August 17, 2004
MOOKIE IN THE MIDDLE:
Threat to the political process (Syed Saleem Shahzad, 8/18/04, Asia Times)
Firebrand Iraqi Shi'ite cleric-turned-warlord Muqtada al-Sadr is commonly referred to as Iran's connection in Iraq, but in fact he is in the process of destroying the decades-old Iranian dream of exporting its revolution to Iraq. [...]Allama Hassan Turabi is a key political leader of the Shi'ite community in Iraq and enjoys good terms with his counterparts in Iran. Speaking to Asia Times Online, he maintained that Shi'ites in other parts of the world viewed Muqtada with suspicion and that Muqtada was a "naive cleric not qualified to be graded as a religious leader of the Shi'ite nation".
"Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani [the preeminent Shi'ite leader in Iraq] supports the Iraq elections that will pave the way for the installation of a legitimate government in Iraq and give the US an exit strategy from Iraq. But the way Muqtada is behaving will cause Iraq further problems.
"He has systematically sidelined the real and acclaimed leadership of Shi'ites, like Sistani and Ayatollah Bashir, two top Shi'ite clerics for Shi'ite nations worldwide. He besieged their houses and tried to discredit them in the eyes of common Iraqis by calling them non-Arabs who did not have the right to speak in the affairs of Iraq, as Ayatollah Sistani is of Iranian origin and Bashir comes from Pakistan.
"Not only Iran, but even Iraqi Shi'ite organizations are silent as they do not want to make Najaf a battleground for the ambitions of a naive cleric," said Turabi.
Jeez, everyone wants this knob's head on a pike. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 17, 2004 10:20 AM
"Jeez, everyone wants this knob's head on a pike."
Yeah, everyone keeps saying that, yet...
Posted by: Bill at August 17, 2004 10:48 AMAction speaks louder than words, so far all the "leaders" have done is talk. It makes you wonder what their true motives are???
Posted by: JR at August 17, 2004 1:44 PMPerhaps Sadr is the Wesley Clark of Iraq.
Is there such a thing as a stalking imam?
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 17, 2004 1:50 PMFor a guy with no following, he sure gets fawned over a lot.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at August 17, 2004 2:21 PMFawned? If someone killed a thousand of your readers and you had to hole up in the Maui News basement would you call it fawning?
Posted by: oj at August 17, 2004 4:11 PMIf the president of the U.S. sent 2 helicopters to bring in a bunch of magistrates and preachers to plead with me to behave, sure.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at August 17, 2004 4:52 PMHarry:
Maybe the Iraqi police will let you hold the rifle.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 17, 2004 4:57 PMYour readers wouldn't...
Posted by: oj at August 17, 2004 4:59 PMA lot didn't happen overnight, eh?
Now they're begging him to be elected (or appointed or however they're going to arrange it) to become a magistrate and legislator himself.
I call that fawning.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at August 18, 2004 2:13 PMHarry:
You've probably got at least ten or twenty good years left, you needn't measure the world by overnights. Think of it as al-Sadr evolving into a democrat, then you'll give him billions of years.
Posted by: oj at August 18, 2004 2:24 PM