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An Iraqi Intifada

(Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el - The last four days of clashes in Iraq, which have left dozens of locals and Americans dead, appear to be the first signs of an uprising that has already earned the title of intifada. A large group of Shi'ites defined as loyalists to political leader Muqtada al-Sadr has initiated an organized struggle against the coalition forces under the banner of a local Iraqi liberation movement rather than a pan-Islamic one. After the war, al-Sadr took control of Baghdad's large Shi'ite quarter, setting up a number of militia groups estimated to number some 10,000 fighters. Al-Sadr's strength led him to arrive at unspoken "agreements" with the U.S. under which the U.S. army remained outside of areas under al-Sadr's control. But these "agreements" collapsed recently when the Americans realized al-Sadr was using the relative quiet to entrench his strength and, apparently and primarily, to set up "an Iranian extension" in Iraq. Al-Sadr's war against the coalition is the offshoot of an internal power struggle, primarily against the leadership of Ali al-Sistani, who is accepted as the religious and political leader of the religious Shi'ite majority.
2004-04-07 00:00:00
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