Unexpected Iraq bloodbath raises concerns

[lily]

Are we creating more terrorists, or are they just splintering off in different groups? (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16890740/)

Unexpected Iraq bloodbath raises concerns


ANALYSIS

Updated: 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Accounts of the bloody battle near Najaf have produced more
questions than answers, raising doubts about Iraqi security forces'
performance and concern over tensions within the majority Shiite community.

Among the questions: How did a messianic Shiite cult, the "Soldiers of
Heaven," accumulate so many weapons and — if Iraqi accounts are accurate —
display such military skills? Iraqi forces prevailed only after U.S. and
British jets blasted the militants with rockets, machine gunfire and
500-pound bombs. Both U.S. and Iraqi reinforcements had to be sent to the
fight.

It's also unclear how a shadowy cult that few Iraqis had ever heard of
managed to assemble such a force seemingly without attracting the attention
of the authorities earlier. Iraqi officials say the cult planned to
slaughter pilgrims and leading clerics at Shiite religious ceremonies
Tuesday — only two days after police and soldiers moved to arrest them.


If the "Soldiers of Heaven" were able to accomplish all this, how many other
fringe groups may be operating beneath the radar, especially in the
politically factious Shiite community of southern Iraq? Did the cultists
have links to other established insurgent or militia groups?

Virtually all the information about the cult has come from Iraqi officials,
who have released incomplete and sometimes contradictory accounts.

Based on the information released, the cult numbered in the hundreds and may
have included some Sunnis. Iraqi officials identified the leader as Diya
Abdul-Zahra Kadhim, 37, a Shiite from the southern city of Hillah who was
killed in the fighting. Some Iraqi reports said he wanted to unleash
violence to force the return of the "Hidden Imam," a descendant of the
Prophet Muhammad who disappeared as a child in the 9th century.

Faith in the Hidden Imam
Shiites believe the Hidden Imam will return to restore peace and justice to
the world at a time when the Muslim community is in the gravest danger. Some
officials suggested the leader considered himself the Hidden Imam.

In Basra, a Shiite cleric said the "Soldiers of Heaven" is the armed wing of
a movement led by Ahmed bin al-Hassan al-Baghdadi, an obscure Shiite cleric
also known as al-Yamani. The movement believes the return of the Hidden Imam
is imminent. The cleric spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not
want to be identified with Shiite factionalism.

Iraqi authorities said they became concerned about the cult when an
informant told them last week that it was about to launch attacks during
Tuesday's festival of Ashoura. They planned to slip into Najaf with the
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims that descend on shrine cities for Shiite
festivals.

The alleged plot was reminiscent of the 1979 attack in which Sunni
extremists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest site
in Islam, taking hundreds of pilgrims hostage to protest alleged corruption
in the Saudi royal family. Saudi forces stormed the mosque two weeks later,
killing hundreds.

U.S. officials praised the role of Iraqi soldiers, most of whom are Shiite
forces, for confronting Shiite gunmen.

[BoogyMan]

I would expect "analysis" of this quality from MSNBC. There is some positive news from Iraq about how this group was dealt with so we now see the MSNBC futility squad jump into action to make sure that the impression is left that this cannot be a good thing and to pump up the "no way to win" chorus.

Just my 2 cents worth. :D

[Nitrus]

Whats with the title of this thread?

[lily]

I fixed it Nitrus.;)





We really do need an embarrassed smilie.

[lily]

I would expect "analysis" of this quality from MSNBC.Â*Â*There is some positive news from Iraq about how this group was dealt with so we now see the MSNBC futility squad jump into action to make sure that the impression is left that this cannot be a good thing and to pump up the "no way to win" chorus.

Just my 2 cents worth. :D


Is that what you got from this article?

[BoogyMan]

I would expect "analysis" of this quality from MSNBC. There is some positive news from Iraq about how this group was dealt with so we now see the MSNBC futility squad jump into action to make sure that the impression is left that this cannot be a good thing and to pump up the "no way to win" chorus.

Just my 2 cents worth. :D


Is that what you got from this article?


It certainly is. MSNBC and their chief cheerleader, Chris Matthews, will never let anything be said that might show progress in Iraq.

[lily]

Hmmm.....Chris Mathews is MSNBC's cheerleader? Your partisanship is showing boogy. Also I didn't see his name in the byline. Actually this article was picked up from Associated Press.

Sorry you can't see what the article is about......an obscure cult that no one knew anything about. How it got so big, the plot they hatched, the weapons they accquired, how they ran under the radar with so many members, how many others are out there like them, who their leader is, where did they come from............

Anyhoo.........let me help you out:


U.S. officials praised the role of Iraqi soldiers, most of whom are Shiite
forces, for confronting Shiite gunmen.


Talk about pre-judging.

[BoogyMan]

Hmmm.....Chris Mathews is MSNBC's cheerleader? Your partisanship is showing boogy. Also I didn't see his name in the byline. Actually this article was picked up from Associated Press.

Yeah, you are probably right. MSNBC is a sore spot for me. I cannot be objective with regard to what I consider to be their partisan hackery.

Sorry you can't see what the article is about......an obscure cult that no one knew anything about. How it got so big, the plot they hatched, the weapons they accquired, how they ran under the radar with so many members, how many others are out there like them, who their leader is, where did they come from............

Who are you including in that "no one knew" comment Lily? I am pretty sure the military knows a great deal on innumerable subjects that they do not feel compelled to share with those without a need to know.

[lily]

Virtually all the information about the cult has come from Iraqi officials,
who have released incomplete and sometimes contradictory accounts.

.......but then for the sake of peace, we can have it your way. The military knew all about this new faction and sent in Iraqi soldiers and they failed. Or we can have it the way the article states, that it was a total shock to every body...........but we can't have it both ways.

[BoogyMan]

Virtually all the information about the cult has come from Iraqi officials,
who have released incomplete and sometimes contradictory accounts.

.......but then for the sake of peace, we can have it your way. The military knew all about this new faction and sent in Iraqi soldiers and they failed. Or we can have it the way the article states, that it was a total shock to every body...........but we can't have it both ways.


This is the AP or MSNBC claiming this. I would like to know how they sourced it. I seem to remember the Iraqi and American forces winning this one. :D

[lily]

I seem to remember the Iraqi and American forces winning this one.

For the second time:

U.S. officials praised the role of Iraqi soldiers, most of whom are Shiite
forces, for confronting Shiite gunmen.

Also for the second time......this article has nothing to do with the battle. It is about an unknown or now new sect.

::bangs head against the wall::

[BoogyMan]

I seem to remember the Iraqi and American forces winning this one.

For the second time:

U.S. officials praised the role of Iraqi soldiers, most of whom are Shiite forces, for confronting Shiite gunmen.

Also for the second time......this article has nothing to do with the battle. It is about an unknown or now new sect.

::bangs head against the wall::


My commentary was in response to your assertion that the Iraqi forces failed. They may have underestimated their enemy but they didn't fail.

[lily]

My commentary was in response to your assertion that the Iraqi forces failed.Â*Â*They may have underestimated their enemy but they didn't fail.


That's what you got from this????

.......but then for the sake of peace, we can have it your way. The military knew all about this new faction and sent in Iraqi soldiers and they failed. Or we can have it the way the article states, that it was a total shock to every body...........but we can't have it both ways.

I'd bang my head against the wall........but it's already bleading.

[BoogyMan]

My commentary was in response to your assertion that the Iraqi forces failed. They may have underestimated their enemy but they didn't fail.


That's what you got from this????

.......but then for the sake of peace, we can have it your way. The military knew all about this new faction and sent in Iraqi soldiers and they failed. Or we can have it the way the article states, that it was a total shock to every body...........but we can't have it both ways.

I'd bang my head against the wall........but it's already bleading.


You have lost me Lily. Maybe I am just not catching your intent.

[piratemonkey]

My commentary was in response to your assertion that the Iraqi forces failed.Â*Â*They may have underestimated their enemy but they didn't fail.


Well, kinda.

They only succeeded with substantial US help, which kinda makes it hard for us to get out of there.

[BoogyMan]

My commentary was in response to your assertion that the Iraqi forces failed. They may have underestimated their enemy but they didn't fail.


Well, kinda.

They only succeeded with substantial US help, which kinda makes it hard for us to get out of there.


But the DID stand up and do the work, which is more than we can say has been done prior.

[lily]

Ok pirate...........that avatar wins the prize!!!! I don't know what prize yet, but I'll let you know! GREAT!

[lily]

I know no one else is interested in this "cult", and I ususally don't post entire articles, but I didn't know where to cut it off. I found the whole thing intersting.Â*Â* (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16929377/site/newsweek/)

'A Window Into Iraq's Future'
An expert on Shiite Islam discusses the 'Soldiers of Heaven' cult and
whether Iran was involved in a plot to seize Najaf.

Web Exclusive
By Karen Fragala Smith
Newsweek
Updated: 1 hour, 14 minutes ago
Feb. 1, 2007 - Days after the battle was over, U.S. and Iraqi officials were
still trying to make sense of it. Hundreds of heavily armed fighters had
secretly gathered at a farm outside Najaf, apparently plotting to seize the
holy city and kill Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani during this week’s
celebration of Ashura, Shiite Islam’s highest holiday. The gunmen, said to
belong to a doomsday cult known as the “Soldiers of Heaven,� were able to
hold off Iraqi and Coalition troops for a full day, downing a U.S.
helicopter and taking the lives of at least a dozen Iraqi and U.S. soldiers
before finally surrendering. More than 200 of the armed plotters had been
killed, along with the man who was believed to be their leader, and hundreds
of others were captured. Their ranks evidently included Sunnis as well as
Shiites, even though the cult was dedicated to the Mahdi, the Shiite messiah
figure who is supposed to return just before Judgment Day, after more than
11 centuries in hiding, to set up a righteous and peaceful Islamic society.
Captured fighters were quoted as saying that the violent plot was intended
to hasten the end of times. NEWSWEEK's Karen Fragala Smith spoke to Islamic
scholar and author Vali Nasr (“The Shia Revival�) about the bizarre incident
and its meaning for Iraq. Excerpts:


NEWSWEEK: Why would a mixed group of Sunni and Shia want to assassinate
Ayatollah al-Sistani and seize Najaf?
Vali Nasr: I am not convinced that this group was acting by itself, judging
by the kind of military capability that it displayed, and the mission that
it had. Killing Imam al-Sistani by exploding a bomb in the shrine by a Shia
millenarian group would have totally shattered the unity of the Shia, and
particularly would have destroyed the link that keeps the Shia community
together. The kind of military capabilities that these fighters brought, to
shoot down the U.S helicopter, to be able to hold down U.S. forces for hours
on end, is not something that a group of 200 poor thugs following a cultic
leader would be capable of.



Do you think Iran had any involvement in the battle?
The Soldiers of Heaven have been ferociously anti-Iranian. The Iranians have
no interest in the collapse of Shia authority in Iraq. Whatever problems
Iran may have with the United States, strategically for Iran it is not
beneficial if Shia authority in Iraq were to collapse. The whole Baathist
game plan of coming back to Iraq is predicated on creating chaos in Iraq.

The Soldiers of Heaven are reportedly a mix of both Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Isn't this cooperation unusual?
Yes, and that's exactly what raises the issue about the role of the
insurgents in this. It is possible that this fellow who was running the cult
created his own movement that somehow crosses the boundaries of Shia and
Sunnis. But in reality, the Sunnis don't believe in the messiah the way the
Shias, the Jews [and] the Christians do. For them, the Mahdi is not a
particular person. It is a renewer of the faith, somebody who is a
descendent of the prophet, but there is no Day of Judgment or Armageddon. It
is very unlikely that Sunnis would follow a claimant to Shia messianity
unless they converted to this cult. More than likely what we saw was an
insurgent push using the cover of this cult to make an attack on Najaf with
the aim of shattering the fabric of Shia politics and authority in Iraq.

According to some traditions, before the coming of the Mahdi, a third of the
world will die in a war. Could that encourage a leader like Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to try to hasten World War III?
These prophecies are there, but there is nothing that says humans ought to
create these conditions. Such calamities are signs of the times, but they
are not a prerequisite for the coming of the Mahdi. Religious tradition does
not support that you could bring about the [coming of the] Messiah by doing
acts that are actually the domain of God … It is not as straight a line as
it is sometimes depicted.


Ahmadinejad has said that there are things ordinary people can do to bring
about the Final Days.
This exactly what [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini said. When he created the
revolution in Iran, many traditional Shia leaders criticized him by saying,
"Improving the lot of the world is the job of the Hidden Imam [the Mahdi].
There can be no perfect Islamic government in the absence of the Hidden
Imam." Khomeini's way of going around criticism was to say, "We're not
creating the government of the Hidden Imam, but this government—in its
exemplary existence—can perhaps be a precursor for his second coming." This
whole idea was a reaction to the criticism he was receiving from
traditionalists.

Do you think Ahmadinejad uses the Mahdi imagery to manipulate popular
opinion in Iran?
The way the Iranian leadership looks at the problems of Iraq, Palestine,
Hizbullah, its relations with the U.S. and the nuclear issue, is much more
secular, political and militaristic. Much like every government, if they
have to market war to a population, and justify a foreign policy that
includes war, they will use religious themes, including messianic ones, in
order to legitimize political action. We have to make a distinction between
what makes political leaders tick and separate that from the way in which
they market their own political decisions to their own population. When you
want to market a war, you have to use scenes that the average citizen would
react to, but that should be separated from the kind of thing that goes into
the decision making itself … In Iran's own marketing of its nuclear weapons,
religion is distinctly absent from the discussion. It's all about
nationalism: Iran's rightful place in the world, pride in Iran's ability to
master technology, Iran's rights. You don't hear, even from clerics, any
sort of language that gives the nuclear technology any sort of religious
significance. That's exactly why the Iranian people have reacted so
positively to this nuclear program, because it's put in secular, nationalist
terms.

President George W. Bush has often claimed to be guided in his decisions by
his relationship with God. Could this encourage fringe groups like the
Soldiers of Heaven to take up arms under the larger banner of the "war of
civilizations"?
I think the rhetoric of Washington tends to encourage—not just with the
Middle East, but across the Muslim world—this notion that this is more of a
culture war rather than a political war. That is exactly why the war on
terror has been repeatedly interpreted—from Indonesia to Nigeria—as a war on
Islam, and we are not able to shake this thing off.



Given that these fringe groups are being used in a strategic way by the
insurgency, what are some of the things we need to be concerned with, going
forward?
What happened in Najaf with this group can be a window into the future or
Iraq. If [Shiite leader] Moqtada al-Sadr is taken out and the U.S. ends up
in a war with Shia militias and radicalizes them and breaks them up into
smaller pieces, we're going to end up with 200 different "Armies of Heaven."
If the Iraqi government is not able to establish authority, and the large
militias lose control and break up—that's exactly what the insurgency wants.
The Sunnis cannot defeat the Shia at election or defeat them if the Shia
remain united behind their leadership.

Given that Washington plans to send in 20,000 more troops, what do you think
the United States can do to avoid a further escalation of sectarian
violence?
The Shia militias are not at war with the United States. They are a big
problem for Iraq, but they are not at war with the United States. It would
be much easier to deal with the Shia militias after we are able to first
deal with the [Sunni] insurgency. The policy of going after both of these
groups has the danger of sinking Iraq into far bigger chaos. If the
insurgent capability is not challenged, and they are able to break down even
the little bit of harmony that exists in southern Iraq, the collapse of
authority in southern Iraq can be devastating for the U.S. and for Iraq. I
don't believe it is in the U.S.'s benefit at this time to provoke a war with
the Shia insurgents.

[lily]

Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16962174/site/newsweek/?rf=nwnewsletter)

Apocalypse Now
Iraqi forces struggle in the battle against a shadowy Shiite death cult. And
that's only a small part of the problems they're facing in Iraq's south.


By Babak Dehghanpisheh
Newsweek International
Feb. 12, 2007 issue - Dhia Abdul Zahra claimed he was the messiah. And on
the eve of the holiest day in the Shiite calendar, Ashura, when believers
beat themselves bloody with chains and swords, Zahra tried to deliver
salvation. Hundreds of his followers, armed with heavy weapons, clashed with
Iraqi and American soldiers northeast of the holy city of Najaf on Jan. 28.
The Soldiers of Heaven, as the cultists called themselves, apparently
planned to storm Najaf and assassinate top Shiite clerics. They fought
fiercely: an American helicopter was shot down, killing two soldiers, and
Iraqi forces called for reinforcements at least twice. Iraqi police say this
was no ordinary enemy. Fighters repeatedly tapped into their radio frequency
and repeated an ominous message, "Imam Mahdi is coming." The return of the
Mahdi—the 12th and last Shiite saint, who, believers say, vanished in the
ninth century—signals the end of times.

It would be easy to write off the thirty-something Zahra, who was killed
along with more than 250 others in the battle, as an Iraqi David Koresh and
his followers as misguided zealots. But the Soldiers of Heaven are only one
of dozens of Shiite factions, some of whom have similar millenarian ideas,
that have sprung up across southern Iraq. Dominated as it is by one sect,
the south has generally been thought remote from the civil war that has
engulfed Baghdad and its environs. The Iraqi Army took over security in
Najaf from the Americans in late December; few if any of the 20,000 new U.S.
troops heading to Iraq will be sent to the region. But as the new National
Intelligence Estimate on Iraq released last week points out, the country is
plagued by four overlapping battles—Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgent attacks on
Americans, sectarian killings and Shia-on-Shia violence in the south. If
left unchecked, that factional fighting could grow into as great a threat to
Iraq's stability as the ethnic cleansing farther north. "The collapse of
authority in southern Iraq could be devastating for both the United States
and for Iraq," says Vali Nasr, author of "The Shia Revival."

Under Saddam Hussein, the Shiite south was viewed as a hotbed of Iranian
intrigues and deliberately neglected. Its infrastructure is noticeably worse
than other parts of the country: roads are full of potholes, and open sewers
are common. And, despite millions of dollars pumped into projects since
2003, most recently under the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad, the
situation hasn't improved significantly. Unemployment in some areas is as
high as 60 percent, and Iraq's five poorest provinces are all in the south.
Many reconstruction projects have been abandoned because of corruption,
kidnappings and killings.

The two biggest players in the region are Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and
the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, run by cleric Abdul Aziz
al-Hakim. But in Basra alone, whose oilfields account for about 90 percent
of Iraq's budgetary revenue, at least half a dozen parties are competing for
power—often violently. Basra's murder rate tripled in the first half of last
year. "Security is bad in the Shiite south and may be getting worse," says
Juan Cole, a professor of history at the University of Michigan and an
expert on Iraq's Shiites.

In this chaotic environment, talk of the dhuhoor, or appearance of the
Mahdi, has been growing. "The decrease of the things people
need—electricity, water, a salary, peace of mind—makes them want to find
something like a miracle," says Salama Khafaji, a former member of the Iraqi
Governing Council from Najaf. Sadr has astutely tapped into this longing for
a better world; loyalists have hinted that he may be the Mahdi himself.
Fringe groups that take the Mahdi more literally—and that rail against a
Shiite leadership who are doing nothing to hasten his return—are also
growing, says Khafaji. "When you have the complete collapse of society is
exactly when you get these pretenders who combine social anxiety, political
frustration and fear with millenarian expectations," says Nasr.

Senior clerics familiar with Zahra say the Soldiers of Heaven was an
offshoot of the Sadrist movement and had few friends among the Najaf
establishment. "They were against the marjaiya [senior clerics], against the
government, against the Americans," says Sheik Fatih Kashif al-Ghitta, a
senior cleric from Najaf. On more than one occasion, Ghitta says, Zahra's
followers had fought pitched battles against the Mahdi Army. They were
particularly well entrenched in Zarqa, a village about 10 miles northeast of
Najaf. The group had dug six-foot-deep trenches around their property and
set up defensive sand berms. Weapons were buried underground or covered with
palm leaves. Iraqi troops later found sniper rifles, heavy machine guns and
even antiaircraft guns around the property. But the Soldiers of Heaven is
hardly the only heavily armed faction in the south: gunmen from another
Sadrist offshoot, the Fadhila Party, control Basra's oilfields. Baghdad
security officials worry that even more Shiite fighters will soon flood into
the area to avoid the "surge" of U.S. troops in the capital.

If Zarqa is any indication, that could spell trouble. Although President
George W. Bush praised Iraqi forces after the battle ("The Iraqis are
beginning to show me something," he said), in fact the Iraqis were nearly
overrun. At one point, Col. Ahmad Silawi, the director of Najaf
intelligence, and Abdul Hussein Abtan, the deputy governor of Najaf, were
pinned down. "Help us! There's heavy shooting!" Abtan cried over the radio.
Silawi later told NEWSWEEK he'd recited the shahada, the traditional prayer
before death. Only repeated U.S. airstrikes crushed the cultists.

Ironically, Iran—which U.S. military officials have blamed for fueling
attacks against American soldiers in the south—probably has more influence
in the region than the Coalition. "If, after this attack, the Americans
haven't realized that they need our help to stabilize Iraq, I don't know
when they're going to learn anything," says a Tehran official who has close
ties to the senior Iranian leadership and asked not to be identified because
of the sensitivity of the subject. If he's expecting Washington to ask for
help in the south, though, he may as well wait for the Mahdi, too.