by user Layla Crpssposted from The HILL Chronicles A deputy minister at the Health Ministry is accused of funneling millions of dollars to Shiite militias in the first major sign that a crackdown in Baghdad has begun by US and Iraqi forces. Ministry officials and witnesses said Deputy Health Minister Hakim Zamili, a member of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al- Sadr’s political group, was detained during the raid, the latest operation by US and Iraqi forces to target senior Sadr aides. The Pentagon has identified the Mehdi Army as a greater threat to peace in Iraq than Sunni Islamist Al Qaeda.