.
Terrorists are listed by first name, last name, and common aliases.