Sudarsan Raghavan writes in The Washington Post:
“In the quest to create a new Iraq, two powerful clerics compete for domination, one from within the government, the other from its shadows.”
“Both wear the black turban signifying their descent from the prophet Muhammad. They have fought each other since the days their fathers vied to lead Iraq’s majority Shiites. They hold no official positions, but their parties each control 30 seats in the parliament. And they both lead militias that are widely alleged to run death squads.”
“But in the view of the Bush administration, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is a moderate and Moqtada al-Sadr is an extremist.”
The Bush administration’s assessment of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is wrong. In my opinion , he is an unethical opportunist . He is only using Americans to carry out his hidden agenda.
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is is pushing for a separate Shiite region in the south. Moqtada al-Sadr is the hurdle in his way . He is inciting Americans to eliminate him and crush his militia, so he can achieve his gaol. Despite all his frailties, Moqtada al-Sadr, is a nationalist. He wants to keep the country unified.
It is interesting to note that U.S. appointed him as President of Iraqi Governing Council in December 2003. Despite his unforgivable of acts of treachery in the Iraq war.
At a press conference back in March 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed Hakim’s Badr fighters as “unhelpful,” and declared that the militiamen be “treated as combatants.”
It was Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, who unleashed death squads against former members of the Baath Party, Sunni political opponents,scientists, academics, women’s rights advocates and critical journalists using his influence on Shiite dominated army. This campaign of terror has been carried with the tacit approval of the US as one of the means for intimidating and silencing opponents of the occupation.
It is sad to observe that Bush Administration did not try and glean crucial lessons from the three-plus years of the US experience in Iraq. They took wrong policital steps in 2003-04, which provoked the Sunni insurgency. These wrong policies helped fuel sectarian violence in 2005-06.
They will commit another blunder if they allow Abdul Aziz al-Hakim ti maneuver the political situations.
It should be noted that Shiites see the Mahdi Army, not the Badr Organization, as his main source of protection. Moqtada al-Sadr remained in Iraq during the repression. Sadr regularly rails against the dangers of Iranian influence in Iraq. His crime is that demands for U.S. troops to leave the country.
While Abdul Aziz al-Hakim spent years in exile in Iran.The Badr Corps is trained, equipped and directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.He is a political incendiary and a threat to Iraq.
