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Iraq-Jordan
Al-Sadr threat comes to a head
2004-04-06
Moqtada al-Sadr has been a menace to the U.S.-led coalition here since the day after Saddam Hussein's regime fell. Al-Sadr and his followers were immediately cast as suspects in the slaying April 10 of Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a Shiite Muslim clergyman whose moderate brand of politics had engendered U.S. support. On Sunday, al-Sadr, a chunky, 30-year-old aspiring Shiite political force, established himself as something more: a violent adversary. The violence he has inspired is posing a threat to Iraq's stability as a June 30 deadline for handing authority to Iraqis approaches. Al-Sadr reportedly turned down an appeal Monday from other Shiite leaders to end the violence. He was barricaded in a mosque in Kufah, about 100 miles south of Baghdad. Gun-toting militiamen were stationed outside the mosque.

Al-Sadr has taken an unusual path to prominence in post-Saddam Iraq. He is a low-level cleric but does not have the religious qualifications that are a prerequisite in Shiite law to assume political leadership. A radical known for his big mouth fiery rhetoric, he inherited his popularity mainly from his father, Ayatollah Mohammed al-Sadr, who was assassinated in 1999 along with two other sons, probably on Saddam's orders. Shiite clergy and political leaders say al-Sadr has pursued a strategy of opposition — both to the traditional Shiite political and clerical structure and to the coalition — to raise his profile and find support largely among the poor in the Baghdad slum of Sadr City. The slum, formerly known as Saddam City, was renamed for al-Sadr's father after Saddam was toppled. "The people following Muqtada are limited in number," says Sheik Abas Reza, caretaker of Sayed Idris mosque, one of Baghdad's holiest Shiite places of worship. "He is not part of the (official) clergy and not a political authority. People give him respect because of his father." But Reza and others say that the coalition was slow to respond to Iraqi needs in the immediate aftermath of the war. That has allowed al-Sadr to find a needy constituency among the young and disaffected in Iraq, they say. "America's slow performance has provoked problems and put them in this trouble," Reza says. "It makes the job of Muqtada and others easy."

Al-Sadr doesn't have the standing of Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has counseled patience while pushing for more political representation for Shiites in Iraq's future government. Sistani has remained a largely oracle-like figure who has stayed above the fray even while challenging the coalition on some points. Al-Sadr "has put his followers in a questionable situation," Reza says. "The (Shiite) clergy will have nothing to do with him directly." A widespread uprising would be difficult to suppress, particularly while coalition forces are battling an insurgency in the "Sunni Triangle" west of Baghdad. However, coalition officials say the Shiite violence is the work of an illegal militia group and does not represent widespread Shiite dissatisfaction.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#21  #5 Heard this morning that as-Sadr is holed up in the main mosque in Najaf - the holiest of Shi'ite shrines.

Just how fucking many holy sites do they need. For a religon that views the mere sugestion of the image of the Prophet as sacrilge and From Muhamahds strict call for only the burial of the Low Grave, these clowns sure go in for ehgrandizement. As nuch as I would love to go to Jeruselem (sp) I recongnize the power of Christianity is in the message of the New Testament not in shrines or cathedrals
Posted by: Cheddarhead   2004-04-06 10:54:40 PM  

#20  Thanks for the link MuckMan an excellent sight. I'll bet that hidden Mahdi is living with the twins in the Tower O' London. (Unranked)
Posted by: Shipman   2004-04-06 4:25:29 PM  

#19  thanks for the info zang fei. one always learn something new evryday! personaly im thinking jerusalim sound better. quds sound like some kind of laundry detergent.
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-04-06 2:53:31 PM  

#18  From Belmont Club:
No other religion is so enmeshed in its cult of martyrdom. The Shiites believe that all of their imams after Ali died a sacrificial death. A small minority only acknowledges seven imams (like the Ismailites), while most consider themselves part of the twelve imam Shia. The twelfth in the sequence of their leaders is said to have suffered an unusual fate. Little Mohammed, born in 869, was hidden by his father and then disappeared. Most Shiites believe that the "hidden imam," or "Mahdi," will reappear one day and will take the helm of the party of Ali to claim the legitimate rights of its ancestors and lead his followers into paradise.

Posted by: Frank G   2004-04-06 1:49:02 PM  

#17  Phil B. #3,
Your line is similar to my favorite:
"Whatever happens, we have got /
The Maxim Gun, and they have not."
Not a lot of daily-life opportunities to use this quote, though.
Posted by: (lowercase) Matt   2004-04-06 1:37:10 PM  

#16  muck4doo: what happen to jerusalim.

Quds, ranked number 10, is the Muslim name for Jerusalem. In case you're wondering why there's a Muslim name for Jerusalem, think of another holy city, the Orthodox faith's Vatican City - Constantinople - the Muslim name for that is Istanbul. Ephesus, Galatia and so on, no longer exist under their tradtional Greek names - all bear Muslim names.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-04-06 1:03:50 PM  

#15  Now that's a list of places to take refuge in.
Posted by: Matt   2004-04-06 12:47:15 PM  

#14  Matt - Lol! Yeah - off their list, but my list looks like this:
0 Sonny Bryan's BBQ - Dallas - (closed I'm told)
1 Pascale's Manale - Nawlens
2 Marnee Thai - San Francisco
3 La Mesa De Capitan - Zihuatanejo - (closed I'm told)
4 Bucca de Beppo - Dallas
5 Four Seasons - Las Colinas (Dallas)
6 Milton's Delicatessen Grill - Del Mar / Solana Beach (San Diego)
7 Brennan's - Nawlens
8 Texas State Fair Corndogs - Dallas
9 Ruth's Chris - Everywhere
10 Seafood Market - Del Mar / Solana Beach (San Diego)
11 San Jacinto Inn - San Jacinto (Houston) - (closed)
12 Keller's Drive In - Dallas
Posted by: .com   2004-04-06 12:36:20 PM  

#13  .com, you left Pascal's Manale off the list altogether. No more barbecue shrimp for you, infidel.
Posted by: Matt   2004-04-06 11:47:41 AM  

#12  Phil B - Take heart in Sadr's modesty - I find it to be an inspiration for lesser men, such as myownself. Lol! Feeling apocalyptic strikes me as both appropriate and timely. The time between now and July 1st (or shortly thereafter) should provide you / us with quite a number of glimpses... the Eye of Mordor, as JH puts it, falling upon deserving jihadis and ending the use of the Triangle as a haven for those killing our troops. That day will be something to celebrate, and we've finally taken that path.
Posted by: .com   2004-04-06 11:41:00 AM  

#11  The Mahdi is the Muslim messiah who will rise to unite the Muslims against the evil Dajjal before the Apocalype.

Thanks Paul. I have been in a really apocalyptic mood the last couple of weeks. Maybe a few of these morons getting blown away might lighten my mood.
Posted by: Phil B   2004-04-06 11:25:05 AM  

#10  14. Anaheim
15. Azuza
16. Kukamonga
Posted by: Alaska Paul on the Road   2004-04-06 10:55:47 AM  

#9  .com, I was certain that Dearborn MI would have been farther up on that list.
Posted by: BH   2004-04-06 10:31:24 AM  

#8  what happen to jerusalim.
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-04-06 10:18:54 AM  

#7  rkb - Interesting - somewhere in yesterday's series of stories regards Sadr I read that the Kufa Moskkk was the Most Holy Site - which surprised me because I thought it was in Najaf. I obviously need a program... so I've googled and searched and finally found, after enduring about 2 hours of pop-ups and animated insanity (they do love their doo-dads and JS widget-farms), "the list" (on the left-hand side) - and here they are:
0 Mecca (Makkah)
1 Medina
2 Najaf
3 Karbala
4 Kazimayn
5 Kufa
6 Samarra
7 Mashad
8 Qum
9 Damascus
10 Quds
11 Hard Rock Cafe, Baghdad
12 Coke bottle by the side of the road
13 Gum on the bottom of your shoe...

So, indeed, Najaf is Holier than Kufa. I propose a systematic approach: Mekkah is SMH (Shi'a Mean Holiness), thus Kufa is SMH-5. There. All tidied up.

Of course I'll wager you can find a competing site with a different list - or at least a differently ordered list. Lol!
8^)
Posted by: .com   2004-04-06 10:11:36 AM  

#6  osama going be pissed.
Posted by: muck4doo   2004-04-06 9:53:49 AM  

#5  Heard this morning that as-Sadr is holed up in the main mosque in Najaf - the holiest of Shi'ite shrines.

That fits with the messianic theme.
Posted by: rkb   2004-04-06 9:03:25 AM  

#4  The Mahdi is the Muslim messiah who will rise to unite the Muslims against the evil Dajjal before the Apocalype. Jesus comes along for the ride too.
Posted by: Paul Moloney   2004-04-06 7:43:34 AM  

#3  Al Sadr is calling himself the 'Mahdi' which means the chosen one, and his militia are called the Mahdis. I don't know the religous implications of the name, but there was a Mahdi in 19th century Sudan and the Mahdist army suffered what is probably the most one sided defeat in the history of warfare. In a 5 hour battle 11,000 Mahdists died whereas AngloEgyptian losses amounted to 48 dead and fewer than 400 wounded.

I couldn't find this quote through Google but I recall someone once saying about the battle that 'God may have been on their side, but the Gatling gun was on ours.'
Posted by: Phil B   2004-04-06 5:46:28 AM  

#2  For what it's worth, this link is information from the Iranian Student Movement, and they totally agree with you.
Posted by: cingold   2004-04-06 12:57:36 AM  

#1  Find where al Sadr is getting his money, given that his followers are a minority and poor.

Betcha it leads to Iran and the Revolutionary Guards. And some Saudi businessmen.

The whole place is a cesspool - and thats why they are fighting this so hard: the biggest threat to them is a successful secular democracy next door.
Posted by: OldSpook   2004-04-06 12:54:26 AM  

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