Muqtada had repeatedly demanded that Sunni political and religious leadersunequivocally condemn al-Qaeda in Iraq's horrific attacks on Shia civilians ifhe was to cooperate with them against the occupation. They did not do so, andthis was a shortsighted failure on their part, since the Shia, who outnumberedthe Sunni Arabs three to one in Iraq, controlled the police and much of thearmy. Their retaliation, when it came, was bound to be devastating. Muqtada wascriticized for not doing more, but neither he, nor anybody else could havestopped the killing at the height of the battle for Baghdad in 2006. The Sunniand Shia communities were both terrified, and each mercilessly retaliated forthe latest atrocity against their community. "We try to punish those whocarry out evil deeds in the name of the Mehdi Army," says Hussein Ali, theformer Mehdi Army leader. "But there are a lot of Shia regions that are noteasy to control and we ourselves, speaking frankly, are sometimes frightened bythese great masses of people."