Word: sadr
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Critics say al-Sadr had another motivation in putting himself forward: money. The millions of Shi'ite pilgrims who visit the shrine in Najaf are required to pay a tithe to the Hawza, the supreme Iraqi Shi'ite religious authority. The reigning Grand Ayatullah has the largest say in how the money is divided among Shi'ite groups. When al-Sadr's father held the post, he was able to keep his faction well supplied with cash, but his death substantially reduced the cut received by al-Sadr's family. The Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, who now holds...
...Sadr was snubbed from the outset by the U.S.-run Coalition Provisional Authority when it denied him a seat on the Iraqi Governing Council, set up shortly after the war. Cut out of the political process, al-Sadr soon began delivering fiery sermons denouncing the council, the U.S. and the occupation. That struck a chord among the angry, restless young men of the slum neighborhood renamed Sadr City for al-Sadr's father. So did his Arab origins, which had always set the al-Sadr line apart from the Iranian-born Shi'ite ayatullahs like Sistani. For radicals who want...
Since then, al-Sadr has unleashed his militia on the U.S. military and Iraqi authorities when he has felt his claims to power were being ignored. He was angered again during the formation of the interim government last spring, when his demand for control of two ministries was rebuffed. After his newspaper was shut down in late March and the Coalition Provisional Authority revealed that a warrant had been issued for his arrest on murder charges, he sent his fighters into the streets of Najaf and Sadr City for two months. He eventually accepted a favorable truce in June that...
Nevertheless, Iraqi leaders in the interim government who are desperate for national reconciliation see the value of according a role to al-Sadr and his wide following. When the interim government regained sovereignty, Prime Minister Allawi opened talks with the cleric, even offering clemency for the murder charge against him. For weeks, Fa'oud Massoum, the chairman of the committee organizing the national conference to choose an interim legislature, tried to persuade al-Sadr to send representatives, but he has refused...
...Sadr also sees profit in lashing out at Allawi's fragile government. He has kept up his barrage of sermons criticizing the new leadership's failure to improve civil services and security. But some who know al-Sadr say his decision to resume combat had little to do with citizens' grievances and a lot to do with the improving ability of Iraqi government forces to challenge his control in Najaf. Since the hand-off, the strength of the Iraqi National Guard and Iraqi police officers has grown; they are stopping thieves, arresting drug dealers, slowly winning the loyalty of Najaf...