Shiites Emerge as Iraq's Key Players

Time ^ | April 23, 2003 | Tony Karen

[smalltowns]

Shiites Emerge as Iraq's Key Players

Wooing the Shiite clerics, however, is a daunting task for General Jay Garner, the U.S. administrator for post-Saddam Iraq. Shiite religious-political groups are far from united, and their divisions are potentially violent, as the fatal stabbing two weeks of a prominent pro-Western cleric at Najaf demonstrated. Ayatollah Abdel Majid al-Khoei was murdered by supporters of a young cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, who seek an Iran-style Islamic state in Iraq and are innately hostile towards cooperation with the U.S. But the supreme clerical authority in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Najaf, has been more cautious. And even the most influential of the Shiite groups, the Iran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, is considering working with the U.S. In an interview with Reuters, the group's leader Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim said his group would be willing to work with the U.S., along with the UN, European Union and Arab and Islamic states, to stabilize Iraq. He also spoke against replicating the Iranian political model, instead advocating a separation of church and state. But like most other Shiite leaders, Hakim emphasized the need for Iraqi control of the process of selecting a democratic government. Comment:

[smalltowns]

The sheer volume and intensity of the Shia demonstrations in the pilgimage from Karbala to Najaf is being exploited by thousands of domestic immans and political agents emerging from the highly organized SCIRI underground in Iraq as well as great numbers coming in from Iran. By taking over administration of all the towns in the region their ultimate goal is to take control for redesigning the greater Iraqi state into an Iranian style Islamic theocracy fundamentally hostile to the U.S. Although this article suggests the leader of the Tehran-based org spoke against replicating the Iranian model...how long do you think he'd be alive in Iran if he didn't subscribe 101% to President Mohammad Khatami's imperative for continuing Jihad against the west? For them to have "Control of the process of selecting a democratic government" will guarantee that greater Iraq will suffer a fate worse than the Taliban brought to Afganistan.

[ancient_geezer]

Shiites emerge as Iraq's key players.

When one notes that shiites make up a strong majority segment of Iraq, this is somehow news or unforseen?

Only to a reporter without a brain.

[tessalu]

Religious groups need to know that no one group is going to rule the country, and there has been too much of that already.