[lbo-talk] Intra Shia battles in Iraq

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Wed Oct 15 01:40:53 PDT 2003


http://www.juancole.com/2003_10_01_juancole_archive.html#106618682977388456

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Shiite Militias Clash at Karbala

A bloody clash took place in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on

Tuesday between Muqtada al-Sadr's army of the Mahdi and militiamen

loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Al-Sharq al-Awsat is reporting

at least five dead, and 21 wounded. Sistani's forces repulsed the

Sadrists, and the Bulgarian forces surrounded Karbala to prevent

Sadrists from flocking there from East Baghdad. The two militias used

Kalashnikov machine guns.

About a hundred of Muqtada's men attempted to take control of the

mausoleums the evening before yesterday. Sistani's partisans locked

the mausoleums to keep them out. Muqtada's partisans were moved to act

by his announcement of a shadow government over the weekend. It is

alleged by al-Sharq al-Awsat that they have also been frustrated by

their attempt to gain a foothold in Karbala, where the Sadrists have

not been powerful in recent months.

In reaction, Shaikh Abd al-Mahdi al-Karbala'i, one of Sistani's

representatives in Karbala, criticized Muqtada for announcing a shadow

government, saying it was not the time. He added, however, that the

conflict with the United States is not confined to the Sadrists. He

said all Iraqi's are fast losing their patience with America, and that

the latter should leave Iraq immediately. This is the statement of the

"moderate" Shiite faction headed by Sistani!

The Western press again said widely today that Sistani favors a

separation of religion and state. This simply is not true. He wants

Islamic law to be the law of the land. He wants his fatwas to guide

aspects of society. He wants judges to be clerics. All he is saying is

that the legislature and executive should be staffed by the laity and

that clerics shouldn't get involved in day to day governing. That

isn't Khomeinism, but it isn't a separation of religion and state.

In June, Sistani and Muqtada had worked out a deal whereby they

alternated having their lieutenants preach sermons at the Mosque

attached to the shrine of the Imam Husayn in Karbala. In early July,

as I reported at the time, Muqtada repudiated this deal, insisting

that only his preachers should preach at the shrine. Imam Husayn is

the central martyr of the Shiite religion, and his mausoleum is among

the holiest sites revered by its adherents. Preaching from its mosque

bestows great prestige and influence. The two groups have jockeyed for

position ever since, with Sistani's forces in the ascendancy recently.

About a month ago, the people of Karbala excluded the Sadrists from

the Mosque of Husayn.

So, this attack by the Sadrists was an attempt to reassert control

over the mausoleums of Imam Husayn and his brother Abu'l-Fadl Abbas,

and the Husayn mosque.



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