On Tue, 6 Apr 2004 Dwayne Monroe wrote:
> Repeatedly, the Western media describes al Sadr as a "minor cleric" with
> a small following.
Juan Cole wrote an article in the Middle East Journal a few months ago where he described the history and make-up of the Sadrist movement in depth:
http://www.mideasti.org/pdfs/543-566mejCole5704.pdf
And he points out the "minor cleric" and "disliked by most" tropes, while true, miss the main point: Sadr is the leader of a vibrant and well-organized Shiite *sect* which by definition is looked at with contempt by the ruling clerics and everyone associated with them -- it defines them as corrupt. Sects are a common and recurrant phenomenon in Shiite history. They are almost always headed up by someone who is not the established leader -- often by women. But they have often prevailed over the establishment at crucial moments.
Michael