Re: [Marxism] US/occupation govt forces slaughter 300 (latest figure) Shia dissidents

[Anna Fierling <anna_fierling@xxxxxxxxx>]

Fred Feldman <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
    All I can express is a strong feeling that there is more to this story than
the reported assassination plots. On NPR this was reported with the
announcement that "we" are gaining in the Najaf region, which has actually
been relatively peaceful for about two years. Sounds like as step in the
opposite direction.
Fred Feldman

     
  This is from Juan Cole's website (www.juancole.com ), posted just a few 
minutes ago; apparently, Cole also wakes up pretty early:
   
  Fighters for Shiite Messiah Clash with Najaf Security, 250 Dead 
Over 60 Dead in Baghdad, Kirkuk Violence 

Well, a big battle took place at the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Saturday 
night into Sunday, but there are several contradictory narratives about its 
significance. Iraqi authorities, claimed that the Iraqi army killed a lot of 
the militants (250) but only took 25 casualties itself. The Shiite governor of 
Najaf implied that the guerrillas were Sunni Arabs and had several foreign 
Sunni fundamentalist fighters ("Afghans") among them. He said that they based 
themselves in an orchard recently purchased by Baathists. Other sources said 
that the militants were Shiites. I'd take the claim of numbers killed with a 
large grain of salt, though the Iraqi forces did have US close air support. I 
infer that the guerrillas shot down one US helicopter. 

That's one narrative. Here is another. The pan-Arab London daily al-Hayat 
reported that the militiamen were followers of Mahmud al-Hasani al-Sarkhi. It 
says one of his followers asserted that the fighting erupted when American and 
Iraqi troops attempted to arrest al-Hasani al-Sarkhi. The latter tried last 
summer to take over the shrine of al-Husayn in Karbala. It may have been feared 
that he would take advantage of the chaos of the Muharram pilgrimage season to 
make a play for power in Najaf. Al-Hayat says that although As'ad Abu Kalil, 
governor of Najaf, said the attackers were Sunnis, the director of the 
information center in Najaf, Ahmad Abdul Husayn Du'aybil, contradicted him. The 
latter said, "At dawn, today [Sunday], violent clashes took place between 
security forces and an armed militia calling itself "the Army of Heaven," which 
claims that the Imam Mahdi will [soon] appear." He added, "The goal of this 
militia is the killing of clergymen and the grand ayatollahs."
 The group follows Ayatollah Ahmad al-Hasani al-Sarkhi, called al-Yamani, who 
is said by his followers to be in direct touch with the Hidden Imam or promised 
one. In the fighting 10 Iraqi security police were killed and 17 wounded. One 
official said that the death toll among the militants was not known. 

Al-Hayat, however, quotes a member of the group, Abu al-Hasan, who is said to 
be close to al-Hasani al-Sarkhi. He said that the rumors that the group 
intended to conduct a campaign of assassinations inside Najaf was "devoid of 
truth." It says that an attempt had been made to arrest al-Hasani al-Sarkhi, 
who was present in the al-Zarkah, an agricultural area east of Najaf, which 
caused his followers to revolt.

Al-Hasani al-Sarkhi's followers had earlier burned down the Iranian consulates 
at Basra and Karbala, and demonstrated in Hilla and elsewhere. 

Sawt al-Iraq in Arabic says that a number of al-Hasani al-Sarkhi's aides were 
arrested early last week as part of the current crackdown in preparation for 
the American surge.

Then there is yet a third narrative. Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that on 
Saturday night into Sunday morning, a Shiite millenarian militia calling itself 
"The Army of Heaven" (Jund al-Sama') attempted to move south from the Zarqa 
orchards just north of Najaf to assassinate the four grand ayatollahs of 
Najaf-- Ali Sistani, Bashir Najafi, Muhammad Ishaq Fayyad and Muhammad Said 
al-Hakim. The holy city of Najaf, where Ali is buried, is the seat of Shiite 
religious authority in Iraq. The militiamen, devotees of an obscure religious 
leader named Ahmad Hassaani, are said to have infiltrated the area from Hillah, 
Kut and Amara. The well-armed, black-clad militiamen were heard to call upon 
the Mahdi, the awaited Promised One of the Muslims, to return on that night. 

This group is not the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which bears no enmity 
toward the grand ayatollahs, but rather a separate and different sect 
altogether. Shiite clerics told the NYT that the sect is the Mahdawiya of Ahmad 
al-Basri (possibly Ahmad Hassaani al-Basri?). Although the NYT was told that 
this millenarian sect (it believes that the end of time is around the corner) 
was supported by Saddam, you can't pay any attention to that sort of allegation 
when it comes to Iraqi sectarianism.

It seems most likely that this was Shiite on Shiite violence, with millenarian 
cultists making an attempt to march on Najaf during the chaos of the ritual 
season of Muharram. But who knows? It is also possible that the orthodox 
Shiites in control of Najaf hate the heretic millenarians and the threat of the 
latter was exaggerated. Darned if I know. The reports of the Army of Heaven 
being so well armed make no sense if it was a ragtag millenarian band. But 
those reports could be exaggerations, too.

It seems most likely that the Mahdawiya is the sect of Sheikh Mahmud al-Hasani 
al-Sarkhi and that al-Basri was the founder of the sect. That would be a way of 
reconciling al-Zaman with al-Hayat. 

The dangers of Shiite on Shiite violence in Iraq are substantial, as this 
episode demonstrated. Ironically, given Bush's mantra about Iran, the trouble 
makers here are a sect that absolutely hates Iran.

According to Reuters, Sunday would have been a horror show in Iraq even if you 
hadn't had the Najaf clashes. Three US troops were killed Sunday, and more were 
announced killed. Police found 29 bodies in the capital, victims of sectarian 
violence. Over 20 people died in bombings in the capital, including a mortar 
strike on a girl's school. More deadly bombings in the northern oil city of 
Kirkuk.





Anna Fierling
Otto-Suhr-Institut
FU-Berlin

"Freiheit ist immer Freiheit der Andersdenkenden."
 
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