|
Kill imam at your peril,
Shiites warn US
By Paul McGeough, Chief
Herald Correspondent in Baghdad
April 14, 2004
|
As more foreigners
become pawns in the hostage crisis, Iraq's tribal and religious
leaders and the US are trying to defuse the next imminent
threat: a backlash should the Americans press ahead with plans
to "capture or kill" the radical Shiite imam Moqtada
al-Sadr.
About 3000 US
soldiers were massed outside the southern city of Najaf in an
attempt to force Sadr's surrender. Their commander, General
Ricardo Sanchez, talked tough on Tuesday, saying "our
mission is to capture or kill".
But while little is
known about the secret negotiations between the Iraqis and the
US, he did hint at a compromise, saying: "I think it will
be a uniquely Iraqi solution."
This seemed to be a reference to
the new role in the south of the religious and tribal leaders as
well as members of the Iraqi Governing Council - all of whom
understand that killing Sadr could be a risky gamble for the US. |
Moqtada al-Sadr. |
If they allow the
fundamentalist imam to remain at large, he has the potential to rally
vocal or violent resistance to US plans at any time. But Shiite voices,
from the grass roots to the most senior levels of their leadership,
have warned of the direst consequences if Sadr were arrested or killed.
As US soldiers detained
one of his Baghdad deputies outside the Palestine Hotel yesterday, a
scrum of tribal sheiks tried to fend them off. The deputy, Sayid Hazem,
al-Aaraji, who was later released, warned that Iraq's most senior
Shiite religious leaders were on the verge of issuing a fatwa
forbidding any US action against Sadr, who is wanted on a murder
warrant but who gained stature as a result of last week's unrest.
On Tuesday, Sadr told
Lebanon's al-Manar TV, mouthpiece of the Hizbollah group: "I am
ready to sacrifice [myself] and I call on the [Iraqi] people not to
allow my death to cause the collapse of the fight for freedom and an
end to the occupation."
US forces also confronted
a new insurgency tactic - a wave of deadly bombings on its exposed
supply convoys - and commanders acknowledged the heightened security
crisis with a formal request to the Pentagon for an extra 10,000
troops to bolster the 110,000 personnel already in Iraq.
Anxiety in the unfolding
hostage drama focused most on the plight of nine Americans - two
soldiers and seven civilians whose abduction on Friday was suppressed
until Monday - and three Japanese whose captors have allowed another
execution deadline to expire with no news of their safety or
whereabouts.
The fate of a US convoy
driver, Thomas Hamill, the last remaining hostage who also has been
specifically threatened with death, was also unknown.
Four Italians working for
a private security firm have disappeared and could be the same men
whom a group of insurgents claimed last week to have kidnapped,
Italian state television said on Tuesday.
On Friday, Iraqi
insurgents told Reuters they had seized four Italians and two
Americans on Baghdad's western outskirts. But Italy said later that
day that none of its nationals registered as being in Iraq were
missing.
Seven Chinese farm
labourers taken on Sunday were released late on Monday. Yesterday
eight Russian and Ukrainian oil workers - abducted after a shoot-out
between their guards and their captors - were freed. They were sent
back to their lodgings in a taxi and with an apology.
General Sanchez told a
news conference that two US soldiers and seven employees of the
Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root had been listed as
missing after their convoy was attacked at Abu Ghraig, near Falluja.
Yesterday, much of Iraq
was tense but calm after 10 days of conflict that has made April the
worst month of the occupation. US officials confirmed the death so far
of 73 American soldiers, while estimates by both sides of the Iraqi
toll range as high as 700 to 1000. The governing council used the
respite to call for a nationwide ceasefire.
A ceasefire was still
holding in the western Sunni stronghold of Falluja, and the militiamen
of Sadr's Mehdi Army were reported to have withdrawn from the last
positions they held in Najaf, Kerbala and Kufa after they overran much
of the country's south last week. Iraqi police were said to be back on
the beat, backed by US reinforcements that had encircled Najaf and
Kerbala.
The spiritual leader of
all Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, reportedly issued a
statement with other senior imams, saying they could not tolerate the
arrest of Sadr.
Adnan Hadi al-Asadi, the
deputy Interior Minister and a senior figure in the Islamic Dawa
Party, which has been a part of the mediation, said: "The people
from al-Sadr told us that if Moqtada is caught they would kill
everybody in Najaf. If the Americans insist on taking him to court now,
they will escalate the situation.
"If they give it time
and start negotiating, the whole thing will calm down. [But] the
situation would be disastrous in Najaf if the Americans went in."
But General Sanchez, asked
if it was essential that Sadr be captured or killed, said: "Clearly
it is the intention of the IGC to bring al-Sadr to justice. We're
applying the military force necessary to assist in that regard.
Al-Sadr has isolated himself. We have good relations with the Shiite
leadership in the south, and they are working very hard to isolate him."
The US revealed last week
it had been sitting for months on the Sadr arrest warrant, issued by
an Iraqi judge investigating the murder in April last year of Majid
al-Khoei, a Shiite imam who was stabbed to death in Najaf, allegedly
at the behest of Sadr.
US spokesmen said on
Monday they had uncovered US uniforms and suicide explosive belts in
what was described as a bomb factory in Falluja. They had also found
stocks of chemical-coated rocks, leather belts padded with explosive
putty, boxes of batteries with wires attached and instructions for
making bombs.
In the latest in a spate
of roadside attacks, gunmen yesterday opened fire on an 80-vehicle
convoy of US troops heading towards Najaf, killing one soldier and
wounding two others and an American civilian contractor, officers who
were present said.
Earlier a supply truck
travelling between Baghdad and the city airport was ambushed and set
alight as looters raced off with much of its cargo. Again, members of
Iraq's new police force were accused of looking on, but doing nothing
to prevent the looting.
The United Nations had
pleaded with all sides to allow safe passage for international aid
workers seeking access to Falluja and other cities affected by the
recent violence.
With agencies
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/13/1081838728525.html
|