Word: cleric
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...vacuum. The U.S. has to be careful. It's just possible that the worst thing Washington could do is handpick a winner, who would be tainted as an American puppet. The dangers of that were apparent in Najaf, where the mob murder of a pro-American Shi'ite cleric last week showed how lethal such an image...
...Coalition for Iraqi National Unity's spokesman, and second in charge, is a cleric who teaches at a local mosque. Even if you accept the power of the clerics in this region, is it really wise to place them in charge of a U.S.-sponsored military force? It seems too great a concentration of power, given the volatile mix of religion and politics in the area...
...didn't help when the cleric, Hassan Mussawi, began talking about his party. Asked asked about reports that his forces are looting the local people, he responded, "People who accuse us of looting are extremists who are against national unity." The best answer he can come up with when asked about the seven late model Nissan's and a very new looking Mercedes in the courtyard is, "This is what the people give us to fight Saddam." When asked if the U.S. supplies the vast quantities of food his men have on hand he says, "We are self financing...
...Despite the potential rivalry between al-Khoei and al-Hakim, the slain cleric's supporters blamed his assassination on agents of Saddam Hussein's regime, rather than on any rivals. Indeed, Iran had not taken an outwardly hostile position to al-Khoei's return to An Najaf - Tehran's state-run news agency had, on Tuesday, carried an interview with the cleric in which he affirmed that coalition forces had not damaged any of the Shiite shrines, as had previously been reported...
...Still, the murder of a cleric who may have emerged as a key U.S. ally in the potentially volatile cocktail of post-war Iraqi politics is a reminder that the process of replacing Saddam may yet be as bloody as the process of toppling...