An Anti-American Iraqi Cleric Declares His Own Government By Ian Fisher The New York Times
Sunday 12 October 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq - — An anti-American cleric, whose forces clashed on Thursday with American soldiers and killed two of them, has proclaimed his own government in Iraq.
The move failed to produce any signs of popular support on Saturday but did appear to notch up his defiance of the American-led occupation.
Mainstream Iraqi leaders roundly condemned the announcement by the cleric, Moktada al-Sadr. The Baghdad City Council denounced it, as did members of the Iraqi Governing Council, the overall leadership body appointed by the United States.
Mr. Sadr, 30, is evidently challenging the authority of the Governing Council while trying to build a following among poor and alienated Iraqis among the Shiites Muslims, who make up a majority of the country's population.
"We don't think Mr. Sadr is serious about what he's going to do," Iyad Allawi, president of the council, told reporters here. "This council is legitimate."
At the same news conference, Adel Abdul Mahdi, another council member, said, "In our opinion, the Governing Council is the representative of the Iraqi people at this time."
Mr. Mahdi is also a senior member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, led by clerics more moderate than Mr. Sadr and who, in fact, have criticized him in the past.
Mr. Sadr is the son of a revered Shiite cleric who was killed in 1999, many believe on Saddam Hussein's orders. He made his announcement during his weekly sermon on Friday in Kufa, near Najaf, a city south of Baghdad considered holy by the Shiites.
"I have decided, and I have formed a government made up of several ministries," he said. "If you agree, I ask you to demonstrate peacefully in order to express your support."
Several hundred followers reportedly took to the streets in Najaf, but there have been no other known demonstrations of support for the move.
Officials with the American-led occupation here are watching Mr. Sadr — who controls an armed militia called the Jaish Mehdi — with wariness, though not outright alarm at the moment.
For now, allied officials said they would separate Mr. Sadr's words from his deeds. "If he wants to make silly statements, that's one thing," an allied official said. "If he starts challenging directly law and order in this country, we have to react. And Iraqi police, I know, will want to react."
So far, the biggest threat to the American forces here has come from common criminals and from people still loyal to Mr. Hussein, who had long rewarded his fellow Sunni Muslims at the expense of the Shiites.
In turn, the Shiites have been cautiously more supportive of American efforts here, and Mr. Sadr's followers appear to represent a possible new danger to the American troops.
Though it is unclear how far Mr. Sadr intends to push, tension has been growing in recent days between him and Iraqi and American officials. On Tuesday, his supporters took over the city council office in Sadr City, the huge Shiite slum in northeast Baghdad where he has the most support and which is named for his father.
American officials say the takeover has sidelined various reconstruction works in Sadr City, including cleaning up the sewage that flows into the neighborhood streets.
The next day, about 1,000 of his supporters staged a demonstration in front of the American headquarters in downtown Baghdad, blocking streets as they demanded the release of a cleric who had been arrested by the Iraqi police. American officials say the cleric was arrested after weapons and ammunition were found in his mosque.
Then, on Thursday night, American officials say, a troop patrol was ambushed near his headquarters in Sadr City, setting off a sustained firefight that killed two American soldiers and wounded four others.
American military officials decline to say Mr. Sadr's followers were responsible for the ambush. But his followers acknowledged that they engaged in a clash with the soldiers, though they denied it was an ambush, saying the Americans had fired first and provoked them by searching Mr. Sadr's headquarters.
At least two Iraqis were also killed in the clash, and that inflamed passions in Sadr City. An angry throng of perhaps 10,000 people gathered on Friday to honor the two Iraqis killed and express anger at the Americans.
Elsewhere in Iraq, an abandoned section of oil pipeline was attacked Saturday near the northern city of Kirkuk, the American military said. While there were reports that two pipeline workers had been killed, a military spokesman said he had no reports of injuries. Other pipelines have also been sabotaged since Mr. Hussein's downfall.
The military also said American soldiers had raided three houses and detained four suspects in Tikrit, Mr. Hussein's hometown. One man in his 50's was led away blindfolded, his hands tied behind his back, the Americans said.
Altogether, three raids took place about six miles north of Tikrit. Raids in the area are often aimed at people suspected of financing attacks on allied forces.
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Mitayo Potosi
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