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Reports From Iraq > Wed., Apr. 14, 2004
American Troops Surround Holy City
The Bush Administration likes to characterize Muqtada
al-Sadr as a radical fringe terrorist linked to Osama
bin Laden, but his following across Iraq is widespread.
His picture -- and that of his revered father -- is hung
in almost every market. |
by Aaron Glantz
BAGHDAD, IRAQ --Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husseini
al-Sistani has warned the Occupation forces not to assault
the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf. In a statement, Sistani
said the religious authority should use its weapon to defend
Iraqis rights in case the Occupation forces entered the two
cities. American troops have surrounded Najaf -- which holds
the shrine of revered Imam Ali and are threatening to invade
it. But despite such warnings, the American Army continues
to ready for attack.
The U.S. Army has surrounded Najaf. An invasion seems likely,
if one is to believe statements made by President Bush last
night that Muqtada al-Sadr must be captured or killed.
"In the south of Iraq," he said "Coalition
forces face riots and attacks that are being incited by a
radical cleric named al-Sadr. He has assembled some of his
supporters into an illegal militia, and publicly supported
the terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah. Al-Sadr's methods
of violence and intimidation are widely repudiated by other
Iraqi Shia. ... They want to run us out of Iraq and destroy
the democratic hopes of the Iraqi people. The violence we
have seen is a power grab by these extreme and ruthless elements.'
"'It's not a civil war;" he insisted. "It's
not a popular uprising."
The last time foreign troops fought Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi
Army on the streets of Najaf dozens of Iraqis and 2 Salvadoran
soldiers died. Hundreds of al-Sadr's followers had gathered
in front of a military base for Spanish and Salvadoran forces
demanding the release of one of the clerics top Lieutenants.
By the end of the day, Sadr's forces had seized control of
the town.
President Bush's rhetoric ignores the power of the name,
al-Sadr. The Sadr family has a long history of resisting occupation.
Muqtada Sadr's great-grandfather fought against British imperialism
in Iraq. His father and grandfather were both executed by
Saddam Hussein. Businessman Rada abud Jabber al-Sa'adi doesn't
follow Muqtada, but he has great admiration for the Sadr family.
He explains why Sadr's grandfather, Ayatolla Mohammed Bakr
al-Sadr was executed in 1979.
"Saddam wanted him to declare the Ba'ath Party blessed
and the Islamic Preaching Party to be declared a sin,"
he says. "He also said Saddam was not a Muslim neither
a Sunni nor a Shia so he was killed."
An entire neighborhood of Baghdad is named after Muqtada
al'Sadr's father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadik al-Sadr. He was
executed by Saddam's regime in 1999 after he organized mass
gatherings for Friday prayer and Islamic Courts separate from
Saddam's legal system. ... His killing set off a revolt against
the dictator which was not backed by the United States.
"From the first moment the spark began from al-Sadr
city," Rada abud Jabber al-Sa'adi remembers. "It
was called Saddam City then -- and it just became bigger and
bigger when they killed Mohammed Sadik al-Sadr. It went to
Najaf, Nassariya, and Kut and they even toppled the Saddam
regime for a few hours in Basra before the regime came and
crushed it."
Today, Muqtada al-Sadr draws his followers from primarily,
poor disaffected portions of Iraq's Shi'ite population. But
Sadr's followers are many. Shanam abu Jabar is a Sunni businessman
living in Baghdad.
"These people -- everyone disrespects them because they
are poorly educated and some of them are members of gangs,"
he says. "But the Sadr family is well-respected in Iraq
and even Muqtada because his father and a lot of his family
was killed by the ex-regime. So when these people find someone
who gives them a gun and recognizes them as human they will
support him."
But despite his disparaging statements about al-Sadr's followers,
Shanam abu Jabar nonetheless opposes a US military assault
on Najaf
"The Americans made a big mistake by giving this issue
to the military," he says. "These things you have
to give them to a political man. For the Army, they can only
understand one thing: 'Kill or not Kill.' These kinds of statements
about killing Sadr make people angry."
"The Arab people's passion will make them move,"
he says. "So when they listen to such kind of statements
like 'We will kill him,' they will have passion for al-Sadr
even if they don't like him."
But tact is something that appears to elude the American
military in Iraq. Agance France Press reports an an Iraqi
civilian was beaten death by US soldiers in the primarily
Shi'ite city of Kut. The Iraqi reportedly refused to take
down a photo of Muqtada al-Sadr from the window of his car.
Two days ago, the US military raided Baghdad's Mustansuriye
University breaking every window that held a picture of the
fiery cleric.
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