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Going After al-Sadr

15 year old Ali Hussein was shot in front of his house during the American military crackdown on radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. At least 75 Iraqis are dead, hundreds are injured.

by Aaron Glantz

As the U.S. military attempts to apprehend radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and crush his army of angry -- mostly poor Shi'ite men, 15 year old Ali Hussein lies in a hospital - an American bullet lodged in his gut. He's barely able to lift his head, but he wants to say a few words to the American reporter:

"I was standing in my door-way and I was shot," he says. "I don't have anything to say to the Americans. Its just between them and God."

Ali Hussein is one of hundreds of Iraqis wounded in 48 hours of fighting between Sadr's followers and the US military touched off by the arrest in the holy city of Najaf of one of Sadr's top deputies. At least 75 Iraqis and 10 American servicemen are dead. Sadr's followers have seized police stations and government buildings across the country including the Governor's Office in Basra. Today, the streets of Ali Hussein's neighborhood are filled with more than a dozen American tanks. Their guarding an Iraqi police station -- retaken by the American Army this morning. Iraqi Police Lt. Jasseem Mohammed says Sadr's forces looted his offices.

"All my guns have been stolen," he says standing in the former weapons storeroom. "61 kalashnikovs, 1,600 kalashnikovs bullets, 1,100 pistol bullets, 4 bandoleers, and four walkie talkies. Also they took five pistols and six kalashnikovs that were being held as evidence of criminal activity -- and two ceiling fans."

In Baghdad, the occupation authorities have issues a warrant for al-Sadr's arrest.

"He's effectively attempting to establish his authority in place of the legitimate Iraqi government," US Administrator Paul Bremer told reporters noting that since the fighting began, the cleric's forces have targeted symbols of governing power. "As I said yesterday we will not tolerate that."

But Sadr is not going easily. Observing a second day of sit-in in one of Iraq's holiest mosques, Sadr declared jihad and urged his supporters to "terrorize the enemy." He said street demonstrations had become pointless. It was the first time he had urged his followers to opt for armed resistance.

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At Baghdad's Mustansuriye University, hundreds of students march through the center of campus. They chant: the dead want a brave people so we won't follow the law of Bremer.

"We will act according to the situation that we face," says Wassam Mehdi Hussein, head of the Islamic Union of Iraqi Students stands by al-Sadr's declaration of jihad against the occupation. "We will use any means peaceful and violent."

This week marks the first large scale violence by Iraqi Shi'ites since the occupation began a year ago. Until now, attacks on American troops have been primarily limited to Sunni areas like Fallujah which the US military also attacked today. ... Mustansuriye student Ali Mohammed notes the violence started when the Americans closed Sadr's newspaper and arrested his top lieutenant.

"We don't want to fight the Americans," he says. "We are very grateful to them. They are very dear to us because they released us from Saddam. But at the same time we want them to do something for humanity. A lot of people are suffering from hunger and sitting at home having no work.'

"These things make the situation bad and then we turn to explosions. We want to respect them and we want them to respect us."

Such respect doesn't appear to be immediately forth-coming, though, This afternoon, American Apache helicopters attacked multiple Shi'ite neighborhoods in Baghdad killing five Iraqis and wounding dozens more.