Lie Low, Fighters Are Told

Maliki is aware of concerns that the militias may be biding their time rather than sincerely taking peaceful steps, his aide said.

"This is a classic insurgency tactic, to hide when the troops are around and then reappear when the troops are gone," the aide said. "This is very much understood by the government and by the prime minister, and measures are being taken to make it a failure."

A Mahdi Army neighborhood leader from the Dakhil area of Baghdad's Sadr City slum, Ahmed Khawam, said the militias are not making major preparations for the security plan because they do not know what it will entail.

"As for targeting our city, by God's will, this will not happen, because the Imam Mahdi's army is in control of the whole area," he said. "But in case anything happens, we will get ready. We will not let any arrests take place."

For now, he said, the Mahdi Army is primarily concerned with providing services -- food, cooking gas, religion lessons -- to the impoverished people of Sadr City.

Another Mahdi Army member in Sadr City, Laith Abu Baqir, said he is willing to give the Iraqi security forces a chance to impose order and protect his neighborhood. "If they provide security for me from the terrorists, why not?"

"The only threat we have is from the American army," Abu Baqir said. "As for the others, we are not concerned."

Special correspondents Naseer Mehdawi, Naseer Nouri and Saad Sarhan contributed to this report.