Army against the infidels
Emerging Islamic
army takes root in Iraq
July 21 -- The United States is eager to hand over some of the soldiering to Iraqis, in uniform. At the same time Iraqi Muslims are recruiting a force of their own. NBC's Richard Engel explains.
Richard Engel
NBC NEWS
NAJAF, Iraq, July 21 — A hundred miles south of Baghdad, hundreds of impassioned Shiia Muslims lined up Monday to enlist in an army — their own Islamic army. With the Quran on the table before them, they added their names to a list, vowing to defend Iraq’s Islamic traditions.
OUTSIDE, FOR THE THIRD straight day, Shiia Muslims denounced the U.S. and its appointed Iraqi governing council, even though it has a Shiia majority. “America and the council are infidels,” they chant.
These Shiia are part of an emerging group of young, hard-line Shiia clerics trying to carve out an independent powerbase. “We want as Islamic state in Iraq,” says one of the organizers of the Islamic army. “It’s our right because we are a Muslim people.”
THE MOOD IN NAJAF
The heart of this movement is here in Najaf, one of the holiest Shiia cities in the world. People here are happy the Americans liberated them from Saddam, but now want to manage their own affairs, and make sure they are never suppressed again.
But, this is problematic for the American administration because many of the Shiite leaders here have close ties to Iran, and critics says the U.S. military got rid of Saddam only open the door to the ayatollahs.
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Photographs of Iran’s late Ayatollah Khomeini are for sale throughout Najaf. They’re like posters of a rock star. Since the war, the city has also been flooded with tourists like these — and other visitors from Iran, Iraq’s Shiia Muslim neighbor.
When we asked the cleric if there’s Iranian support for the army he’s helping organize, he avoided the question. “I can’t comment on that subject,” he said.
U.S. officials are concerned about Iran’s increasing influence in cities like Najaf and the emergence of pro-Iranian Shiia army only makes those fears more pressing. |
