Bill Quick, you asked “How strong is Iranian influence within the Badr Brigades today, and how strong is the influence of the Badr Brigades within the official Iraqi security forces?”
Iranian influence is very strong in the Badr Brigades, which are the military wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or whatever they are calling themselves these days. Read the Wikipedia articles on these groups.
SCIRI pretty much has a lock on the provincial governates in the Shia provinces, and has pretty good control of the Army and high level Police commands. In Babel province, Shia Iraqis who wanted to join the Army knew they had to “go” through the Badr Corp to do so.
For instance, in Babel Province, the governor is known to have not completed his elementary education, spent many years in Iran, and to have gotten his position because of his SCIRI position. People on the street disrespectfully refer to him as the Falafal vendor. His family members and toadies go around and use their “wasta”, or “who you know” influence, to solicit lucrative reconstruction project deals with the reconstruction teams around Iraq. It’s all about power, money and influence.
The police chief in Babel province, a Shia police general named Qais Hamza, was assassinated a few months ago. He was a courageous man by local standards. Flip a coin to decide if it was the Mahdi Army or or SCIRI/Badr who made the hit. General Qais was pretty relentless in his pursuit of Mahdi terrorist, who killed many of his officers. However, the SCIRI governate officials did nothing but put obstacles in his way. Now SCIRI and Mahdi Militia are fighting.
Confused yet?
