Posted on 05/10/2004 10:18:48 AM PDT by Eurotwit
NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - Tribal elders and supporters of Iraq (news - web sites)'s highest Shiite Muslim authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warned of a foreign plot to sow chaos in this holy city by aggravating the standoff between radical militants and US forces.
Sistani follower and influential moderate cleric Sadreddin al-Kubbanji convened a meeting of Najaf's tribal elders and repeated his earlier calls for the militia of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr to leave the city.
Speaking to an emotional crowd of Sistani supporters, Kubbanji called for a demonstration on Friday, the Muslim holy day, to protest "chaos, lies and occupation" and warned of a "treacherous plot being hatched in the name of fighting the US-led occupation."
In a veiled criticism of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, which has taken over the area around the city's holiest shrine, Kubbanji accused "outside elements" of stoking the insurgency in order to drag the Americans into the heart of the sensitive Shiite city.
Najaf is one of the most sacred places in Shiite Islam and a battle involving US troops near its holy shrine could spark an eruption of anger across Iraq's Shiite majority.
Kubbanji said loyalists of jailed former president Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and Wahabis, radical Sunni Muslims such as followers of Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), were behind the conspiracy.
"The occupation was far away from Najaf and the city was calm, but when they (Sadr's militia) hit them with stones they were forced to come here," said Kubbanji, in reference to the thousands of Sadr's young guerrillas who have barricaded themselves in Najaf's centre after launching a failed uprising last month.
He praised the "good intentions" of Sadr's fighters, who have come from Baghdad and other cities to "defend Najaf," but said they had been "sucked into this conspiracy" and repeated calls for them to leave the city.
He warned that outlaws were taking advantage of the confusion brought on by the presence of militia in Najaf and elsewhere to attack Iraq's symbols of authority.
"A policeman is killed with the excuse that he is an agent of the occupation; Governing Council members are attacked for being so-called traitors and the religious authority is cursed for keeping quiet," he said.
Kubbanji is also the local leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a major Shiite party which is represented on the US-appointed Governing Council.
As he spoke his audience cheered in support of Sistani and the Najaf-based religious authority.
"We would die for Sistani," shouted some of the men, while black-veiled women in the back row chanted: "We follow our religious authority and our learned ones".
After the meeting, a group of Sistani supporters marched to his office in the centre of Najaf, but they were heckled by Sadr's militia.
Sistani has called for a peaceful resolution to the Sadr crisis and the respect of Najaf's sanctity while steering away from endorsing the young cleric or issuing a religious edict to wage jihad (holy war) against the Americans.
US troops have been clashing with Sadr's men over the past two weeks in Najaf and nearby Kufa, since taking over from Spanish troops who pulled out of Iraq last month.
In their deepest thrust into Najaf they moved into the provincial government building on the edge of town at the weekend, after the coalition named a new governor for the area.
Coalition civil administrator Paul Bremer has called on Najaf's religious authority to pressure Sadr to call off his month-old uprising.
The coalition insists that Sadr must disband his militia and answer charges relating to the murder of a rival cleric last year.
Well gee thanks.
I believe Sadre has been part of what Sistani calls a "conspiracy" since the beginning. That's why he thought he could set himself above his earned station, claim to be a religious leader and gain power.
These are very, very strange people.
Really big. It looks like one of the assumptions behind our Fallujah operations is bearing fruit: the Old Man wants Fat Boy taken care of, and he's letting us do it. Notice that Sistani's goons, the Badr Brigades, are standing on the sidelines allowing us to clean up the Mahdi Army?
I will guarandamteeyou that this is an arranged marriage between us and Sistani. Sistani needs to have clean hands, however, to burnish his nationalist credentials.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Concur. It is very important when a genuine Moslem leader criticizes another Moslem leader publicly.
Thanks for the ping Cap!
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