[Marxism] WaPo version of Sistani statement asserts anti-Sadr stand

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Washington Post states that Sistani "called on Shiites not to join
in a bloody uprising there against US forces."  The Post openly
recognizes the military stalemate, stating that al-Sadr "has kept US
forces at bay."  The Post also reports, as the Times did not that "Talks
between Sadr and Shiite mediators have broken down over terms that would
have put Sadr in their hands rather than in U.S. custody."
Fred Feldman



Sistani Demands Exit of Najaf Combatants
Top Shiite Cleric Rebuffs Rival's Call to Arms
By Daniel Williams and Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 19, 2004; Page A17


BAGHDAD, May 18 -- Iraq's supreme Shiite religious leader, Grand
Ayatollah Ali Sistani, demanded Tuesday that all armed forces leave the
holy city of Najaf and called on fellow Shiites not to join in a bloody
uprising there against U.S. forces. It was his first public effort to
end a weeks-old rebellion mounted by the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Sistani was apparently responding to a call to arms issued earlier in
the day by Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia has largely controlled Najaf
for weeks. Sistani's words are often heeded by Shiites, although his
call Tuesday was not a religious order, or fatwa.

Sadr had invited all Iraqis to come to the southern city and support his
uprising, which U.S. troops are struggling to contain. The revolt is one
of several serious security issues that U.S. officials face before the
scheduled transfer of limited authority to an Iraqi interim government
on June 30.

U.S. military options are constricted in part because Najaf is home to
one of the most revered sites in Shiite Islam, the Shrine of Imam Ali,
and a vast graveyard that is the most favored burial spot among Shiites
because of its proximity to the mosque.

For the past month, U.S. officials have been hoping that Sistani would
challenge Sadr, whose authority stems largely from his militia, which
numbers in the thousands. Sadr has said he would follow a request from
Sistani to withdraw from the city, but his rhetoric has grown
increasingly militant the longer he has kept U.S. forces at bay.

"So rise up my beloved people," Sadr said in the statement issued by his
office in Najaf. He called on "the people of great Iraq to express your
opinion" in Najaf "as a reply to the serial violations, in order to be
the best people for the best sacred shrines."

Sistani has traditionally shied from political matters. His boldest such
overture came last November, when he called for direct elections to
establish a post-occupation government, rather than a caucus system
favored at the time by U.S. officials.

Tuesday's formal statement, a rare personal message to the public by a
man who usually communicates indirectly through aides, came a day after
his offices in Najaf were fired on -- by Sadr's men, according to some
accounts.

The conflicting statements by Sistani and Sadr appeared to open the way
for a test of wills between two clerics with vastly different views of
Islam's role in the political future of Iraq. After years of suffering
under former president Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led government, Shiites,
who make up about 60 percent of Iraq's population, are seeking a
representative stake in a post-occupation government.

Shiite communities were once largely receptive to the U.S. invasion as
the only viable way to oust Hussein. But the current divisions among
Shiites are not only complicating U.S. efforts to establish a broadly
acceptable interim government, they are also raising the specter of
violence between armed militias loyal to rival Shiite groups.

"We could have a confrontation between Shiite groups in Najaf, and this
would be dangerous," said Fatih Kashif Ghitta, a prominent Shiite
cleric.

Sadr, who is wanted by U.S. authorities in connection with the killing
last year of a rival Shiite cleric, has used his militia, made up
largely of disenfranchised young men, to become a major player in Iraq's
sectarian politics. Shiite leaders have suggested that Sadr, 31, be
given a role in the next government as an incentive for him to
demobilize his militia.

On Tuesday, Sadr's forces struck again at U.S. troops, after suffering
heavy casualties on Monday. Using mortars and rocket-propelled grenades,
his men fired on a small U.S. military camp located between Najaf and
Kufa, a town six miles to the northeast that is also a Sadr stronghold.
Two U.S. tanks maneuvered toward the camp from a police station in town
and were ambushed. There were no reports of casualties on either side.

Sustained fighting in the south has engaged U.S. troops for more than 10
days.

U.S. commanders initially urged patience, hoping to avoid damage to the
shrine in Najaf and a pair of shrines in Karbala, a holy Shiite city
farther north, where Sadr's militia has also mounted resistance to
occupation forces. Rather than confronting U.S. troops directly at the
outskirts of the cities, Sadr's men have taken up positions deep inside
them and near religious sites. U.S. forces have pursued militia forces,
risking damage to the shrines.

So far, Shiite religious leaders who want Sadr removed have complained
little about the American tactics. In neighboring Iran, whose population
is almost entirely Shiite, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme religious
leader, this week called on Shiites worldwide to condemn the U.S.
offensive across southern Iraq.

U.S. officials had hoped that Shiite leaders could persuade Sadr to
abandon his rebellion, disband his militia and give himself up either to
U.S. forces or religious leaders and face charges in the killing of
Abdel-Majid Khoei, a cleric who was stabbed in April 2003 after
returning to Iraq from exile in Britain.

Talks between Sadr and Shiite mediators have broken down over terms that
would have put Sadr in their hands rather than in U.S. custody. Without
specifying the exact cause, Shiite officials are blaming the United
States for the breakdown. "The Americans have added a condition," said
Hamid Bayati, a spokesman for the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, which wants Sadr out of Najaf.

The continuing violence has exasperated Najaf residents. "From the first
day of the crisis, our business stopped. We depend on tourists, and now
there are none," said Hadi Basheer, 50, who sells souvenirs.

Ali Hussein, 28, a taxi driver, accused Sadr's militia of harboring
common criminals and sympathizers of Hussein. "I want the Americans to
solve this, because the Mahdi Army is growing in power," he said.


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