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Shiite leader wants modern Islam, but execution for Saddam
BAGHDAD - Shiite powerbroker Ibrahim Jaafari might get into trouble with his wife if he called for an Iraq where women could not drive, but he has no hesitation about supporting the death penalty for Saddam Hussein. The current vice president is a key leader of the fundamentalist alliance expected to become the biggest single bloc in the Iraqi national assembly after the historic weekend election.

Some talk of Jaafari as a prime minister in the next government or in the near future. A powerful Shiite government might worry some people outside of Iraq, but in an interview with AFP Jaafari sought to reassure that he wants Sunni Muslims, who boycotted the election, to be involved and he does not want a state that mirrors the theocracy in neighbouring Iran.

Jaafari, a doctor by training, is said to have close links with Iran. After his Hezb al-Dawa al-Islamiyya (Islamic Call Party) took up arms against Saddam's regime, he fled to Iran in the early 1980s before moving to London in 1989. His five children still live in Britain and his wife worked there. Jaafari was among the first exiled leaders to return after the 2003 US-led invasion. He was the first president of the now-defunct governing council named by the United States that year.

When talks were underway over the fundamental law which serves as Iraq's interim constitution, Jaafari was among those who favoured Islam as the only source of legislation. But he distances himself from a hard line. "Secularism originally meant opposing God and religion. Now it is not the same. Islam has changed too. It is different from country to country.
Perhaps you could convince your cousins of that.
"It is true that some countries stop women from attending schools and others do not let women drive. For me that would be a problem. My wife is a surgeon, she cuts open abdomens, and I would never stop her doing surgery."

Jaafari said he wants social justice and human rights and points to the US example of a strongly religious country that keeps state affairs separate. "The currency clearly states "In God we trust'. Yet this doesn't necessarily mean that all Americans believe in God."

But he would like Islam to be Iraq's official religion. "It would be logical to mention Islam in the constitution. But it does not have to resemble Iran if that what is on your mind."

Jaafari, like many Iraqis, takes a hard line, however, on the kind of justice they want for the country's former dictator. "I think it is a public demand that his trial go ahead as soon as possible, it would not be right to delay the trial. Yesterday I spoke with the judge in the case. He said they would expedite the trial."

In the publicised mass purges of Shiites, members of Jaafari's Dawa party lost their lives. "I think there is a need to excute the one who committed these crimes. But I will accept any result on condition that it is fair and organized by a fair government."
"But you guys have to keep Ramsey Clark. What a pain in the arse," he added.
Jaafari's party is part of the United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Iranian-born spiritual head of Iraq's Shiites. Others in the alliance including Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi and nuclear scientist Hussein al-Shahrastani are also possible candidates for the prime minister's post. Jaafari said that if asked to become premier he would not refuse.
Not quite a bejeweled turban, but it would do.
Jaafari believes a withdrawal of US troops battling the Sunni insurgency anytime soon could lead to a civil war. "Despite their presence here in Iraq, terrorism exists," Jaafari said. "Can you imagine what will happen if we ask them to leave. This could mean the beginning of a civil war."

"We are trying our best not to have a civil war but if the multinational forces leave now, certainly there will be more and more assassinations, bombings and victims."

Improving security—so Iraq can ask US and British forces to leave—and forming a government that can satisfy the aspirations of the Sunni minority community, will be two key tasks for the next government, according to the vice president. The Sunnis monopolised power under Saddam and for decades before. Many fear the prospect of Shiites taking control. Jaafari said there was no sense of revenge. "We want Shiites back in power but at the same time we don't want to do what Saddam did."

Jaafari suggested top posts could be shared between the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. "It is most likely that the next prime minister would be a Shiite, while the president and the head of the parliament would be a Sunni and a Kurd."
Posted by: Steve White 2005-02-01
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=55272