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Reports From Iraq > Wed., May 12, 2004
US Army vs. the Posters of Muqtada al-Sadr
15 American soldiers came machine guns drawn and took
a poster of Muqtada al-Sadr from 17 year old Ali Hakim's
cigarette stand -- one of many raids against the clerics
image. |
by Aaron Glantz
US soldiers, backed by tanks and helicopters, launched a
fresh attack today against fighters loyal to the firebrand
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the Iraqi city of Kerbala. The Associated
Press reports up to 25 Iraqis and seven US soldiers were wounded
in the battle, which began only hours after Iraqi leaders
had agreed on a proposal aimed at ending the US standoff with
Mr Sadr's Mahdi army militia.
Half of Kerbala's Mukhaiyam mosque - which had served as
an office for al-Sadr's followers - was destroyed, and seven
hotels were on fire after artillery and air raids. Most of
the shops in Tal al-Zeinabiya, a central market, were also
destroyed, along with three ambulances. AP reports one witness
counted the bodies of 14 Iraqis in al-Jumhouriya street, a
main road in Kerbala, and said US snipers were targeting anyone
seen moving in the mostly empty streets.
Such attacks have become an almost daily affair for Iraqi's
in predominantly Shi'ite sections of Central and Southern
Iraq as the occupation authorities try everything they can
to eviscerate the movement of Muqtada al-Sadr.
****
The mid-day call to prayer sounds in the poor, Shia Baghdad
neighborhood Showle. A group of residents crowd around a neighborhood
cigarette stand to explain to the reporter what happened when
the American Army came to their neighborhood with thanks and
humvees last week
17 year old Ali Hakim explains the Americans came for his
poster of Muqtada al-Sadr, "They used their machine guns
to lift the picture," he says.
Ali says the American soldiers carried out the raid without
a translator. "They didn't talk to me. There were 15
of them. They closed the road first. What can we do for them?
What can we do when they take the pictures?"
Speaking to the Army News Service, the American Captain in
charge of the raid on Sadr's posters said it was "important
because al-Sadr stands for all things that are," quote:
"anti-coalition." He said "it's important to
show the people that we can deal with the propaganda in a
non-threatening way, rather than coming in hard and forcefully."
But the raid was not well-received by the people.
"I came here with five of my friends and we threw stones
at the soldiers," explains 17 year old Narah Habi. "We
just picked up any rocks we could. Then the Americans left."
An older man interjects; "They're an Army of cowards,"
he says. "They're from a country of cowards. They cannot
stop (Muqtada al-Sadr) so they take the picture of the man."
This confrontation in Showle is just one of many between
the US military and the posters of Muqtada al-Sadr. In April,
an Iraqi civilian was beaten death by US soldiers in the primarily
Shi'ite city of Kut. The Iraqi reportedly refused to take
down a photo of Muqtada al-Sadr, from the window of his car.
Earlier, the occupation Coalition Provisional Authority shut
down the newspaper of Sadr's newspaper, al Hawza, The charge
-- according to a letter from US Administrator Paul Bremer
-- what he called "fake articles" that incite violence
against occupying troops and Iraqi citizens that support them.
Among the articles mentioned by the American Administrator
-- one that bore the headline "Bremer Follows in the
Steps of Saddam Hussein."
More recently, the US military raided Baghdad's Mustansuriye
University breaking every window that held a picture of the
fiery cleric. Then the American Army sent tanks into the Middle
class neighborhood that houses the University blasting a message
from the tanks loud-speakers.
"First the soldiers said you are a very good neighborhood
and you have to stand with us not against us," remembers
Mustansuriye resident Salahadul Karim. He says the message
was delivered by a US military translator who sat on top of
the tank, his head covered with a hood to disguise his identity
from his neighbors. "The translator told us 'We will
crush (al-Sadr's) Mehdi Army and if this neighborhood stands
with them we will crush you too."
Like many Middle Class Sunni's Salahadul Karim doesn't much
like Muqtada al-Sadr whose primarily poor, young followers,
he says, are a source of crime and vigilante justice on the
streets. But he's been thrown in prison twice by the American
Army in the last month and he's not happy about the way they're
keeping the peace.
"Really I hate Muqtada," he says. "But now
with the Americans going after him so strongly and Muqtada
speaking out I begin to respect him somehow."
"We will welcome any foreign person from America or
Britain or France," he adds. "But if the Army comes
and puts itself in your face we will oppose it every time."
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