Posted on 04/24/2003 1:10:50 PM PDT by Shermy
An Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite leader said he was ready to work with the United States and the international community to improve the conditions of Iraqis and establish security and stability in his war-torn homeland.
But Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer Al Hakim, one of the most powerful voices among Iraq's majority Shiites, said fervent demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at the holy shrine of Karbala showed Iraqis were able to govern themselves.
"There is no doubt we are going to cooperate with all sides and forces that have relations with the Iraqi issue," Hakim said in an interview. "Among these sides are America, Britain, the United Nations, the European Union, Arab and Islamic states."
Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revol-ution in Iraq (SCIRI), has lived in exile in Tehran for more than 20 years and has often been portrayed as a firebrand wanting to establish an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Iraq.
"We cannot make a comparison between the Iraqi and the Iranian people... the characteristics of the Iraqi people are different to those of Iranian people," he said. "We should not make a copy of the Iranian revolution and establish it in Iraq." Hakim said there could be a separation of church and state in Iraq, unlike in his host country Iran.
"Religious leaders are from the people and they must carry out their responsibilities," he said. "(But) it is not very necessary for the Iraqi regime to be in the hands of religious people. It all depends on the will of the Iraqi people."
Hakim denied there was a rift between himself and Ayatollah Ali Sistani, another senior Iraqi Shiite cleric who has advocated a secular system in Iraq. Sistani's house was besieged by rival hardliners in the holy city of Najaf last week.
"There is no problem between myself and Ayatollah Sistani, on the contrary, we have the greatest respect for one another." Hakim said he planned to return to Iraq "in the very near future".
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have filled the holy city of Karbala this week in a show of strength marked by chants of "Yes to Islam, no to America" raising worries in Washington of a rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq.
Hakim, stroking his grey beard, played down such fears.
"In these marches the Iraqi people want to say they are able to manage their affairs themselves," he said. "I believe the Iraqi people have no enmity, no hostility toward any other side or country, they only want freedom, security, justice and independence."
Asked if U.S. troops should immediately leave Iraq, Hakim said: "The Iraqi people must start to establish their national government and take responsibility to manage their affairs. There is no necessity for any foreign domination in Iraq."
"The Americans say they will remain in Iraq only for a very limited period, but I don't know how long that will last."
Despite saying he was ready to work with Washington, Hakim's SCIRI boycotted a meeting between Iraqi opposition and U.S. officials in Nassiriya last week. He said he had no information about a similar meeting due to be held in Baghdad on Saturday.
"We have no information about that meeting," he said. "We had no precise information about the meeting in Nassiriya, that was one of the reasons we didn't attend."
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran rejected U.S. suggestions that Tehran was interfering in Iraq (news - web sites) and said on Thursday it was not seeking to promote the political role of fellow Shi'ite Muslims in its western neighbor.
Washington on Wednesday said Tehran should stay out of Iraqi politics amid concerns that Shi'ite Iran was seeking to encourage the creation of a fellow Islamic republic there.
In a further sign of the U.S. flexing its muscle, U.S. Central Command in Qatar said Marines had this week started patrols on the parts of the border with Iran to "maintain Iraqi territorial integrity."
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told a news conference in Tehran: "Naturally the majority of Iraq is Shi'ite but we are not insisting on (the role of the) Shi'ites.
"For us, Shi'ites, Sunnis, Turks and Arabs are the same and everybody should play their role in a democratic Iraq," he said.
Iranian clerical leaders, using their influence among Iraq's Shi'ite community, had encouraged Iraqis "to put aside violence and think about unity and also move toward forming a democratic and free government," Kharrazi said.
"This does not mean interference," said Kharrazi, who added that any interim or permanent Iraqi government should remain under U.N. supervision.
Iran shed no tears over the fall of Saddam, who used chemical weapons against Iranian troops during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
But the Islamic Republic is also an arch-foe of the United States and analysts say Tehran is eager to ensure that a future Iraqi government is at least not hostile to Iran.
Caught seemingly unaware by the political assertiveness of Iraq's Shi'ites, many of whom are friendly to Iran, Washington told Iran to keep out of Iraqi politics.
Central Command in Qatar said the border patrols had started on Monday. "We have a large area to cover," said Major Steve Greco. "We plan to screen the full length of the Wasit Province- Iran border," he said referring to the province around Kut.
It said the Marines would search and interview all people attempting to enter and leave Iraq through Iran.
In a statement Central Command said it was prepared to detain all former officials of Saddam's administration, third-country nationals and insurgents, as well assist Iraqi exiles to return home.
BORDER IS A RED LINE
"This is nothing new. U.S. and British forces have been near our borders since the start of the war in Iraq and our red lines are our borders," said Kharrazi.
U.S. officials on Wednesday said they believed Iranian-trained agents had crossed into southern Iraq since the fall of Saddam and were working to promote Iranian interests in Iraq.
Kharrazi said Washington should spend less time accusing Iraq's neighbors of interfering in the war-torn country and concentrate instead on working with them to rebuild Iraq.
"It is interesting that the United States has occupied Iraq and is now accusing Iraq's neighbors of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs," Kharrazi said.
Washington has also issued stern warnings to Syria in recent weeks, accusing it of offering asylum and assistance to fleeing members of Saddam's government.
"Instead of that (making accusations) they should welcome Iran's positive role as well as that of other countries for reconstructing Iraq," Kharrazi said.
"Instead of accusing they should pay more attention and start cooperating with other countries."
Iran has hosted many Iraqi exiles opposed to Saddam and has close links to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), one of the main Shi'ite groups vying for a role in the future of Iraq.
In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday SCIRI head Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, countered suggestions that he was seeking to establish an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Iraq.
"We should not make a copy of the Iranian revolution and establish it in Iraq," he said.
Iraq's Karbala pilgrimage fails to ignite mass anti-US demos
The story contains another tidbit:
A spokesman for the Iranian armed opposition People's Mujahedeen guerrillas meanwhile said a ceasefire reached with US forces allowed the Iraq-based group to keep their arms while maintaining their war against the Iranian government.
This group is our leverage, for one, over Iraq. Read in another article this group seized to Iranian Revolutionary Guards (Pasadaran)...in Iraq!
All it showed was that they new how to do "the unholy macarena" and that they need to hit themselves in the head a little harder with their swords. Some of them could still walk afterwards.
From our prayers to God's ears to fact.
But if one watches the alphabet networks -- ABCCBSNBCCNN -- it's still doom and gloom and a million fundamentalists are protesting. The truth, it appears, will forever be foreign to them.
On this guy though; "There is no doubt we are going to cooperate with all sides and forces that have relations with the Iraqi issue," Hakim said in an interview. "Among these sides are America, Britain, the United Nations, the European Union, Arab and Islamic states."
Uh oh. This guy has gotten the Left's Talking Point. He's shrewd and he's playing ball with Europe. He needs to be kepts as far out of this as possible.
On this Hakim fella . . . I liked Rummy's line today when someone asked him something about the kind of government Iraq would end up with. He said something like this . . . "If you're asking me if the government in Iraq is going to be based on fundamentalist Islam . . . That ain't gonna happen." Gotta love Rummy . . . he talks in unambiguous English. So this Hakim critter can play whatever games he wants to . . . he's just setting himself up for a big disappointment -- or worse.
Someone has had a Come-to-Jesus meeting with him
The demonstration was no larger than a similar protest Tuesday, April 23, that drew 3,000 people, despite appeals by megaphone for pilgrims to turn up to vent opposition to a U.S.-imposed government following Saddam Hussein's ouster, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
And further in the article, Islam-online says there was TWO million folks in Karbala! But we'll never hear all this in the mainstream press . . . there's a conservative in power.
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