Posted on 08/21/2004 6:51:58 AM PDT by blam
Militia, Shiite Leaders Bicker Over Shrine
Saturday August 21, 2004 2:01 PM
By ABDUL HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI
Associated Press Writer
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Militants loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr remained in control of a revered Shiite shrine at the center of the crisis in Najaf on Saturday, as they bickered with top Shiite religious leaders over how to hand the holy site over.
Despite the standoff, Najaf remained largely calm Saturday. Occasional explosions shook the city, but the violence was at a far lower level than fierce fighting that raged in the city earlier this week.
The violence in the city and a threatened government raid of the mosque risked inflaming the nation's majority Shiites and undermining the interim government's efforts to bring stability to the country and gain legitimacy for itself.
The crisis appeared on the verge of resolution Friday with insurgents' surprising decision to remove their weapons from the Imam Ali Shrine, where they had been hiding, and turn the holy site over to top Shiite clerics.
But the two sides were still debating how to arrange such a transfer Saturday.
Al-Sadr aides said they tried to hand the keys over to representatives of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who refused to accept them, demanding the shrine be evacuated first.
Sheik Ali Smeisim, a senior al-Sadr aide, said the militants wanted a delegation from al-Sistani's office to first inspect the shrine and make sure its treasures were intact, so that al-Sadr's followers would not be accused of stealing or damaging anything. Only then will the militants leave, he said.
Al-Sistani's aides say they will not send a delegation because of the security situation in the city.
``If the brothers in the office of ... al-Sadr want to vacate the holy shrine compound and close the doors and hand over the keys, then the office of the religious authority in Najaf will take the keys for safekeeping until the crisis ends,'' Sheik Hamed Khafaf, an al-Sistani aide, said from London where the cleric is undergoing medical treatment. ``We cannot receive the shrine compound unless they agree to this formula.''
Another al-Sadr aide Ahmed al-Shaibany, said earlier the keys had already been handed over, but later said that they had only offered to hand them over.
The shrine's keys are for the shrine compound's outer gates, inner doors and safes.
The proposed handover of the shrine to religious authorities offered a face-saving way to end fierce fighting between U.S. and Iraqi forces and al-Sadr's militia that has killed scores of people.
A peaceful pullout mediated by religious authorities would allow Iraq's interim government to keep its pledge not to negotiate and let the militants say they had not capitulated to U.S.-led troops.
Meanwhile, attackers fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. military vehicle in the Iraqi capital early Saturday, killing one American soldier and wounding two others, the military said in a statement. As of Friday, 949 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Elsewhere, one Iraqi National Guard soldier was killed when a bomb exploded in the northern city of Mosul, said Mahmoud Saadallah. Two guardsmen and three civilians were wounded in the blast.
In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, assailants detonated roadside bombs in two separate attacks apparently aimed at passing U.S. troops, hospital officials said. There were no immediate reports of American casualties.
In one of the attacks, a bomb exploded after a U.S. convoy drove by, said Hussein Ali, an official at Baqouba's main hospital. Two civilians were killed and four injured in the blast.
In Sabtiya, two miles north of Baqouba, another roadside bomb exploded after a U.S. convoy passed, killing a sanitation worker cleaning the street and wounding another man, said Mudher Sabah, another hospital official.
West of Baghdad in Ramadi, unidentified gunmen shot dead Lt. Col. Saad Smayer, a senior police officer, as he left home for work, said Jaadan Mohammed al-Alwan.
Elsewhere, a Polish soldier was killed and six more were injured near central the central city of Hillah Saturday when a car bomb exploded as a military convoy passed by, Polish radio reported.
Meanwhile, an aide to al-Sadr said kidnappers had lifted their threat to kill a U.S. journalist abducted in the southern city of Nasiriyah along with his Iraqi translator Aug. 13, and the man could be released as soon as Saturday.
The kidnappers, calling themselves the Martyrs Brigade, threatened Thursday to kill Micah Garen of New York within 48 hours if U.S. troops did not leave Najaf.
But al-Sadr aide Sheik Awas al-Khafaji said Saturday he had spoken to mediators who said the death threat had been lifted, adding that they were working out a way to have Garen released.
``We hope that he will be released today and our efforts would be fruitful,'' he said Saturday. ``As for the Iraqi translator, we have received assurances that he is going to be released with the journalist.''
Garen appeared in a video aired Friday on Al-Jazeera saying his captors were treating him well. ``I am an American journalist in Iraq and I've been asked to deliver a message,'' he said. ``I am in captivity and being treated well.''
The peace moves in Najaf headed off a government attack on the revered shrine, which was certain to cause bloodshed and likely damage the gold-domed mosque - a result that would enrage Shiites throughout the country and Muslims throughout the world.
Iraqi officials had said they wanted to destroy the Mahdi Army to send a strong message to insurgents across Iraq, but the prime minister said the offer to give up control of the shrine meant a peaceful resolution was still possible.
Earlier this week, al-Sadr's militants rejected a government ultimatum to withdraw from the shrine or face an assault. Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi backed off the threat even before the new offer from al-Sadr, and his national security adviser reiterated that the government wanted al-Sadr to join the political process.
Al-Sadr has said previously he would not give in to the government demand to disband his militia and take up politics. It remained unclear how the government would react if that demand went unmet.
The government was not part of the talks, and it continued to demand that al-Sadr disband his militia and join in peaceful politics and help create a democracy for Iraqis.
``We need to get rid of this militia and we need to get them to disarm and leave the shrine,'' Iraqi National Security adviser Mouaffaq al-Rubaie told CNN. ``There's no way we can build democracy in this country with a militia all over the country.''
Also Friday, the Italian Foreign Ministry said that Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni had gone missing in Iraq. Baldoni, a freelance journalist who came to Iraq for the news magazine Diario, was believed to have been in Najaf, the ministry said.
allah FUBAR
Always remember that followers of truly false and evil prophets always believe that they don't have any obligation to treat those who do not follow the same dog-loving prophet with honesty, integrity or respect.
I heard something interesting last night. This shrine is a huge money draw for the Shiites due to pilgrims and donations from all over. Who controls the shrine controls the bucks.
Follow the money. Its the same the world over.
Al Sistani is pretty crafty. He's not going to be put in charge of a shrine that's still occupied.
They are not only lying to the "infidels" they are also lying to the most respected Shiia clerics who have dealt honorably with both the Iraqi government and the US.
Yup. I was thinking that Sadr may give them the keys and then blow-it with them inside and blame it on us.
There could be a good movie come out of this whole fracas.
Like High Noon at the Najaf shrine.!!!!!
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