[Marxism] US to ask UN to press Iraq Shiite leader to drop election demand

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Washington Post
January 17, 2004

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23581-2004Jan16.html

KARBALA -- Preachers in Shiite Muslim mosques appealed to their
followers
Friday to prepare for demonstrations, strikes and possible
confrontations with
occupation troops to back up demands for elections in advance of a
transfer of
authority from a U.S.-led administration to Iraqis.

The calls increased pressure on the Bush administration and its
handpicked
Iraqi Governing Council to satisfy demands by Grand Ayatollah Ali
Sistani, the
country's most influential cleric, for elections.  President Bush's
chief
administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, and top Governing Council
leaders are
scheduled to meet in New York next week in hopes of enlisting U.N.
help in
changing Sistani's mind.

The United States and the council have fashioned a proposal to select
a
transitional assembly by July 1 through a complex system of regional
caucuses.
 Sistani rejected the plan on the grounds it disenfranchises Iraqis
and puts
Iraq's future in the hands of the United States.  Sistani's challenge
was
sharpened in Shiite mosques throughout Iraq on Friday, and the option
of
violence was made explicit.

"We should think seriously about the future and for the coming
generation, and
fashion it to keep our dignity," said Abdel-Madhi Salami, the chief
cleric in
Karbala, one of two Shiite holy cities in Iraq.  "This will happen
through
serious participation in a peaceful protest, strikes and, as a last
resort,
possible confrontation with the occupying forces, because they plan to
draw up
colonial schemes."

Salami is a senior associate of Sistani.  A similar appeal was made in
the
biggest Sunni mosque in Baghdad.

The relative calm that has prevailed among Iraq's Shiite majority
since the
overthrow of President Saddam Hussein last spring now hangs in the
balance.
Shiites, one of two major streams in Islam, make up at least 60
percent of the
population.  Unlike their Sunni Muslim counterparts, who make up about
20
percent of Iraqis and formed the backbone of support for Hussein, the
Shiites
largely welcomed the U.S.-led invasion of the country.

But the issue of Iraq's political future has put the relationship
between the
Shiites and the occupation authorities in question.  Shiites consider
Sistani,
73, a *marja al-taqlid*, or object of emulation, and his followers
heed his
words not only on religious matters but also on social and political
issues.
Despite hints of compromise emanating from U.S. and Iraqi officials,
Sistani
does not appear to be budging.

On Friday, Sistani met with tribal leaders at his offices in the holy
city of
Najaf, his home base.  There were no reports of demonstrations.  On
Thursday,
tens of thousands of Shiites marched in Basra, the country's
second-largest
city, to demand elections.  Salami said that Basra was a sample of
things to
come.

"We want to convey to the people the importance of this case.  Some
people
think it will take confrontation.  Not for the present, we hope,"
Salami said
in an interview.

Salami also suggested a way to avoid violence, repeating Sistani's
demand for
the United Nations to send a fact-finding team to Iraq and judge
whether
elections can be organized.  When Sistani first called for a U.N.
visit, U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan sent a letter to the Governing Council
saying
elections could not be arranged properly before July 1.

"It was not correct for Kofi Annan to sit in New York and say it,"
Salami
said.  "We feel this was all a maneuver.  If the commission came,
investigated
and said there is no way, then an alternative would have to be found."

He was evasive about whether Sistani would accept a U.N. judgment.
"There is
a lack of trust," he said.

Salami spoke dismissively of Bremer, with whom Sistani has refused to
meet.
"It's a feeling we will not get anything from Bremer.  My evaluation
is, there
is no profit in a meeting with him," he said.

He spoke in his office at the edge of the Imam Hussein mosque, one of
a
matching pair in Karbala, each topped with a golden dome and gilt
minarets set
above an enclosure adorned with tiles in floral patterns.

Salami's appeal for protests was issued to thousands of worshipers
gathered
under a warm winter sun for Friday prayers.  His speech made no
mention of the
United Nations.

Shiites in Karbala seemed to agree with his words.  "There have been
too many
promises not kept," said Hameed Abu Sajjad, a hotel owner in Karbala.
"The
United States has lots of experience in organizing elections.  Let
them
organize one for us."

Abdullah Ridha Abdul Mahdi, a plastics goods salesman, said:
"Elections would
make things clear.  We would like it soon."

"I do not think our religious leaders want to cause problems.  We just
want
our rights, which is the reason the Americans said they came here,"
said Amir
Abbas, a retired laborer who was rummaging through a pile of sandals
and shoes
worshipers had shed before prayers, according to Islamic custom.

Iraqi officials fear that a U.N. commission would take a long time to
investigate and would add to the aura of Sistani's authority, perhaps
setting
a precedent for clerical review of government decisions.  Nonetheless,
Adnan
Pachachi, current president of the Governing Council under a rotation
system,
said the council would do what it could to "accommodate" Sistani by
providing
"transparency and inclusiveness."

But not elections.  Pachachi will lead the Governing Council
delegation to New
York.  He warned that the wrangling could derail the transition to
Iraqi rule
and prolong U.S. military occupation.

Elections would give the majority Shiites and, in all likelihood, the
Shiite
religious leadership a leg up on political rivals.  The mosque is the
most
organized and well-financed institution in Iraq.  The leadership is
funded by
donations from millions of the faithful.

Beneath the surface of the election dispute lies another issue dear to
Sistani: enshrinement of Islam as Iraq's guiding ideology.  Allowing a
transitional assembly and government molded by U.S.-selected councils
to take
power would set Iraq onto a secular road, his followers contend.

"The issue is not just freedom.  It is guaranteeing that laws be
passed within
the rules of Islam," Salami said.

He explained that Shiite leaders see the current situation through the
prism
of an Arab uprising in 1920 against British colonial rule.  Then,
Shiite
clerics supported the revolt and later rejected a peace solution that
involved
installation by the British of an Arab monarch in Iraq.  Effectively,
the
Shiites ceded control of Iraq to the minority Sunni population.

This time, the clerics want to ensure they have a deciding say in the
creation
of an Iraqi government, Salami said.  "The people should benefit from
the
experience of the 1920 revolution.  At that time, they lost their
rights," he
told worshipers at Imam Hussein mosque.  "This time, the *marja* of
Najaf is
taking care about the transfer of authority from the occupiers.  The
people
should wake up."



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