Murdered Iraqi Shi'ite leader seen as moderate(Brother on US/Iraq council)

[NNN0LHI]

Sounds like a Bush suck up to me. Wonder why he is dead?

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L29572425.htm

NAJAF, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, killed by a car bomb in the Iraqi shrine city of Najaf on Friday, was the long-exiled leader of one of the main Shi'ite Muslim groups jockeying for power in postwar Iraq.

Hakim had sought to avoid confrontation with U.S.-led forces occupying Iraq since the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and authorised his brother to serve on the U.S.-appointed 25-member Iraqi Governing Council set up in July.

But he said in a interview with Reuters in June that Iraq's Shi'ite majority could turn against the U.S.-led occupiers if they were not given political compensation for decades of persecution under Saddam's dictatorship.

"They gave the justification that they came in the name of liberation but now they are an occupying force. That is what is making people angry," the black-turbaned cleric said. "If the people lose their patience, there will be a social uproar."

more

[aquart]

1. "Long exiled?" Did this guy return with Chalabi?

In which case, that's why he's dead. As a warning to collaborators.

Anyone get the feeling Chalabi's a dead guy who doesn't know enough to fall down.

[NNN0LHI]

2. He was the guy Bush had hoped for to take over before the US invaded...

...and to keep the Shi'ite's in check. Juniors best laid plans turn to shit again. What else is new?

Don

[Junkdrawer]

3. Amazing the rehabilitation Hakim is getting today....

Shiite presses for Iraqi theocracy

Najaf, Iraq — Some 15,000 Iraqis cheered as a Shiite Muslim cleric who led the largest anti-Saddam Hussein movement visited one of the Shiites' holiest shrines Monday after returning from more than two decades in exile.

At the Shine of Imam Ali, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim vowed to help rebuild Iraq and rejected U.S. domination over the country.

"We will never accept humiliation," Ayatollah al-Hakim told the crowd. "All tribal, ethnic and religious groups should unite under the banner of Islam to preserve independence, avoid differences, and build a free Iraq."

…

Ayatollah Al-Hakim's group is the closest Iraqi Shiite political grouping to Iran, which has raised concerns in the Bush administration. Washington opposes any Iranian-style theocracy taking control in Iraq.

More…

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030512.whshii512/BNStory/International

[karlschneider]

4. Is my memory faulty...about Iran in the mid 80s...I seem to recall that

the Sunni sect of Islam back then was supposedly way more progressive and peaceful than the Shia part. Which camp was Khomeni in? Damn, it's hard to remember this. Like the old and famous sea captain who for many years was seen every morning to go into his cabin, open the safe, take out a piece of paper and read it. When he died, they broke the safe open and looked at his note. It said "port left, starboard right."

:eyes: