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Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Ozeti
its; at other times they sell it at well below
market rates, earning gratitude from the
poor and unemployed.
A key source ofSadr's incarne is Muslim
tithes-or khoms-collected at mosques.
But his militiamen also run extortion and
protection rackets-demanding money to
keep certain businesses and individuals
"safe."One lraqi in a tough neighborhood,
who did not want to reveal his name out of
fear, says he pays the local Mahdi Army the
equivalent of $13 a month for protection.
Analysts believe that Iran has also provided
support to Sadr, but not much.
Tehran began supplying Shia insurgents,
including the Mahdi Army, with a special
type of roadside bomb, using a shaped
charge, in May 2005. These are often disguised
as rocks and are easy to manufacture
locally. But diplomats say they are
made to the exact design perfected by
Iranian intelligence and supplied to Lebanese
Hizbullah in the 1980s.
Yet Tehran's main Shiite clients in Iraq
are rivals of Sadr, who is often critical of
Persian influence. Sadr worries that Iran
may be trying to infiltrate his movement,
and he's almost surely right. Fatah al-
Sheikh, who is close to Sadr, says the boss
sent a private letter to loyal imams around
Baghdad in the past two weeks ident:ifYing
A FIGHT TO THE FINISH
Mahdi Army fighters pose with pictures of
Sadr and the burned -out wreckage of a U.S.
First Infantry Division Humvee struck by a
racket on the outskirts of Kufah, April 2004
10 followers he believed were suspect.
They had been using the Mahdi Army
name, but Sadr believes they're really tools
ofIranian intelligence, says Sheikh.
Sadr has tried to distance himself from
atrocities, insisting that they're carried out
by renegades or impostors. Many Sunnis,
to whom Sadr has become a dark symbol
of Shiite perfidy, don't buy it. "If he says,
'Kill Alusi,' 1will be killed," says Mithal al-
Alusi, a moderate Sunni member ofParliament.
"If he says, 'Don't kill Alusi,' 1 will
not be killed ... Nobody can go against his
orders or wishes." The Association of Muslim
Scholars, which is loosely linked with
Sunni insurgents, says the Mahdi Army
has attacked sorne 200 Sunni mosques,
and killed more than 260 imams and
mosque workers.
AlI the killings will be remembered,
and it will be a miracle if they go unanswered.
Memories of martyrdom-and the
desire for revenge-can last forever. Last
Friday marked the an niversary,
on the Islamic calendar,
of the killing of Muhammad
Sadiq al-Sadr and
his two eldest sons. After
the previous day's bombings,
Moqtada told government
officials that he was
out of the country. But that
seems to have been a feintto
keep possible enemies
off balance. ln fact, he
appeared at the Kufah
Mosque, where his father
used to lead worshipers in
chants of"No, no to America;
no, no to Israel; no, no
to the Devil!"
As word spread that
Moqtada would lead prayers,
people crowded into
the mosque, most of them
clad in black as a sign of
mourning. Sadr asked worshipers
to pray for his dead
relatives, and also for those
who had been killed in
Sadr City. He again called
for the United States to set a timetable for
withdrawal from Iraq. He urged a top
Sunni sheik to issue three fatwas: one
against the killing of Shiites, another
against joining Al Qaeda and the third to
rebuild the shrine in Samarra. He compared
his father's followers to those of the
Prophet Muhammad. ''After the prophet
died," he intoned, "sorne of his followers
deviated from his teachings, and the same
has happened with followers of my father."
The "cursed trio"-Americans,
British and Israelis-were trying to divide
Iraq. "We Iraqis-Sunnis and Shia-will
always be brothers."
No one in Iraq talks about arresting Sadr
for the murder of al-Khoei anymore. That
seems like ages ago-back when Sadr's
armed supporters were estimated in the
hundreds, compared with many thousands
today. Now diplomats speak of trying to
keep Sadr inside the political system, hoping
he can tame his followers. He's a militant
Islamist and anti-occupation, they say,
but he's also a nationalist, and not as close
to Iran as sorne ofhis rivals. Nobody knows
whether Sadr is dissembling when he
speaks about Iraqi unity, or preparing for
all-outwar. What is clear-more todaythan
ever before-is that it's time to stop underestimating
him.
•
SADR WORRIES THAT IRAN MAY BE TRYING TO INFILTRATE
THE MAHDI ARMY, AND HE'S ALMOST SURELY RIGHT.
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