US Loses Support Of
Iraq Shi'ite Allies
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
8-14-4
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - When the United States wanted a Shi'ite cleric
to strengthen the credibility of the Iraqi Governing Council, it turned to
Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, whose family was almost annihilated for opposing
Saddam Hussein.
Watching his hometown of Najaf come under U.S. bombardment to
crush Moqtada al-Sadr and his followers, Uloum has lost faith in American
intentions toward Iraq and says millions of moderates like him, who
welcomed last year's invasion, now regard Washington as an enemy.
"The Americans have turned the holy city into a ghost town. They
are now seen as full of hatred against Najaf and the Shi'ites. Nothing I
know of will change this," the former president of the now defunct council
said on Friday.
"I do not understand why America craves crisis. A peaceful
solution to the confrontation with Moqtada could have been reached. We
were hoping that Prime Minister Iyad Allawi would lead the way, but he
sided with oppression."
Uloum has been one of the most outspoken critics of violence
fueled by Sadr and his supporters, who have challenged the authority of
elder clerics such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Uloum himself.
The established clerical class has come under mounting criticism
from ordinary Shi'ites for remaining silent over the U.S. offensive,
especially Sistani, who expressed sorrow at the events in Najaf but did
not condemn the U.S. offensive.
"FOREIGN CLERIC"
Sistani traveled to London as U.S. forces launched their offensive
on Najaf last week to seek treatment for a heart condition. His aides say
the problem is not life threatening.
Sadr's supporters see Iranian-born Sistani as a foreign cleric who
staffed the Najaf seminaries with his followers at the expense of Iraqi
nationalist clerics. Sadr's father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq,
challenged Sistani's authority as well as Saddam. He was killed in 1999.
Uloum, who acknowledges Sistani as the supreme living Shi'ite
religious figure, suggested that Sistani would have condemned the U.S.
offensive if he had full knowledge of it.
"Sayyed Sistani is ill. I do not think he has knowledge of the
destruction being wreaked in Najaf. He might have a vague idea of clashes,
but not killings and oppression," he said.
It remains to be seen whether the U.S. offensive on Najaf will
undermine Sistani in the long term, and how much influence he will retain
among Iraq's majority Shi'ites, long persecuted and excluded from power.
Like his father, Sadr made the theme of dispossession a basis for
his political platform and raised the plight of the poor, saying living
conditions have not improved since the United States toppled Saddam.
Although the young Sadr lacked political maturity, dealing with
him through force only bolstered his support, especially among the poor
and unemployed, Uloum said.
"The government has lost the support of the Middle Euphrates
region and the south, even if it manages to calm down these areas
temporarily using brute force," he said, referring to clashes in central
and southern Iraq.
Uloum said Sadr should have been given a political voice in
government to avert violent confrontation. "There is no wisdom to what the
Americans and Allawi are doing," he said. "The consequences are
unthinkable."
.
|
