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US fights back against 'rule by
clerics'
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Given the widespread Sunni
boycott of Iraq's January 30 elections for a
National Assembly, with voting concentrated among
the Kurdish north and Shi'ite south, the polls
served more as a referendum to prove Shi'ite and
Kurd strength.
This can be seen in the
results of the polls released on Sunday, with the
Shi'ite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance capturing
48% of the vote and the Kurdish alliance 26%.
Now it emerges that there is a strong
movement in southern Iraq for the establishment of
autonomous Shi'ite provinces as a precursor to
introducing vilayet-e-faqih (rule by the
clergy) in the whole country.
Of these
calls for autonomy or federalism, the most
disconcerting for US authorities is the call for
religious rule. Already, leading Shi'ite clerics
in Iraq are pushing for "Islam to be recognized as
the guiding principle of the new constitution".
To head off this threat of a Shi'ite
clergy-driven religious movement, the US has,
according to Asia Times Online investigations,
resolved to arm small militias backed by US troops
and entrenched in the population to "nip the evil
in the bud".
Asia Times Online has learned
that in a highly clandestine operation, the US has
procured Pakistan-manufactured weapons, including
rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers,
ammunition, rockets and other light weaponry.
Consignments have been loaded in bulk onto US
military cargo aircraft at Chaklala airbase in the
past few weeks. The aircraft arrived from and
departed for Iraq.
The US-armed and
supported militias in the south will comprise
former members of the Ba'ath Party, which has
already split into three factions, only one of
which is pro-Saddam Hussein. They would be
expected to receive assistance from pro-US interim
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National
Accord.
A military analyst familiar with
strategic and proxy operations commented that
there is a specific reason behind procuring arms
from Pakistan, rather than acquiring US-made ones.
"A similar strategy was adopted in
Afghanistan during the initial few years of the
anti-USSR resistance [the early 1980s] movement
where guerrillas were supplied with Chinese-made
AK-47 rifles [which were procured by Pakistan with
US money], Egyptian and German-made G-3 rifles.
Similarly, other arms, like anti-aircraft guns,
short-range missiles and mortars, were also
procured by the US from different countries and
supplied to Pakistan, which handed them over to
the guerrillas," the analyst maintained.
The obvious reason for this tactic is to
give the impression that the resistance acquired
its arms and ammunition from different channels
and from different countries - and anywhere other
than the United States.
Asia Times Online
contacts said it is clear that Pakistan would not
be the only country from which the US would have
procured arms. And such arms could not be destined
for the Iraqi security forces because US arms
would be given to them.
For the Americans,
the situation in southern Iraq has turned into a
double-edged sword. Iraqis there fully embraced
the elections - even if they had to be convinced
by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to do so - and
this participation was welcomed as a sign of
democracy taking root in the country.
But
with Shi'ite religious parties emerging as the
strongest power, no sooner were the elections over
than voices were raised for the creation of an
autonomous southern Iraqi region, and for
vilayet-e-faqih .
People from
different walks of life from Basra and other
southern provinces can be heard on television and
radio channels demanding a federal system in which
southern Shi'ites could govern their oil resources
for their benefit.
Notably, Ahmad Chalabi,
a leading secular Shi'ite candidate in the Iraqi
elections, has called for autonomy for the Shi'ite
south, which contains some of the world's largest
oil fields. Chalabi, a former US favorite who fell
out with Washington after the 2003 invasion, said
the move would ensure a fairer share of wealth for
a region that provides the bulk of Iraqi revenue
but receives only a fraction of state spending.
The mainly Shi'ite southern provinces of Amara,
Nasiriya and Basra are Iraq's poorest, Chalabi
said.
Observers say this is the beginning
of a new era which could climax in a movement for
vilayet-e-faqih , a compulsory part of the
Shi'ite faith that is intertwined with the concept
of imamat or leadership (all Muslims under
one leader). The difference between a caliph and
an imam is that a caliph can be anyone accepted by
Muslims, but an imam must hail from the Prophet
Mohammed's family and be a recognized religious
authority (clergy).
Already, members of
the Da'wa Party, many of whom were taught in Iran,
have taken over mosques in Basra, and members of
Hezbollah have heavily infiltrated the Shi'ite
population, in addition to Iranian intelligence
and members of the Pasdaran-i-Inqalab (Iran's
Revolutionary Guards) to pave the way for
vilayet-e-faqih.
Syed Saleem
Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan Asia Times
Online. He can be reached at
saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us for information
on sales, syndication and republishing.) |
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