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Major role for clerics urged
Several thousand Shi'ite Muslims rallied in the Iraqi capital yesterday demanding a role for their clerics in running a post-Saddam Iraq.
"We want a new national conference" on Iraq's political future, chanted the protesters led by dozens of religious leaders from the powerful Hawza Shi'ite school in the holy city of Najaf. "Yes, Yes, Islam. No, No, America," they shouted as they marched from Al Andalus Square to Al Fardus Square where Saddam Hussein's huge statue was toppled on April 9 in the most indelible symbol of the end of the regime.
The show of strength came as the retired US general running the country, Jay Garner, convened a meeting of as many as 400 Iraqis of all political stripes to plot out the post-Saddam future. The Iran-based Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Shi'ite Muslim movement that opposed Saddam from a very safe distance, said yesterday it would not take part in any US-led meetings on the country's political future. Spokesman Hamed Al Bayati told Al Jazeera television that Garner "is responsible for Iraq's reconstruction and humanitarian affairs and we plan to co-operate with him only in this domain. "Political arrangements are the jurisdiction of only holy men Iraqis."
| Then stay the hell out of politix for good... |
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-04-29 |
