Unity of the Iraqi people against US occupation is the only guarantee for solving the current political crisis
from Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation (www.idao.org)
26.2.06

The destruction of the Askariya Shrine, loved by Muslims of the Shiite and Sunni faiths alike was no sectarian action.

For 1200 years the Shrine was protected by the people of the historic city of Samurra, of the Sunni faith, and visited by millions of the Muslims of the Shia faith every year.

A Pan-Iraqi Pact on Muqtada Al-Sadr's Initiative

by Gilbert Achcar; December 09, 2005

As part of his effort to influence the political forces in Iraq prior to the forthcoming parliamentary election, at the end of November Muqtada al-Sadr had his supporters distribute the draft of a "Pact of Honor," and called on Iraqi parties to discuss and collectively adopt it at a conference to be organized before the election.

By Michael Keefer

Does anyone remember the shock with which the British public greeted the revelation four years ago that one of the members of the Real IRA unit whose bombing attack in Omagh on August 15, 1998 killed twenty-nine civilians had been a double agent, a British army soldier?

That soldier was not Britain’s only terrorist double agent. A second British soldier planted within the IRA claimed he had given forty-eight hours advance notice of the Omagh car-bomb attack to his handlers within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, including “details of one of the bombing team and the man’s car registration.” Although the agent had made an audio tape of his tip-off call, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, chief constable of the RUC, declared that “no such information was received.”

Tens of thousands of supporters of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have marched in Baghdad to denounce the US presence in Iraq and call for a speedy trial of Saddam Hussein on the second anniversary of his overthrow.

Friday 08 April (al Jazeera, Agence France-Press)

Iraqi leaders have called for a mass demonstration against the US-led troop presence on the second anniversary of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government.

An Old U.S. Foe Rises Again in Iraq
Shiite Mahdi Army Growing Bolder in South
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 8, 2005; Page A01

GHARAF, Iraq - Over the loudspeakers set up in this small town in a backwater of southern Iraq, the commands came in staccato bursts. "Forward!" a man clad in black shouted to the militiamen. "March!"

Iraq, February 15, 2005

In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate

The anti-occupation Iraqi patriotic forces met in Um al-Qura Mosque on February 15, 2005 to discuss the present situation and its implications on all levels. The participants discussed proposals aiming at restoring Iraq's full independence, unity and sovereignty. The participant forces proclaim that they deal with the national reconciliation, which they were the first to call for since the beginning of the occupation, and with the writing of the constitution, on the basis of what follows:

Sadr Group Signals Rejection Of Election
Shiite Cleric Eyes Role Outside System
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 24, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- Around the corner from a five-mile line stretching toward a gas station, past election posters calling voting a religious duty, hundreds of bleary-eyed protesters threw down what goes for prayer carpets among followers of the Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr. They put down black-checkered kaffiyehs, the sweaters they wore, sacks of flour distributed as government rations and, most commonly, scraps of cardboard.

By Michael Schwartz - http://www.atimes.com

Sadr City - the overcrowded, under-serviced 3 million-person Baghdad slum that has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting in Iraq - is the linchpin of the war.

The Iraqi newspaper "al-Adalah" published on Dec. 23 the platform of the United Iraqi Alliance, the mainly Shiite coalition sponsored by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. It was translated by BBC World Monitoring. Since this party very likely will dominate parliament, it is worth looking at the platform.

from Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation (www.idao.org)

Severe power outage and oil shortages, so needed as a source of heating in the cold winter of Iraq, has added to the discontent against an occupying regime unable to provide security or normality while spending its energy on the destruction of whole Iraqi cities like Fallujah in the name of preparing for elections.

It Takes a Following to Make an Ayatollah
By Juan Cole
Sunday, August 15, 2004; Page B04

The battle for Najaf has catapulted the names of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and lower-ranking cleric Moqtada Sadr onto the front pages of American newspapers once again.

This story from the Observer reports the events in Najaf over the last few days and mentions Sunni - Shia cooperation in the struggle.

'After three wars we have all had enough'

The uprising against US troops in Najaf is causing further divisions among many Iraqis, who are fed up with fighting, reports Rory McCarthy, who has been in the holy Shia city for the past week

from juancole.com, august 11th, 2004.

The US military pounded Mahdi Army positions in the vast cemetery of Najaf again on Tuesday, with artillery and aerial bombardment. The Americans also began asking the civilian population (ordinarily nearly half a million strong) to leave the city, spurring fears that the US planned another massive assault. The suqs or traditional markests of downtown Najaf have already been reduced to rubble by US bombings.

from juancole.com " US Attack "Uncivilized": Jafari
Fresh Violence in Sadr City 15 US Soldiers Wounded, 3 Dead in recent Fighting".

Before I go over the details, here is my reading of what is going on in Najaf. The truce between the Mahdi Army and US/ Iraqi forces broke down because they had different ideas of what the truce entailed. US-appointed governor Adnan al-Zurufi had demanded that the Mahdi Army disarm and/or leave Najaf. Muqtada al-Sadr on the other hand interpreted the truce to entail limiting his militia's activities to certain areas of the city and to have them avoid clashes with police and US troops.

Shiite Struggle: City suffers as sect
fights for freedom. By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Los Angeles Times

NAJAF, Iraq - Since the fall of Saddam Hussein last year, worshipers from across the Muslim world have thronged to the Imam Ali shrine on Fridays to hear the sermon and celebrate the Shiite sect's newfound freedom.

July 17, 2004, by TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Tribune News

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - From directing traffic to organizing blood drives, the militia overseen by firebrand cleric Muqtada al Sadr is taking control of Baghdad's largest neighborhood even as Iraqi and U.S. officials demand that the group disband.

'This is the only fun the kids get - shooting at the US sitting ducks'

Who exactly are the Iraqi resistance?

In a remarkable essay, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad joins the front-line anti-American fighters in Kerbala, Falluja and Sadr City...

from juancole.com

Associated Press reports a Coalition Provisional Authority poll of Iraqis taken in the middle of May that had only been used internally by the CPA and not released to the US public. The numbers do not reflect well on Bush administration policies in Iraq. The poll is available at the CPA site.

Shiite Gunmen Seize Najaf Police Station
By DANICA KIRKA

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Shiite gunmen seized a police station Thursday in Najaf in the first outbreak of fighting since an agreement to end weeks of bloody clashes between U.S. troops and militia forces. Four Iraqis were killed and 13 were injured, hospital and militia officials said.

A critical perspective on Muqtada al-Sadr.
***

Moqtada al-Sadr’s group, Iran’s betting hoarse

from wpiraq.org

By Fahad Nasir

The bloody developments and continuous war in Iraq between the occupation forces and gangs of al-Sadr have clarified among other facts, the role the Islamic regime in Iran and how it stands behind many horrifying crimes and events whether through the Iranian intelligence (Itlaat) or through various political Islamic movements. This reactionary and terrorist regime, its intelligence agency and bloody “revolutionary guards” stand behind many explosions, armed operations and increasing confrontation with the occupation forces, including current street to street fighting and killing innocent civilians and destroying their houses by haphazard shooting and bombardment by both parties of this war. It also stands behind all manifestations of reaction and brutality which prevail in the south of Iraq. These parts of Iraq are now, in a way, under the rule of the Islamic Republic regime through the Shiite Islamic movements. These reactionary movements impose on people all manifestation of reaction, backwardness, climate of terrorism, killings, sectarian frictions, oppression against women, and rightlessness.

The “Iraqi Resistance” and Worker-communists

from www.wpiraq.org

May 18,2004

“The situation in Nasiriyiah today May 18th is
relatively calm. The Mahdi Army fled the fight against

The latest from Juan Cole. juancole.com

Sistani Meets Muqtada; Ceasefire Taking Hold

Fighting continued Saturday in East Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed two US soldiers and wounded two others. Mahdi Army militiamen attacked a police station and the police were supported by US troops in returning fire. They killed at least one militiaman.

THE STRATFOR WEEKLY

03 June 2004

Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia

By George Friedman

Summary

The United States has clearly entered a new phase of the Iraq campaign in

Two Killed in Attack on Convoy in Baghdad
Sunday May 30, 2004 7:01 PM
By MARIAM FAM
Associated Press Writer

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - U.S. soldiers clashed with Shiite gunmen in this holy city on Sunday, further eroding an agreement to end the bloody standoff with followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Gunmen, meanwhile, attacked a convoy of sport utility vehicles in Baghdad, killing at least two people, witnesses said.

Deadly clashes shatter Najaf truce
Al Jazeera
Friday 28 May 2004 8:25 AM GMT

Five Iraqis have been killed and 14 wounded in clashes between US troops and Shia militiamen in the holy city of Najaf and in nearby Kufa, hospital sources say.

US retreats after failing to capture militia chief
By Justin Huggler in Baghdad
28 May 2004 - The Independent

United States forces agreed yesterday to withdraw from the Shia holy city of Najaf and end fighting with the militia of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In a climbdown by the Americans, who had vowed to kill or capture Sadr, it now appears he will be allowed to remain free. His Army of Mehdi militia will also withdraw under the deal.

Sadr standoff comes to an end
Iraqi negotiators struck a Fallujah-like deal in Najaf. But what happens to Sadr now?
By Orly Halpern | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD - A Shiite uprising which swept southern Iraq for the past seven weeks, and boosted rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's popularity nationwide, now appears over. Thursday a Fallujah-like deal was struck in the holy cities of Najaf and Kufa, where Mr. Sadr's militiamen had fought for days against US-led coalition forces.

Al-Sadr 'makes Najaf peace offer'
Thursday May 27, 2004
The Guardian

Members of Iraq's Governing Council today travelled to Najaf in an attempt to reach a peace agreement with the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Mehdi Army Grows
by Dahr Jamail; The NewStandard; May 26, 2004

Baghdad, May 25 -- While US troops continue to damage mosques in heavy fighting against resistance forces they say are holed up in holy sites of Kufa and Kerbala, men in the Sadr City area of Baghdad rushed yesterday to join the Mehdi Army, a militia force loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.