To: TimF who wrote (172037 ) 7/20/2003 3:06:34 PM From: tejek Read Replies (2) | Respond to <font color=green> Here's an example of about what I was talking. This city is 100 miles south in Shi'ite territory. There were 10k demonstrators. This is not a small number nor is the city in the 1% of the territory referred to by the author. Let's hope that the responsible religious leader is as radical as some suggest.Leading supporters of the fiercely anti-U.S. preacher, Moqtada al-Sadr, were dissatisfied, however, and warned of an "uprising" in Najaf if the Americans failed to pull out within three days. The U.S. commander said he was concerned about the threat but played down the size of Sadr's following in Najaf. Whatever the immediate consequences, the high feelings sparked by an obscure and minor incident were indicative of problems the Americans face among the long-oppressed Shi'ite majority. Frequent attacks on U.S. troops since the fall of Saddam Hussein have mostly been in Saddam's Sunni heartlands. "Mr al-Sadr is a young, immature man, who is rapidly losing support in the city," Conlin said. Following reports that troops had surrounded Sadr's house in response to his sermon, more than 10,000 Shi'ites marched on the Najaf office of the U.S. administration, though soldiers and barbed wire kept them more than a kilometer (a mile) away. Shi'ites, reversing their under-representation under Saddam and earlier Iraqi rulers, account for 13 of the 25 seats on the new Governing Council and other Shi'ite leaders have either backed the U.S.-appointed body or at least reserved judgment.
