BAGHDAD, Dec. 14, 2007
Militia Leader Al-Sadr Studying Up
Powerbroker Quietly Resumes Seminary Studies In Pursuit Of Revered "Ayatollah" Title
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The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, gestures while delivering a Friday sermon in Iraq in this 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Alaa Al-Marjani)
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An injured Iraqi girl is treated by medics from 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment at Patrol Base Murray after a mortar strike injured two girls in the town of Arab Jabour south of Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
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Iraqi police inspect the scene of a suicide car bomb attack just outside the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohamed)
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Al-Sadr's objectives - described to The Associated Press by close aides - are part of increasingly bitter Shiite-on-Shiite battles for control of Iraq's southern oil fields, the lucrative pilgrim trade to Shiite holy cities and the nation's strategic Persian Gulf outlet.
The endgame among Iraq's majority Shiites also means long-term influence over Iraqi political and financial affairs as the Pentagon and its allies look to scale down their military presence in the coming year.
Al-Sadr's backers remain key players in the showdowns across the region, where fears of even more bloodshed are rising following Wednesday's triple car bombing in one of the area's main urban hubs. At least 25 people were killed and scores wounded.
Al-Sadr - who was last seen publicly in May - is confronting the most serious challenges to his influence, which includes sway over a bloc in parliament and a militia force that numbers as many as 60,000 by some estimates.
Becoming an ayatollah - a revered status among Shiite Muslims - would give the 33-year-old al-Sadr an important new voice and aura.
It also would give him fresh clout to challenge his top rival, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which looks to Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as its highest religious authority and has its own armed wing, the Badr Brigade, which have been largely absorbed into Iraqi security forces.
Al-Sadr often stresses his Iraqi and Arab roots and rejects suggestions that he is beholden to Persian Iran, the world's Shiite heavyweight and the benefactor of many Shiite politicians.
As an ayatollah, his views and fatwas, or religious edicts, would resonate with even more authority as the battles heat up for sway over Iraq's Shiite heartland.
Fast Fact
Comparisons are often drawn between al-Sadr's strategy - a mix of militia strength, well-tuned street politics and social outreach - and the hallmarks of Hezbollah, which has been influenced by Lebanon's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, as well Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's 1979 Islam Revolution.As an ayatollah, al-Sadr's views and fatwas, or religious edicts, would resonate with even more authority as the battles heat up for sway over Iraq's Shiite heartland.
"If ... Muqtada becomes a religious authority, the entire movement will grow stronger," said one of the aides who described al-Sadr's seminary studies to the AP.
The al-Sadr associates - three in all - spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to share the information with the media. Their accounts, made in separate interviews, were in broad agreement.
In other developments:
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 51 Comments
- He''s about to upgradeDD. That''s right, 2 D''s for a double dose of that pimpin'' dogma. Dogmatic for life. Yeah, yeah. Repressentin'' to the fullest beaaaach.
- Reply to this comment
- To give you a clue on feelfree1, in the past he has: called both Hillary and Bush nazis, praised hugo chavez, and now he adds religious hate to his resume.
I have not problems with atheist. It is a personal choice, but when you make fun of someone for their religious beliefs - you have definitly stepped over the line on the intent of our constitution.
Really representative of the US public isn''t he. - Reply to this comment
- Advanced studies are good, everyone knows the value of education, and as long as Muqtada al-Sadr is not studying to fly Jetliners and then teaching others to do the same no one needs to be too concerned, especially if those Jetliners won''t be flown in the U.S.!!
- Reply to this comment
- "I can''''''''''''''''t "prove" to you that there is no Santa Clause or Easter Bunny."
Posted by FeelFree1 FEELFREE1 IS A COWARD,A FRAUD, AND A PHONY!!! - Reply to this comment
- "I can''''''''t "prove" to you that there is no Santa Clause or Easter Bunny."
Posted by FeelFree1
No one is asking for you to prove anything make believe. All that is being asked is you prove your point with even one simple fact. Until then you have nothing to offer but unsubstantiated barbarous opinions. - Reply to this comment
- hummm should i get a burrito?
- Reply to this comment
- The only thing we can do now is either ''martyr'' him now, or get out,now.
- Reply to this comment
- After sacrificing those American heros, masses of iraqi innocents, billions of $$, look at what we''re getting in return !
Another eye-ya-tolla !
Does anyone think this guy belongs to us ?
I think we just invested a bundle in a repeat of "our shah in iran" - the neocons will never learn. - Reply to this comment
- MUQTADA AL-SARD: hmm, chicken shhiet AMERIKEN you infidel son of a B I T C H E S!!! git me a hamburger hold the onions!!
- Reply to this comment
- No Feelfree1, too long you have nothing but crass coments. You add not fact or anything constructive to any discussion. Now you playing some sort of religious card as what? What does the facts have to do with religon? Are you trying to insult me with your religious comments or showing your contempt for non-Islamic practices, help me out here because I can''t tell which *** you are speaking out of here. Just give me a fact to prove any part of this article, which I quoted as my basis for this argument, wrong. So far all you have supplied in this argument is genuine contempt and disrespect. You are stooping pretty low tonight. So I as said, PROVE ME WRONG. Simple, prove me wrong.
- Reply to this comment
- Yeah? How many tours of combat have you had there Swastika Breath? ROFLMAO You NeoCon''''s just don''''t get it do you?? We tried this already...IT DOES NOT WORK... Democracy can not take root at the point of a gun. The PEOPLE who wish to be free must be willing to fight for it and NOT for some leader... Something you fascist have never learned I''''m afraid. The fact is that you can not "Give" democracy to anyone...
Posted by MCVet at 06:01 PM : Dec 14, 2007
I won''t call you names. Instead I will say open ''your'' eyes and look. Saddam controlled by fear, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, controlled by fear, Al Sadr controls by fear, Syria controls by fear, Iran is controlled by fear. Democracy cannot work in a country which is run by religion first and Government second, - Reply to this comment
yongamerica,
Shall I check back in an hour to see if you have anything to add to your faith-based idiocy?- Reply to this comment
Correction:
"I can''t "prove" to you that there is no Santa Clause or Easter Bunny. Does that mean that these entities must exist, by your foolish faith-based reasoning?"
Did your parents ever have any children that lived?- Reply to this comment
yongamerica,
Re: "Yes, this very article I quoted from."
You appear to be compounding your stupidity here.
Let me review for you, as your retention abilities appear to be as faulty as your reasoning:
Re: "Comparisons are often drawn between al-Sadr''s strategy - a mix of militia strength, well-tuned street politics and social outreach - and the hallmarks of Hezbollah,"
This is exactly what I am talking about. Whenever some anonymous author offers unsubstantiated "comparisons" and identifies alleged "hallmarks" of anything that supports the failing fascistic drive, the Bush regime boot/arse-lickers gobble it up and cite it as fact.
This is yet another symptom of your advanced faith-based brain disease.
Is Hezbullah in Iraq? No they are not.
Is Hamas in Iraq? No they are not.
But what differnece does it make? As long as these implications support your dead-brained, dead-ender ideals, you will eagerly gobble them up, and regurgitate them ad-nauseum.
Again, can you cite a single verified report that supports this B.S.?
Are these "common facts" anything more than symptoms of your own ignorance and gullibility? It sure does not look that way.
I can "prove" to you that there is no Santa Clause or Easter Bunny. Does that mean that these entities must exist, by your faith-based reasoning?- Reply to this comment
- Yes, this very article I quoted from. I guess reading is not your forte.
But you who claim to be so right, prove me wrong. I dare. - Reply to this comment
yongamerica,
Re: "Can you prove me otherwise?
Didn''t think so. Proof is a 2 way street."
The complete lack of substantiation is evidence of the weakness and nonsensical nature of these claims, as has been underlined by your inability to cite even a single substantiated report.
The burden of proving dead-brained unsubstantiated hype, is on the dead-brain that makes the empty assertions (psst- that''s you).
Again, can you cite a single verified report that supports this B.S.? Even one?- Reply to this comment
- Can you prove me otherwise?
Didn''t think so. Proof is a 2 way street. - Reply to this comment
yongamerica,
Re: "Facts are hard for you to swallow."
Hype and empty blather seem to be very easy for you to injest, on the other hand, as you have demonstrated here.
Facts are points that you can support. Dead-brained blather, is what you have mistakenly presented here as fact.
Again, can you cite a single verified report that supports this B.S.?
Re: "Making me laugh, I''m not Muslim"
I had already assumed that you were a Christofascist, a Zionist, or the victim of some similarly damgerous and debilitating brain disease.- Reply to this comment
- "This is yet another symptom of your advanced faith-based brain disease." - Feelfree1
Making me laugh, I''m not Muslim - Reply to this comment
- Facts are hard for you to swallow. You are the one choking on the truth here. When you start the name calling its easy to see you don''t like the truth.
do your own homework, the facts will set you free - Reply to this comment
