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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sistani: Iraqi government lacks legitimacy
Thursday 03 June 2004 8:47 AM GMT
Al Jazeera

Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani - Iraq's most influential Shia Muslim cleric -has given his conditional approval to the new interim Iraqi government installed this week.

By Rami El-Amine
published in Left Turn
www.leftturn.org

"What is striking is how much has changed in a week - a week. No one can talk about the Sunni Triangle anymore. No one can seriously talk about Sunni-Shia fragmentation or civil war. The occupation cannot talk about small bands of resistance. Now it is a popular rebellion and it has spread." - Wamid Nadhmi, a political science professor at Baghdad University

from juancole.com

US forces, having collapsed half of the historic al-Mukhayyam Mosque and set 7 hotels on fire in its environs in Karbala, are continuing to fight Mahdi Army militiamen in the area around the shrine of Imam Husain. Az-Zaman reports that fighting is also heavy in the eastern, al-Abbasiyah neighborhood of the holy city. 20 to 30 Mahdi Army men were killed, as they holed up in mosques and other buildings, putting civilians at risk. Hundreds of Iraqi and Iranian pilgrims to the tomb of Imam Husain cowered in their rooms as the firefights grew hot.

Occupation troops clash with al-Sadr army

Al Jazeera
Friday 16 April 2004, 17:42 Makka Time, 14:42 GMT

Five Iraqi civilians have been killed and another 20 wounded during clashes between US marines and the Mahdi Army in Najaf while Muqtada al-Sadr made his first public appearance in two weeks. 

Sistani’s Strong Response to U.S.
from www.mehrnews.com/en (an iranian news service?)

BAGHDAD, Iraq April 12 (MNA) -– Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani prominent Iraqi Shia cleric in a strong worded message to the U.S.-led coalition forces warned them against the consequences of attacking Shia cities after Arba’in (40th day of Ashura).

In an effort to toughen the Iraqi forces, Abizaid said the U.S. military will reach out to former senior members of Saddam Hussein's disbanded army — a reversal in strategy. The military has tried to avoid relying on top officials from the ousted regime. "It's ... very clear that we've got to get more senior Iraqis involved — former military types involved in the security forces," he said. "In the next couple of days, you'll see a large number of senior officers being appointed to key positions in the ministry of defense and the Iraqi joint staff and in Iraqi field commands."

(from juancole.net) A kind friend who was able to get a phone call into Najaf reports as follows:

' I called my friend in Najaf today Thursday . . . Private internet doesn´t work. Messages bounce. There are though some institutional connections working, like hospitals and other.

Civilians from other countries abducted in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least a dozen civilians from other countries have been kidnapped in Iraq, and one set of abductors has threatened to burn three hostages alive if its demands go unmet, according to government and media reports.

Account of Broad Shiite Revolt Contradicts White House Stand
By JAMES RISEN
New York Times

WASHINGTON, April 7 — United States forces are confronting a broad-based Shiite uprising that goes well beyond supporters of one militant Islamic cleric who has been the focus of American counterinsurgency efforts, United States intelligence officials said Wednesday.

Al-Sistani Condemns Coalition's Handling Of Iraq Violence, Calls For Calm
RFE/RL News service

Al-Najaf, Iraq; 7 April 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has condemned the way the U.S.-led coalition is dealing with an upsurge of fighting between U.S. troops and insurgents in Iraq, and he called for calm on all sides.