Iran armed and trained SCIRI's military wing, the Bard Brigade, as a proxy army in Iran's eight-year war with Iraq (1980-88). Iraqis taken prisoner during the war were given the option of joining SCIRI's Bard Brigade. Thousands did.
Following Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and President George H.W. Bush's call to Iraqi Shiites to revolt and overthrow Saddam, SCIRIled a rebellion in southern Iraq. Bush did not follow through with support and thousands of Iraqi Shiites were massacred. SCIRI members have never entirely trusted American promises or designs on the region since.
Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, SCIRI became one of two leading Shiite parties in Iraq. Al Hakim was among some 100 people murdered by a car bombing in Najaf, Iraq, in August 2003. The Badr Brigade continued as an armed militia even after milituias were banned. It renamed itself the Badr Organization and assumed a "security" role.
SCIRI itself changed its name in May 2007, becoming the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. Revolution, in its estimation, had been achieved.
