Afghanistan: Shiite ‘peace brigades’ send signal of aggression with major rally in Baghdad --- BAGHDAD — Carrying assault rifles, homemade rocket launchers and missiles, row after row of men in combat fatigues marched through the streets of Baghdad on Saturday, signaling the resurgence of one of Iraq’s most feared Shiite militias. -- Tens of thousands of fighters loyal to the firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr packed the streets of Sadr City, the Shiite neighborhood in the capital that was named after his father. Other rallies were held in cities to the south. -- The men had answered a call from Sadr to form “peace brigades” to protect Iraq’s shrines and holy sites as al-Qaeda-inspired insurgents push forward in the country’s north. But their display Saturday, which came as the militants from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) made more gains, was a clear signal of aggression. -- The parades effectively marked a return to arms for the Mahdi Army, the powerful militia led by Sadr that once spearheaded an armed campaign against U.S. troops in Iraq. Their show of strength now in the face of a Sunni insurgency raised fears of a return to sectarian violence. -- “The Mahdi Army is rising again,” said Zaboun Ali, a 52-year-old laborer dressed in combat gear. A few yards away, lines of black-shirted men carrying rocket-propelled grenades jogged past. -- “This is the army that will protect the country,” he said gesturing toward them. -- The Mahdi Army’s activities have been frozen since 2008, after a period of violent sectarian conflict during which its members ran death squads targeting Sunnis and battled U.S. soldiers. -- In a reminder of the challenge they mounted against the U.S. presence, the volunteer fighters displayed a range of improvised explosive devices Saturday. Those included explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, bombs, which are able to punch through the armor of a tank and proved deadly against U.S. forces in their last years in Iraq. -- “We have two messages,” said Hakim al-Zamili, a member of parliament from Sadr’s political party who wore military fatigues as he watched the parade. “One is a message of peace, that we will defend Iraq and its shrines. The second is a message of terror to ISIS and al-Qaeda.” -- Announcing the “peace brigades” a day after the fall of the northern city of Mosul, Sadr stressed that he was not willing to fight a “dirty militia war.” His call to arms has been backed up by a religious decree by Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. -- Sadr has said he is willing for his men to work with Iraq’s security forces “temporarily,” as the state attempts to fend off the insurgency. -- The United States is increasing its assistance to the Iraqi military, sending 300 advisers despite the increasingly blurred lines between Shiite militias and the country’s security forces. -- “We are part of the Iraqi army now. We are all one, united under the flag of Islam,” said Salman Ghloom, a 65-year-old participant. -- Ghloom, like many, said that he had fought against the American occupation of Iraq, launching attacks on U.S. soldiers, and that he opposes U.S. assistance in the fight against ISIS. -- “If America is going to send troops back to Iraq, we are a time bomb waiting for them,” said Adel Jabbar al-Bawi, a 41-year-old merchant, sitting on the back of a truck after taking part in the march. “We will eat them alive.” -- Others said they would welcome assistance in the form of airstrikes, as ISIS militants pressed their offensive against crumbling Iraqi government troops. -- The al-Qaeda offshoot on Saturday captured the crossing of Qaim on the border with Syria, dealing another setback to the shrinking authority of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government.