Brutal Murder Of Cleric Shows Iraq Ethnic Tensions High

by Sanjay Suri

For the first time the Shias, an estimated 65 percent in a population of 24 million, are looking to control the destiny of Iraq. But many Shia leaders do not like to say so.

"Whoever is elected by the majority will be accepted," says Dr Hamid Al Bayatti from the Supreme Council for Islamic Resistance in Iraq (SCIRI). This is a leading Shia group in northern Iraq which controls a large group of Shia militants called the Badr Brigade.

Latif Rashid from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) says it is not necessary that "Shia leaders would speak for the Shias, Sunni leaders for the Sunnis or Kurdish leaders only for Kurds." Everyone wants to build a "new Iraq which does not exclude anyone and where power comes only through the ballot box."

But the tension between Shias and Sunnis has surfaced in frightening ways on the streets of Baghdad and around Iraq. The brutal assassination of Shia leader Abdul Majid Al-Khoei, who went to Iraq from Britain just two weeks back, is only one indication of the extent of religious animosities within Iraq.

Al-Khoei, who has met British Prime Minister Tony Blair several times, was hacked to death by a mob carrying swords outside the Shrine of Ali in Najaf, one of the most sacred mosques for Shias. He had fled to London in 1991 after the repression of Shias following the first Gulf War. He returned to Najaf and immediately began radio broadcasts under U.S. pressure to ask people to support the coalition troops.

"This has been a bad beginning," says Al Bayatti. Dr Laith Kubbah, an academic who has held leading positions in the Iraqi opposition over the last 20 years says "it is a sign of the degree of tension among Iraqis. And this happened in the holiest city. It shows how things will go in other cities unless the situation is taken head on." Kubbah is co-founder of the Iraq National Group based in Washington.

Shia and Sunni Muslims have a long history of violence. The Shias were historically a group that supported Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed. Ali, who was a caliph (religious leader and ruler) was murdered in the year 661 AD, and was replaced by his chief rival Muawiya. Ali's followers since then have been known as Shias.

The schism ran down generations. Muawiya was succeeded by his son Yazid. Ali's son Hussein challenged Yazid, and that led to a battle between the followers of the two. Hussein and his followers were massacred at a battle in Karbala in present day Iraq in 680. That makes Karbala among the holiest shrines to Shias, and Iraq itself a holy land. Shias believe a new Imam will come to earth to save them from oppression the have suffered since.

Al-Khoei was massacred outside the Shrine of Ali in Najaf.

A divide between Shias and Sunnis has continued into present times in Iraq. Iraqi forces under a Sunni leadership fought an eight-year war with Shia Iran from 1980. Under Saddam Hussein the minority Sunnis have held the dominant position in government and the military. Sunnis have also held top businesses and are among the leading professionals in Iraq.

The looting in Baghdad and other Iraqi towns has been reported widely to be the work of the deprived Shia majority. The first place that saw mobs come out on a looting spree was Saddam City in Baghdad, home to about one million Shias.

The Shias here and in the south rose in open rebellion at the end of the last Gulf War. But they felt betrayed that the U.S. troops that had seemed to offer deliverance left them at the mercy of Saddam Hussein. Thousands of Shias were reported tortured and killed by Saddam's men. Iraq is the only Arab country with a Shia majority.

Iraq itself is a creation of the British in the twenties after British forces invaded Iraq. Britain put the Shia areas in the south, the Sunni-dominated areas in the center and the Kurdish north into a single country for their administrative purposes. Historically the different groups have governed themselves or been governed as separate entities.

The assembly of all these people into a single country that is looking at elections for the first time gives Shias sight of power for the first time. The split is not just showing but widening: the Shias have welcomed the Americans, and it is mostly Sunnis who have begun to speak against them.