Some of America’s enemies work for Iraqi gov’t
America’s war in Iraq is winding down. And CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer in Baghdad discovered some of America’s sworn enemies are now in positions of power there.
Meet Hakim al-Zamili, member of Parliament for the Shi’a stronghold of Sadr City. This morning he’s touring local schools and getting an earful from teachers about their lousy pay.
But just four years ago, al-Zamili was a wanted man. At the time, he was Iraq’s deputy health minister. The U.S. authorities believed he was using that position to funnel money to the Mahdi Army and to order assassinations.
The Mahdi Army was the feared Shi’a militia that murdered hundreds — probably thousands — of Sunnis and Christians in a vicious religious war. Its fighters also attacked U.S. forces.
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It was run by the radical Shi’a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who vowed that he was an enemy of America to the last drop of his blood. Al-Zamili was his right-hand man.
In February 2007, U.S. and Iraqi security forces arrested al-Zamili at his office and he spent 13 months in jail..