http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/06/1060145722723.htmlMaverick cleric gathers Shiite army to oppose the US
By Harry de Quetteville
Baghdad
August 7, 2003
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As evening falls in the poor Shiite suburb of Baghdad once known as Saddam City, dozens of volunteers queue under the gaze of a cleric to sign up for the army.
But this is not the new Iraqi army sponsored and approved by the US-led coalition. These soldiers will receive no monthly salary. Here, prospective warriors are ready to serve, and die, for nothing. This is "Mahdi's army", a growing militia of mostly Shiite men who have responded to the call to arms made by a maverick young cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, two weeks ago in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.
Since then Mr Sadr has led anti-US demonstrations and encouraged worshippers to resist the US "invaders" and Iraq's "Zionist" Governing Council, appointed by the coalition.
Now this religious army, named after the messiah figure some Shiites believe will return to save the world, has grown to include tens of thousands of Iraqis, perhaps more.
"On the very first day after the call, up to 1 million people signed," claimed Hassan al-Zurgani, a Baghdad representative of the Hawza, a Shiite seminary based in Najaf.
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