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Section: Iraq Section: World Current stories in World: |
April 6, 2004, 10:35AM `We will die that he may live'Ranks of radical Shiite cleric growing, lieutenants sayBy MATTHEW GUTMANCopyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Sheikh Abed al-Khusai cooed to his faithful, "Come, come." About 150 members of the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stopped pumping their AK-47 rifles in the air and gathered around their spiritual leader. "The Americans say they will capture or kill al-Sadr," Khusai told the militiamen. "What's your response?" Theirs was more a roar than a response: "We will die that he may live!" they chanted. Khusai, wrapped in the black linen cape of a religious leader, clasped his hands and smiled. For the Americans to arrest al-Sadr, he said, they "will have to kill all the Iraqi people." The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority on Monday labeled al-Sadr an "outlaw" and announced that a warrant had been issued several months ago for his arrest in connection with the murder of a cleric. Coalition authorities have accused al-Sadr of fomenting two days of rioting in three Iraqi cities that caused the deaths of dozens of Iraqis, eight American soldiers and a Salvadoran trooper. Yet al-Sadr's followers did not seem intimidated. Their ranks were growing daily, the cleric's lieutenants said Monday. Still considered a precocious upstart by other Shiite leaders, the 30-year-old al-Sadr has been building up his forces throughout central and southern Iraq. He issues orders from his base in Najaf through fax, mobile phones, leaflets and the Internet in preparation for what increasingly looks like a full-fledged uprising, said his Baghdad-based deputies. At al-Sadr's headquarters in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, named after the cleric's father, Muhammed Sadiq al-Sadr, locals lined up Monday to offer their services for the uprising. Inside the heavily guarded compound of al-Sadr's "Mahdi Army" militia, a middle-aged businessman dressed in Western clothes whispered in the ear of a militia leader, Said Amr al-Husseini: "I have many weapons and munitions, and I am at your service." The man said he had traveled some 12 miles across the city to convey the message. Al-Husseini, who claimed to have directed the assault on American forces in Sadr City Sunday night, said the Mahdi Army was growing. "Just two nights ago," he said, "20,000 men celebrated the opening of a new branch of the Mahdi in the city." While some Shiite leaders, such as al-Sadr's rival Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani -- Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric -- have publicly called for the Shiite militia to cease fire, al-Sadr's forces have earned some unlikely admirers. Wahabbi militants, traditional enemies of Shiite Muslims here, have offered the Mahdi Army "weapons and men to fight the occupiers." said Khusai. Wahabbi is a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim movement that originated in what is now Saudi Arabia. Khusai said he stood by his men Monday while they fought U.S. attack helicopters with rockets and machine guns. "They love us because we are with them," he said. He said the Americans "don't understand what loyalty to an Imam means." Even the Iraqi police in Sadr City who are paid by the coalition seem trapped between loyalty to their job and to al-Sadr. On Monday, some junior police officers scrambled around the slum on scooters trying to find their commander. The police had been evicted from their stations by al-Sadr's militiamen the night before. "Our commander," said Hamid Talib, 20, who pulled his scooter over to be interviewed, "offered Husseini his cooperation (on Sunday). Then he fled. We are still trying to find him." Should al-Sadr issue a formal request urging all Shiites to unite under his banner, Talib said, the commander would likely join the uprising as well. Get a free $50 grocery card with your one-year subscription! |
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