In the pre-dawn hours of Nov. 28, after Iraqi demonstrators set the Iranian consulate in the southern holy city of Najaf ablaze, the killings began. By the end of that day, Iran-linked militiamen in Najaf and Iraq’s elite Interior Ministry forces in Nassiriya farther south had shot dead scores of mostly unarmed demonstrators with assault rifles and machine guns. It was the single bloodiest episode of Iraq’s two-month-old anti-government uprising. The next day, Iran-backed Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said he would quit. Reuters interviews with more than two-dozen protesters, paramedics, security officials and politicians in Najaf, Nassiriya and Baghdad revealed how the government’s brutal response and the actions of uncontrolled militias on the ground led to the prime minister’s resignation. Abdul Madhi’s successor – who will be an […]