Plan to arrest maverick Iraqi cleric for murder

[Aidoneus]

Plan to arrest maverick Iraqi cleric for murder

Michael Howard in Baghdad
Wednesday October 22, 2003
The Guardian

Coalition and Iraqi officials are preparing an arrest warrant for the firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr over his alleged involvement with the brutal murder of a rival cleric last spring, sources close to the Iraqi governing council told the Guardian yesterday.

The warrant, which has yet to be finalised, cites Mr Sadr for instigating a deadly attack on Abdel Majid al-Khoei, who was stabbed to death by a mob in the Shia holy city of Najaf on April 10.

It is said to be signed by Tahir Jalil Habboush - a senior mukhabarat officer under the former regime who now works with the coalition authorities - and is based on the confessions of 23 men who were involved in the killing.

--snip--

Since his swift rise to prominence in the days following regime change in Iraq, Mr Sadr, 30, has been a constant thorn in the side of the US-led administration in Iraq. He has been the most vocal opponent of occupation, while his well-organised followers have been involved in armed confrontations with US soldiers. Last week he declared a rival government to the US-appointed authority and urged his supporters on to the streets.

But with tension running high between US forces and Mr Sadr's supporters, Iraqi police fear an explosion of anger in the disaffected areas of Baghdad and Najaf and Karbala if Mr Sadr is seized.

"If they go down to Najaf to arrest him, his house will be surrounded by a human shield, and there would be a massacre before they get him," said Murtadha Nouri, a journalist with the newspaper Al-Adala. He warned that the planned showdown could backfire: "Given the antipathy towards the US, that could well play into his hands."

Mr Sadr's popularity is based in part on the ability of his supporters to provide basic services and security to parts of Sadr city immediately after the US-led bombing.

--snip--

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1068152,00.html

stupid, stupid people.

[trumad]

1. Why do I think of the Shah of Iran when these things happen?

Shit's gonna fly over this one!

[izzie]

2. Well what do you think would happen when......

We have let the Bible people go into the country in great numbers? We now need to get rid of their religious people. This is one of the hand offs, the Bible people got, to go into the country. Drag some of those stories up. They are hard to find, for sure, but every so often you come to one here and there.Bush is going to give this group anything they want, as he feels his father lost that base.After all they already think God speaks to Bush.Scary? Yar......:scared:

[catmandu57]

3. Oh yeah, this'll go over real good

I suppose they'll want to use the puppet police, backed up by air and ground support, and when they fail to arrest this man, there'll be another high level fugitive.
One more reason to have soldiers in Iraq, hunt down your rivals, especially the ones that have the support of the people living there.

[Aidoneus]

4. what was particularly interesting..

is that they're having a senior officer from Saddam's secret police working on it--these people perfected the craft of framing up and taking out Shia rivals to the state (Sayyid Muqtada's father, for example).

[Rollins]

5. This is expected

Am sure the US coalition has been talking to some of the other shiite clerics
and have made sure those clerics will not oppose the arrest of this extremist, other wised they would not risk it. Face it al Sadr has attracted the most extreme of the shiites but once he is arrested those people will simply flock to another leader with extreme views, maybe even worse than al Sadrs...

[Aidoneus]

6. conflating "independent" and "extremist"

is better left to propagandists in the yellow press and proconsul Bremer..

Sayyid Muqtada is but the lightning rod for the press and is not alone or irreplacable. There are many other accomplished students of his martyred father that could carry on the work if he is turned into the Ragheb Harb of this criminal adventure.

The leaders that would collaborate on this move would do so because they require the backing of the occupation forces just to try and compete with the popular support Sadr's people can raise.

On the other hand, moving against Sadr would overnight create a great deal of admiration for him in response, more than he could probably muster up on his own strengths.

Using a collaborating officer of Saddam's secret police is suspicious, and considering their history I would be curious at what kind of "interrogation" produced the claims being assembled.

Whether they actually move against Sadr in light of the arbitrary conflict it would spark off, at a time when such is the last thing needed, is something else altogether, with the added fact that sparking such trouble just before Ramadan is particularly bad timing.

[IndianaGreen]

7. These are trumped up charges by a desperate colonial regime

It will only succeed in getting more people killed.

[Aidoneus]

8. seems so

Sadr seems to be the scapegoat chosen by the occupation authorities to explain a number of mysterious things that escape any explanation. I was reading the other day how Bremer wants to blame him for some of the things they previously attributed to "al-Qai'dah"--don't seem to have any clue what is going on..

[Voltaire99]

10. This move has "backfire" and "martyr" written all over it. (n/t)

.

[sistersofmercy]

9. al-Khoei was the cleric the coalition flew into Najaf via London

where he had been living for at least a decade. Witnesses to the stabbing event claimed he had millions of US dollars on him and was attempting to buy the support for the US.