‘The Danger is Very Close’
A huge blast at one of Islam’s holiest shrines further endangers America’s
plans to rebuild Iraq

By Babak Dehghanpisheh and Christopher Dickey
NEWSWEEK


Sept. 8 issue — “Be careful and alert,” warned the ayatollah,
“because the danger is very close to us.” Above him rose the golden dome of
the Imam Ali Mosque in the Iraqi city of Najaf, one of the holiest shrines in
Islam.

THE AYATOLLAH, Mohamad Baqir al Hakim, had waited through more than two
decades of Iranian exile to return here to worship with his followers and to
shape the destiny of his country. The American overthrow of Saddam Hussein gave
him that chance. His younger brother now sits on the U.S.-appointed Iraqi
Governing Council. But with Iraq sliding toward chaos, al Hakim saw the risks
ahead for him and for his people. He spoke passionately, on the edge of tears.
“One day,” he said, “our movement may be wiped out.”
Minutes later the turbaned cleric left the mosque through its south
gate. A handful of bodyguards flanked him, their walkie-talkies to their ears,
shouldering through masses of worshipers toward a street where vendors sold
posters of Shiite Islam’s martyred heroes. Among them were pictures of 24
relatives of al Hakim’s murdered by Saddam, superimposed on a map of Iraq
dripping with blood. THE HAKIM FAMILY, it read. A FAMILY OF KNOWLEDGE AND
MARTYRDOM.
A Toyota Land Cruiser waited for him, just ahead. But before al Hakim
and his entourage could drive off, a thunderous blast ripped through the area,
shooting a plume of flame into the sky and peppering the inlaid brick walls of
the ancient mosque with burning shrapnel. “The whole street turned into
fire,” says Abdul Halim Amer, 35, an engineer who sustained severe burns and
a large gash on his head. “There was nowhere to run.” The explosion,
thought to be a car bomb, left a three-foot crater in the asphalt and mangled
cars within a 30-foot radius.
When a NEWSWEEK reporter arrived on the scene, some of the wounded and
the dead lay in the street; female victims were wrapped in their black abayas
or covered in bright cloth from a nearby market. The air was heavy with the
stink of blood and fuel. “We could barely recognize Sayed Hakim’s body,”
says Sheik Haqil Zalemi, 40, a Najaf cleric. “It was obvious he was
finished.” At least 84 others were also killed, and more than 140 wounded. As
one ambulance pulled away from the scene, a man in a bloodied white tunic ran
close behind, beating himself on the head and asking, “Who? Who could have
done this?”
It was the third devastating bomb attack by a faceless enemy—or
enemies—in less than a month, and in many ways the greatest challenge yet to
American hopes that Iraq can soon be stabilized. Since “major combat
operations” ended on May 1, American forces have taken casualties almost
daily, mainly at the hands of loosely organized Sunni guerrilla groups
identified with the old regime. The attacks on the Jordanian Embassy and the
U.N. headquarters targeted America’s international allies. Now a key leader
of the Shiite majority in the country, who had broadly supported the American
efforts, is gone. And his death could easily widen the bitter rifts among
Iraqis themselves, not only turning Shiite against Sunni, but Shiite against
Shiite.
No clear culprits in the earlier bombings have yet been found, and
it’s far too early to say who was behind this one. In Washington, some
right-wingers are already pointing the finger at Iran. They suggest it may have
wanted to retaliate against a former client who was growing too friendly with
the United States. On the ground, officials connected with the Coalition and
its appointed Iraqi council dismissed such speculation. “There is no doubt
that this is the work of Saddam loyalists, the same people who did the U.N.
bombing,” says a spokesman for council member Ahmad Chalabi. “Anyone who
knows anything about Islam will tell you that no Shia would ever put a bomb in
the shrine of Imam Ali. This is the holiest place for Shias outside Mecca, and
it is simply inconceivable that this could be an Iranian or inter-Shia
attack.”
Yet after 35 years of totalitarian rule, it’s hard for many Iraqis to
parse verifiable facts from conspiratorial rumors. Sanctity didn’t stop
Shiite killers from murdering another prominent ayatollah near the same shrine
in April. What will matter now, as the Americans and friendly Shiite leaders
try to calm the current situation, is who people think was responsible for al
Hakim’s death. And already some are blaming the United States.
Especially worrisome are statements attributed to Moqtada al-Sadr, the
son of a revered ayatollah murdered by Saddam in 1999. Although he has little
religious standing, al-Sadr has shown himself capable of rallying enormous,
impassioned crowds to his anti-American banner. “The Americans will not
protect our clerics nor let us provide that protection because the Americans
are the enemy,” said a spokesman for al-Sadr, speaking on Al Arabiya
television after Friday’s bombing.
Then again, many Iraqis, including residents of Najaf, believe it was
al-Sadr who ordered the earlier murder near the Imam Ali shrine and possibly
last week’s attack. Rival Shiite leaders say privately that al-Sadr’s
organization was penetrated by Saddam’s agents in the 1990s. These leaders
suspect that the group may still harbor covert Saddam supporters. And the
murkiness doesn’t end there. Because al-Sadr is not himself a high-ranking
Islamic scholar, he depends on another ayatollah to give his organization
religious direction and credibility: Kadhem al-Husseini al-Haeri, who is based
in Iran.
The challenge for the American occupiers is to navigate this maze of
theological and political conspiracy. After the Friday bombing, Coalition chief
L. Paul Bremer III blamed nameless “enemies of the new Iraq,” and offered
“deepest sympathy” to the families of the dead and injured. It was
heartfelt, well meant. But not nearly enough. The danger now is that even those
Iraqis who have cooperated with America—who have hoped that American forces
can somehow stop the madness—will lose faith.


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With Mark Hosenball in Washington and Christian Caryl in Baghdad