From Khilafah
.... An American bullet is still lodged in his hip, hobbling his movements. But when asked about his combat injury, the 35-year-old bearded fighter is much more keen to talk about his leader, the militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. "Our health depends only on the health of our leader," he declares. His eyes shining, he ascribes near-magical powers to the firebrand preacher who leads the rebel force known as the Mahdi Army. In the fighting in Najaf, the man says, he saw U.S. soldiers run away when they saw portraits of Mr. al-Sadr making an aggressive gesture. "They are scared of the pictures, and they are even more frightened of our weapons," he said. ....
In many ways the Mahdi Army is like a cult, with a charismatic leader and devoted followers who are eager to die for him. At one of its offices in northern Baghdad, the walls are covered with portraits of the radical 31-year-old cleric and his revered father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated in 1999. "Muqtada al-Sadr is the first man of Iraq," says Sheik Rayid al-Khadimy, the head of the office. "He is the first to sacrifice himself for the needs of the people." ....
Nearby is a photograph of a young man brandishing a Kalashnikov rifle in one hand and a portrait of Mr. al-Sadr in the other. Around his waist is a belt filled with explosives and hand grenades. His name is Alaa al-Sadry al-Harbawy. He is from this same northern Baghdad suburb, and, according to the Mahdi Army, he was killed in Najaf last week after destroying seven U.S. tanks in 12 days of fighting. .... But while the uprising has cost hundreds of lives, and severely depleted the Mahdi Army, it has succeeded in bolstering Mr. al-Sadr’s stature as a respected national figure. A few months ago, only about 1 per cent of Iraqis supported him. The latest opinion poll, conducted in late April by the Iraqi Centre for Research and Strategic Studies, found that 32 per cent of Iraqis strongly support him and 35 per cent somewhat support him. The same poll found that 82 per cent of Iraqis now have a better opinion of the cleric than they did three months ago. And only 5 per cent agreed with the U.S. viewpoint that Mr. al-Sadr should be arrested and tried on murder charges. .... |