Posted on 08/15/2003 8:59:18 PM PDT by Brian S
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
AGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 15 — The most combative group of Shiite Muslims announced during their main prayer sermon today that they would proceed with a proposal to form their own militia to safeguard holy sites from any transgressions by American troops.
More than 3,000 of the faithful flooded one of the dusty main thoroughfares in Sadr City, a predominately Shiite slum in Baghdad, to hear the prayer leader, Sheik Abdel Hadi al-Daraji, denounce the American forces, accusing them of defiling sacred places after an incident on Wednesday in which an American Black Hawk helicopter forced down a flag near a Sadr City mosque.
"Yesterday Saddam the infidel used to assault our sacred sites and especially the people of this holy city," Sheik Daraji said. "Now the Americans are doing the same thing. So what is the difference between Saddam and America?"
The sheik also belittled America's ability to improve the lives of Iraqis, who get about 10 hours of electricity a day in Baghdad.
He hinted that the United States might be selling Iraq's electricity elsewhere, perhaps to Israel, and led the crowd in special prayers to ask God to provide power 24 hours a day.
"To denounce the lack of services provided by the Americans, pray to Muhammad," he said as the crowd roared back their prayer. "To denounce the lack of electricity, pray to Muhammad."
The proposal for a Shiite religious militia initially received a tepid response from other, senior clergymen. Its revival could set the stage for renewed tension between the older, more respected scholars who control the influential seminary movement — known as the Hawza — and Mr. Sadr's young clerics, who have a wide street following in Baghdad.
Also today, Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim, in a sermon in the holy city of Najaf, called on the Arab and Islamic world to support the Iraqi Governing Council, an interim government organized with American backing. But in what appeared to be a stab at mollifying growing anti-American sentiment, he also suggested that the United States had initially pushed the council away from Islamic principles.
The mood in Sadr City was subdued today after the incident on Wednesday.
The American military and local residents gave conflicting accounts of what had happened. Residents said someone on the American helicopter seemed to be trying to remove a holy banner intentionally. That led to a riot, and American gunfire ultimately left one Iraqi dead and four Iraqis wounded.
American officials said downward "rotor wash" generated by the hovering helicopter had stripped the flag from the tower.
The American forces issued an apology for the incident that seemed to largely mollify the public. But the followers of Moktada al-Sadr, a militant young cleric descended from a long line of illustrious clergymen, seized on the response to the incident to revive a proposal he made last month to form a special clerical army, the Army of Muhammad.
Sheik Daraji said in his sermon that it would consist of eight units deployed in different Baghdad neighborhoods. Women would be among the fighters.
"It is only to tell the enemy that we have the ability to respond," Sheik Daraji told reporters. "That will prevent them from assaulting us."
At the same time, he said, American forces should welcome the militia because it will give the clergy a means to control the inevitable anger of the crowds after any incident like to the one involving the helicopter.
"We think the situation has deteriorated, and I think people will move against the Americans whether the army interferes or not," the sheik said of the new force. "One person could use a Kalashnikov to express his frustration, so how can we quell these masses?"
He told the worshipers to control their emotions, and they dispersed peacefully. Indeed, the powerful influence of the Hawza in telling the Shiites not to confront the Americans accounts for the minimal attacks against American and British troops in the predominately Shiite southern parts of Iraq. Shiites make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people.
But tempers are fraying given the heat, lack of electricity and rising prices needed for the fuel to power generators. No one interviewed in Sadr City today had ever heard one of the explanations by American officials, that a severely battered infrastructure suffering from years of neglect and recent sabotage would take time to revive.
Some thought it was time to put the Americans on notice that they should leave.
"Confrontation, confrontation, we don't want them anymore," said Ghazak, a 23-year-old student who said he would join the Army of Muhammad because of the helicopter incident. "When they assault the name of Muhammad's family, they assault all Muslims. This is the only response they could understand, confrontation."
Others, happy to be free of Saddam Hussein, said they were willing to give the Americans the benefit of the doubt.
The United States has been channeling its efforts for a security force into a civil defense force, discouraging or disarming previously formed private armed forces. There was no specific reaction to the proposal for a clerical-run militia.
"Our hope is that nothing is done to destabilize the country, because ultimately it is the Iraqi people who are the ones who suffer," said Capt. Jeff Fitzgibbons, a military spokesman.
As soon as things cool off, I think the military needs to start holding some Townhall meetings in some of these trouble spots.
"It is only to tell the enemy that we have the ability to respond," Sheik Daraji told reporters. "That will prevent them from assaulting us."
We all saw what Iraqis were capable of doing under the thumb of Saddam. Under our benevolent rule, I expect the Iraqis to do 2 things. Nothing, and like it.
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