----- Original Message ----- From: "Dwayne Monroe" <idoru345 at yahoo.com> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 11:07 AM Subject: [lbo-talk] Sadr's popularity
> Repeatedly, the Western media describes al Sadr as a "minor cleric" with
> a small following. The implication is that a few hundred crazies, at
> best, are crazily following a malcontent. Obviously, al Sadr is able to
> field a large number of dedicated people -- both as protesters and
> fighters. Large enough and sufficiently armed and organized to create
> the unmistakable impression of a micro Tet offensive last Sunday.
>
> Only a taste, I suspect, of what they can do .
>
>
>
>
> Juan Cole addresses the matter of al Sadr's popularity and impact --
>
>
> ...
>
>
>
> US television cable news is doing its best to obscure the real issues
here.
>
> 1. They keep asking where Muqtada is and calling him a "fugitive."
> Muqtada announced that he is in his father's mosque in Kufa, and there
> is no reason to doubt this. He hasn't fled and his whereabouts are well
> known.
>
> 2. Talking heads both from Iraq and from the ranks of the US retired
> officers keep attempting to maintain that Muqtada's movement is small
> and marginal. One speaker claimed that Muqtada has only 10,000 men.
>
> In fact that is the size of his formal militia. Muqtada's movement is
> like the layers of an onion. You have 10,000 militiamen. But then you
> have tens of thousands of cadres able to mobilize neighborhoods. Then
> you have hundreds of thousands of Sadrists, followers of Muqtada and
> other heirs of Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr. Then you have maybe 5 million
> Shiite theocrats who sympathize with Muqtada's goals and rhetoric, about
> a third of the Shiite community. The Sadrists will now try to shift
> everything so that the 5 million become followers, the hundreds of
> thousands become cadres, and the tens of thousands become militiamen.
>
>
> [...]
>
> full at -
>
>
<http://www.juancole.com/2004_04_01_juancole_archive.html#108119698951121964
>
>
>
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