IF YOU WANT A SHIASTAN YOU'LL HAVE TO FIGHT FOR IT

Senior cleric targeted in latest Iraq violence (Gareth Smyth and Edward Alden, August 24 2003, Financial Times)

A senior Shia cleric was the target of a bombing in the central Iraqi city of Najaf yesterday that killed three guards and wounded 10 people, the latest in a string of attacks at the weekend that underscored the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.

Ayatollah Mohammed Said al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most senior Shia clerics, escaped with cuts to the neck.

Ayatollah Hakim recently told the Financial Times that the measures taken by US-led occupation forces against supporters of the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein were not strong enough, and called for the transfer of more decision-making in security and other fields to Iraqis.

A spokesman for Sciri, the leading Shia Muslim political group, said last night it had begun an investigation into the bombing, and suspected it was the work of loyalists of the former regime.

US-led forces have a very limited presence in Najaf, which is a scholastic city revered as the burial place of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the prophet Mohammed.

The bombing came on a weekend when ethnic clashes between Turkomen and Kurds broke out in the northern city of Kirkuk, leading to several fatalities.

This too is a hopeful sign. Folks on the Left are assuring us that all of Iraq will magically set aside centuries of ethnic and sectarian hatred to unite in opposition to the infidel Americans. But we need the Shi'ites to focus on purging the Ba'athis remnants and preventing al Qaeda and other foreign troublemakers from gaining a toehold. That process should include our turning over real power to them as quickly as possible. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2003 10:46 AM