Gunmen Kill Local Shi'ite Party Official in Iraq (Interim Gov. Rep.)

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters)

Gunmen killed a local official of one of Iraq's main Shi'ite parties in a drive-by shooting south of Baghdad on Wednesday, an official of the group said.

Ali Mahmoud al-Saadi was gunned down near Mahmodiya village south of Baghdad as he was heading to his office in Baquba to the north.

Saadi was the top official for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in Diyala province. SCIRI is represented in the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. ..

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There's a theme here. Rummy has something against the Shi'ites and our soldiers are going to die in droves for it.

Through the safety net (in one sense) of being on the side of the occupyers and their quisling collaborators, the party has been trying to branch out into some of the 'border areas' in the central provinces to make up for the dwindling support in the south (in large part a casualty to Sayyid Muqtada as-Sadr(HA)'s infectious popularity).

Not long ago they got into a fight with Sunni mujahideen southwest of Baghdad, and the latter ended up calling in reinforcements from Fallujah. SCIRI attempted to seek help from the south, but there was the matter of the struggle between Sayyid Muqtada(HA)'s Jaysh al-Mahdi(AJ) and the occupyers and attention was divided against SCIRI's comparatively minor crisis. A moderate amount of their mid-level officials in the capital and 'border' cities have been running into trouble and/or a fatal case of death for some months now. Shaheed al-Hakim(HA)'s party will continue to suffer so long as it disgraces itself in service of the invaders.

This particular person appears to have been a commander in the Badr Corps, SCIRI's military wing.