Shiite Cleric Pours Scorn on US ‘Occupying’ Force

Shiite Cleric Pours Scorn on US ‘Occupying’ Force
Naseer Al-Nahr • Asharq Al-Awsat




BAGHDAD, 19 July 2003 — One US soldier was killed in Iraq yesterday as a leading Shiite cleric poured scorn on the fledgling US-imposed governing council and occupying forces marked 100 days since they entered Baghdad to declare Saddam Hussein’s rule over.

The soldier was killed when his armored vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive in the restive town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, the scene of regular clashes in recent weeks and a pro-Saddam rally Thursday. Residents were seen at the site of the attack chanting anti-US slogans.

The latest fatality pushed the number of US combat deaths in the Iraq conflict above those from the 1991 Gulf War — 148 compared to 147 — amid mounting concern at home over troops getting embroiled in a guerrilla-style war that has shown no sign of abating. Efforts to restore order and get rebuilding work under way faced a further challenge with leading Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr delivering a fiery broadside to the US-led occupation, blasting the US-imposed executive as illegitimate.

“They have delivered this peaceful Muslim country to the foreign forces,” he said in his first Friday sermon since the coalition unveiled Iraq’s new executive governing council last weekend. The outspoken attack comes as a disturbing turn for the United States, which has counted on Iraq’s Shiite majority — long repressed under Saddam — to support its efforts to wipe out regime loyalists and rebuild Iraq. (snip/...)

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I've been keeping notes as things go along, and there are certain facts I'm sure of:

- Moqtada Sadr is the grandson of Ayatollah Muhammad Bakr Sadr, who was killed by Saddamm Hussein in 1980.

- Muhammad Bakr Sadr was the founder of the Dawa (or Al-Da'wah) Party.

- There are two representatives of the Dawa Party on the new council

So why is Moqtada calling the council illegitimate? Is he now opposted to the party which his grandfather founded? Or all they all just trying to mess our heads?

This is *far* more confusing than Afghanistan.

Perhaps if it had been elected by the Iraq people he wouldn't be opposed. Just a thought.

council and ignore the one the US created.

These are anti-Saddam Shiites, and they are also bitterly opposed to US Occupation.

Here is some background on the power struggle among Shiite religious leaders:

Shiite factions involved in power struggle

By Liz Sly

NAJAF, Iraq - A fierce power struggle is raging through this holiest of Shiite cities, and the outcome could determine the success or failure of America's ambitious plans to reshape Iraq.
The collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime has reignited a long suppressed debate between radicals and moderates over who should lead Iraq's Shiite majority and how, transforming this once sleepy town of religious study into a hotbed of political strife.

The intrigue swirls as thickly as the desert dust through the streets. Clergymen in turbans and flowing robes huddle on corners, speaking in low voices and switching to Persian when strangers approach. At night, unexplained gunfire adds to the sense of menace. Residents are reluctant to talk; there are spies everywhere, they say, and some of the factions are armed.

<snip>

Many are preaching a far more radical brand of Islam than Sistani's, advocating revolution to achieve an Islamic republic in Iraq and sometimes calling for a jihad, or holy war, to eject U.S. troops.
The most successful of the challengers so far is Moqtada al-Sadr, son of the slain Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, the last Shiite leader to openly challenge Hussein's repression of the Shiite majority. His assassination in 1999 by Hussein's henchmen turned him into a hero among many Shiites.

At 30, the younger al-Sadr is still too junior in the Shiite hierarchy to count as a religious authority. He has linked up with a senior exiled Iraqi cleric, Kadhem Al Haeri, who is living in the Iranian city of Qom and who issued a fatwa earlier this month appointing al-Sadr his deputy "in all affairs."

The fatwa effectively gives al-Sadr more religious authority than Sistani, said al-Sadr's spokesman, Sheikh Adnan al-Shahmani, because Haeri has achieved "a higher level of religious knowledge" than Sistani. He is also more radical.

http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:bh75sXbVkx4J:www.iraqipapers.com/shiite_faction.htm+Moqtada+Sadr%2Bpower+struggle&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

It will be interesting to see who the mass of Shi'ites obey here, the clergy or the puppet council. My wager is against the latter.