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Shiites jockey for power Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Iraq's Shiites jockey for power
, MSNBC staff and wire reports
After decades of oppression by Saddam Hussein's government, Iraq's Shiites are moving swiftly to fill the power vacuum that followed his ouster by American-led coalition forces. While welcoming the demise of the Sunni-dominated regime, the Shiites are deeply distrustful of the United States, divided over the shape of a new postwar government and jockeying, sometimes violently, over control of Iraq's southern cities.
FOR THE UNITED STATES, pacifying the Shiites -- who make up 60 percent of the population -- could prove as big a headache as it will be to curb the separatist inclinations of the Kurds, who dominate the north.
Instant Shiite empowerment could also provoke a Sunni backlash or spark intra-Shiite violence when the sect's factions are vying for position in a new order.
Links between Iraq's Shiites, who make up less than 15 percent of the world's 1 billion Muslims, and Iran have already troubled U.S. planners.
The main Shiite political group, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution, had its headquarters in Tehran during Saddam's regime. It took part in prewar talks with American officials but boycotted Tuesday's meeting near Nasiriyah to discuss a postwar administration.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said his government would not recognize a U.S.-installed interim administration in Iraq.
It was the first time a senior official had defined Iran's already well-known stance on a postwar Iraq.
"We will not recognize any administration other than an all-Iraqi government. However, we are not seeking tension or confrontation with anybody," Khatami told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
PILGRIMAGE
Saddam's regime was dominated by Sunni Muslims from around his hometown of Tikrit. Sunni Muslim comprise 15 percent to 20 percent of Iraq's population but they have held sway within the political and military elite since Iraq's foundation in the aftermath of World War I.
Now, with the collapse of dictatorship, Shiites can aspire to claim political dominance for the first time in modern Iraqi history. The freedom to practice their faith has energized followers across the country.
And it poses a challenge for the U.S. military. Already U.S. Central Command is bracing for possible trouble next week when tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims are expected to converge on the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.
"We are very well aware of the pilgrimage that is coming up and its great importance and we will take appropriate measures to ensure that security is set as well as we can," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said Thursday.
"We also would anticipate that the Iraqi people, knowing how important it is, will govern themselves in a way that is not one of disorder but one of the importance of the pilgrimage itself," he said.
SEIZING POWER
In the past week, Shiite clerics have appointed governors, imposed curfews and offered jobs, health care and financial assistance to the poor.
Shiites have protested against both U.S. forces and exiled leaders now returning to Iraq. They erupted in jubilation at Saddam's ouster, practicing their rituals in public for the first time in years.
In a Baghdad district known as Saddam City, Shiite clerics are running their own police force, hospitals, clinics and food distribution centers.
In the city of Kut, southeast of Baghdad, Shiite cleric Said Abbas occupied city hall and insisted that he is the leader. Shiite clerics are leading self-declared governments in the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
"It's a historic occasion for the Shiites to demand a major voice in the future government of Iraq," said R.K. Ramazani, a renowned expert on Shiites at the University of Virginia.
FISSURES IN THE RANKS
The battle for power also has exposed fissures within the ranks of the community.
Last week, a mob killed Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a prominent Shiite cleric opposed to Saddam, and Haider al-Kadar, a cleric loyal to Saddam and widely hated by Shiites.
The clerics had been visiting a shrine in southern Iraq to promote Shiite unity.
There is also a split between Shiites who stayed in Iraq and those who fled to Iran during the Saddam years. In addition, "there is at least a quiet competition between the Shias of Karbala and the Shias of Najaf," Ramazani said. The possibility of intra-Shiite violence could hamper efforts to establish a viable postwar state.
On Wednesday, Abdelaziz Hakim, deputy head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, arrived in Kut. His son, Mohsen Hakim, told Reuters that Abdelaziz Hakim received a warm welcome from thousands of his supporters -- an arrival that was broadcast on Iranian television.
The council's head, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir Hakim, has also decided to go home after 23 years in exile in Iran but no date has been announced for his return.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that the Da'wa party, an Shiite opposition group responsible for past assaults on a series of high-ranking Baathist officials, has begun reforming inside Iraq.
The Da'wa, which also boycotted Tuesday's conference in Nasiriya, has claimed responsibility for an assassination attempt on Saddam's eldest son Uday in 1996.
HISTORY OF SHIITES
Iraq and Iran are the only Muslim countries with Shiite majorities.
The division between Sunnis and Shiites occurred soon after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of the religion, in 632.
Sunnis followed Abu Bakr, a respected contemporary of the prophet, while a small group, the "shi'at Ali," or party of Ali, followed the much younger Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-and-law.
After the prophet's death, rivalry between the two groups periodically exploded into violence and had a profound effect on the development of Islam.
Shiites venerate both Ali and his son Hussein, the prophet's grandson, whose death at the hands of Sunnis in a 7th century battle on the plains of Karbala in what is now Iraq is still remembered in emotional annual rituals.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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