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H13200

Headlines : Iraq

Summary:

The rise of Muqtada has been one of the surprises of the four years since the US invaded. Saddam Hussein must have been astonished as he went to his execution to hear the name: “Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqatada!” shouted by jeering onlookers. Had Saddam realised the potential of this strange, enigmatic young man before the invasion then he would doubtless have killed him, as he did Muqtada’s father and two of his brothers eight years ago.

An expose on the rise of Muqtada al-Sadr, the fiery cleric at the head of Jaysh al-Mahdi (the Mahdi army) – a growing movement of violently disillusioned Shia Muslims that has been blamed for a large part of the sectarian killings that have been ravaging the capital for the past year. The Mahdi Army take their name from an end-of-times Islamic prophecy in which the Mahdi is a figure destined to assist the coming Islamic messiah (Isa ibn Mariyamin) in its battle against the Dajjal (an Islamic Antichrist figure) – with the end result being the establishment of a world-wide Islamic state. The significance of this theological inspiration should be clear. Whatever happens in Iraq over the next few years, the future of secularism in the nation doesn’t bode well.

[Posted By Heatscore]

By Patrick Cockburn
Republished from Counterpunch

The Most Powerful Man in Iraq

Whatever else the US intended when it invaded Iraq in 2003 it was not to hand power to an Islamic militant in a black turban who denounces Washington and Israel in the same breath. The claim by two American officials yesterday that Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia nationalist cleric, has left for Iran is a measure of how far the US would like to see him out of the Iraqi political scene.

Allegations by US officials in Baghdad have little credibility after almost four years in which they have been repeatedly exposed as untrue. Supporters of Muqtada immediately denied that he was in Iran and either refused to say where he was or asserted that he was in the Shia holy city of Najaf. He has every reason to keep his location a secret, since in the past the US military has said it will either kill or capture him if it can. Two of his most important aides have been killed in mysterious circumstances in the past week.

We may be close to a final confrontation between the US and Muqtada, perhaps the most important political figure in Iraq.

[end excerpt]

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