Dubbed Iraq's Khomeini, Al-Hakim's Death Leaves Power Vacuum

[papau]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAJX8OBYJD.html

Dubbed Iraq's Khomeini, Al-Hakim's Death Leaves Power Vacuum
By D'arcy Doran Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - The killing Friday of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim in the holy city of Najaf further complicates the race for power in post-Saddam Iraq, riven by religious turmoil and wide discontent with the U.S.-led occupation. Al-Hakim, 64, was killed in the car bombing of Imam Ali mosque, Shiite Islam's holiest shrine in Iraq. He had returned to his native country May 10 after more than two decades in exile in neighboring Iran...he formed the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the most prominent anti-Saddam groups. It has long advocated Islamic rule for Iraq. Many had compared al-Hakim's return to that of Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who spent 14 years in exile in Iraq before returning to lead his country's 1979 Islamic revolution and head its clerical regime until his death in 1989. In the days after the U.S.-led war, Al-Hakim's group quickly established itself as the largest and best-organized Shiite movement in Shiite-majority Iraq...he also denounced the notion of any foreign-installed government ruling Iraq's fractious population. On his return to Iraq, al-Hakim denounced the U.S.-led occupation forces. He demanded they withdraw and allow the country's people to establish their own government - one Islamic in nature....Still, a brother of the ayatollah, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, is a member of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council, demonstrating the willingness of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq to work with the Americans - at least for now - while more radical Shiites have shown less patience. The Al-Hakims are one of the most influential families in the Shiite community in Iraq. <snip>

In April, two prominent Shiite clerics were assassinated in Najaf - killings widely perceived as part of an internal dispute among rival Shiite factions. Last week, a relative of the ayatollah's and one of Iraq's most prominent Shiite clerics, Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, was injured when a gas cylinder placed alongside the wall of his Najaf home exploded. Three guards were killed and 10 family members injured in the Aug. 24 bombing, which happened just after noon prayers. Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim is one of three top Shiite leaders threatened with death by a rival Shiite cleric shortly after Saddam was toppled April 9. Also, a day after Saddam's ouster, a mob in Najaf hacked to death a Shiite cleric who had just returned from exile.Abdul Majid al-Khoei was killed when a meeting called to reconcile rival Shiite groups erupted into a melee - also at the Imam Ali mosque.
AP-ES-08-29-03 1047EDT

[Gloria]

1. IRAQ AND THE ONE-EYED LIAR/more on the Shi'ite rivalry....

Originally posted August 22, 2003 in the World Media Watch


1//Asia Times Online August 22, 2003
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH22Ak04.html

IRAQ AND THE ONE-EYED LIAR
By Nir Rosen

BAGHDAD - The al-Rahman mosque sprawls over a huge lot in Baghdad's upper class al-Mansour district. Saddam Hussein began constructing the immense mosque that was originally named after him, and it is still unfinished, raw concrete domes with metal poles dominating the neighborhood's horizon. Immediately after the war, the mosque was taken over by partisans of Muqtada al-Sadr, the young leader of a militant, theocratic movement that dominates Shi'ite politics.

Muqtada's control was called into question on Friday, August 15, when supporters of Sheikh Mohammed al-Yaqubi, a rival Shi'ite cleric, demonstrated outside the mosque at the noon prayer time. "Yes, yes for Yaqubi!" they shouted, and condemned Ayatollah Kadhim al-Hairi, a cleric with whom Muqtada is allied. This fitna, or strife, within the "house of Islam", is generally a state that Muslims avoid at all costs.

Al-Yaqubi and Muqtada are rivals in the contest to define the direction that Iraqi Shi'ites will take in post-Saddam Iraq. The center of this battle is in a collection of schools called the hawza, or Shi'ite academy, based in Najaf, a shrine city built for Imam Ali, the cousin and son in law of the Prophet Mohammed, regarded by the Shi'ite Ali (or partisans of Ali) as their first leader.

Shi'ites comprise over 60 percent of the Iraqi population, and are mobilized by their religious organizations. The hawza has historically been dominated by the traditional Shi'ite view that religious leaders should eschew politics and focus on the spiritual world and on advising their flock.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[starroute]

2. This is astonishing and disturbing

And like the bombings of the UN headquarters and the Jordanian embassy, there's no obvious motive why an Iraqi would have done it.

I mean, this is the holiest Shi'ite shrine -- even more symbolically direct a blow for Shi'ites than the World Trade Towers or the Pentagon (neither of which were exactly beloved shrines of core American values) were for us. I don't believe for a moment that Moqtadah al-Sadr would have done it, for all that he may be a young hothead who is jostling for power. And I don't believe any of the Sunni leadership would have dared to do it.

Which leaves the same two suspects as the other bombings -- the US and Chalabi -- who are the two parties in all of this who have the most to gain and presumably the least compunction about blowing up Iraqi holy sites.

In any event, it's the US that is going to be blamed, and that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

[DrBB]

3. It would make sense for Saddam to have done this

This is the act of someone who wants to maximize chaos. It's an outrage that the Shi'a can lay at the door of the Sunnis AND the US--us for creating the conditions for it and the Sunnis for actually doing it, if they did. Or the baathists. Or whoever--they'll be looking for SOMEONE to blame, and it pretty much won't matter who, if all you want is to maximize chaos and make the place appear ungovernable. And since we're in charge, with no international legitimacy to hide behind, no matter who actually pushed the button we are utlimately responsible. Seems to me this result best fits the interests of a Saddam-led guerilla effort to reclaim power. Just a guess, of course, and I DON'T think all the unrest over there can be laid at the door of baathist die-hards. But this just looks like a target chosen to provoke maximum outrage for its own sake, and the greatest beneficiary of that would be Saddamist insurgents. The American occupation must come to be perceived as even worse than what went before.

[StandWatie]

5. probably foreign mujahadin

Deobandi or Wahabbi fighters hate Shia more than Christians or Jews.

[LoneStarLiberal]

6. Wahhabi Mujaheddin

Some Wahhabi muj would be my guess. They have strong financial backing, usually very good guerilla training, and an intolerance for other flavors of Islam that would make Jerry Falwell look liberal.

I about the Deobandi, though.

[tom_paine]

4. "The situation is in chaos, and everything is excellent"

You can't as effectively loot a nation ruled by order.

And that is as true here at home in the Empire as it is in Iraq.

[RainDog]

7. female Iraqi blogger on the bombing

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

now we’ve just had some shocking news- Mohammed Baqir Al-Hakim was assassinated in the holy city of Najaf! Mohammed Baqir Al-Hakim was the head of SCIRI (Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq). They don’t know who was behind it, but many believe it is one of the other Shi’a religious factions. There has been some tension between Al-Sadir’s followers and Al-Hakim’s followers. Another cleric, Al-Sistani, also had some interesting things to say against Al-Hakim…
What most people choose to forget is the fact that the Shi’a in the south lost hundreds of thousands of lives to the war against Iran- fighting the very regime that is backing SCIRI now- the Islamic Revolution in Teheran. Al-Hakim does have a strong backing from many Shi’a fundamentalists sympathetic with Iran, true enough, but he also has people who hate him (and Badir’s Brigade) with a vengeance.
I hated this guy for what he represented- a puppet and a supporter of a fundamentalist Islamic government, but this wasn’t the way to deal with it. This is going to result in more bloodshed and fighting. He is the second Shi’a cleric to be assassinated in Najaf- the first was Al-Kho’i who also came from Teheran (back in April).

[Junkdrawer]

8. Looks to me like "someone" is instigating a blood war...

among the Shiite factions. Divide and Conquer.