| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Shia militia demolish ’debauched’ Iraqi village |
| 2004-04-02 |
| A Shia militia group loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr has wiped out a village in central Iraq which refused to adhere to its puritanical creed, killing some inhabitants and forcing the rest to flee. Hundreds of militiamen from the Mahdi’s Army group besieged the town of Kawlia, 10km south of the city of Diwaniya, with mortars and smashed walls with sledgehammers three weeks ago, reducing to rubble the entire village famed for its dancers and prostitutes since the 1920s. On Friday scavengers scoured the ruins, loading bricks from houses, a school and a mosque into pickup trucks to sell to local builders. Sayid Yahya Shubari, the 30-year-old local clerical commander of the Mahdi’s Army in Diwaniya, said his militia raided the village after receiving reports that pimps had kidnapped a 12-year-old girl. "It was a well of debauchery, drunkenness and mafia, and they were buying and selling girls," he said. He said Kawlia was flattened after the villagers shot an emissary he had sent to negotiate with them. Hassan Ali, a director at Diwaniya’s civil defence department, said at least four people were killed and 15 wounded during six hours of night-time shelling. He said the attack was quelled after Spanish and Iraqi forces intervened. The town’s destruction has raised fears that the militia, which operates under the command of Mr Sadr, and is active in Baghdad and eight southern provinces, is not just operating above the law, but defining it. Mr Shubari says his Diwaniya office operates its own Sharia (Islamic law) courts, and uses its Sharia police to apply Islamic punishments. Militiamen say their Diwaniya brigade alone has between 800 and 1,000 men under arms. Diwaniya residents speak of a reign of terror, and say masked militiamen with Kalashnikovs are staging processions. Hamid Alwan’s back is still black with the marks of 80 lashes struck by a cleric for smelling of gin. Mr Shubari confirmed that his office was punishing people who drank alcohol with 80 lashes. The Spanish-led multinational force, assigned to provide security in the area, says it has made one raid on the Sharia court, after receiving orders from its military command, but is reluctant to intervene. "The problem is not the Mahdi’s Army, the problem is the terrorists. It’s the terrorists who make dangers for the coalition," says Major Carlos Herradon. A local police chief says the Army is "a good force", whose Sharia courts are supreme. Journalists in the city have also been advised to respect "the sensitivity" of the news, and refrain from reporting. In recent weeks, coalition officials say they have demolished Mr Sadr’s Sharia court run from a basement in the nearby holy city of Najaf, and padlocked the main offices of Mr Sadr’s newspaper in Baghdad. The occupation authorities have also reissued orders to disband the Mahdi’s Army and other militias. But analysts fear the measures will serve to provoke Shia grassroots activists into open confrontation with the occupation authorities that the coalition has so far managed to avoid. "We prefer to die rather than see the Mahdi’s Army dissolved," says Mr Shubari. "Either martyrdom or victory, there is no other way." Ahead of a large Shia procession next week, black flags are draped from many Shia shrines in southern Iraq instructing followers to face the sword rather than surrender to an Islamic state. In Diwaniya, a town where women are all but absent on the streets, many younger residents and some policemen praised the Mahdi’s Army methods. "People would come from all over the south, and even Baghdad to dance with the gypsy girls," said Bassam al-Najafi, a Diwaniya restaurateur. "Women were leaving their husbands to work there. They are cleansing the town."
|
| Posted by:Old Patriot |
| #4 Muqtada Sadr is rapidly outliving his usefulness to the Iraqi nation. This latest action is sufficient cause to apprehend and confine him. This shitstain is nothing but trouble. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-02 11:48:55 PM |
#3 "We prefer to die rather than see the Mahdi’s Army dissolved," says Mr Shubari. "Either martyrdom or victory, there is no other way."Hokey-dokey. MOAB or Daisy Cutter? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-04-02 11:43:28 PM |
| #2 For those who would rather die than see the Mahdi's army dissolved, there should be any number of ways for us to help them along. This group should have been disbanded with extreme prejudice within 24 hours of this attack and a few black turbans assisted to Paradise for their 72 raisins. When private armies are permitted, democracy becomes thugocracy. |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-04-02 11:03:53 PM |
| #1 Maybe we can allow Sadr and his militia into Fallujah to help them protect Fallujah from the infidels. Seems like a good way to flush two turds at once. I think 1st Marines will put a bigger fight than a bunch of gypsey girls. "We prefer to die rather than see the Mahdi’s Army dissolved," says Mr Shubari. "Either martyrdom or victory, there is no other way." book 'em, Dano. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2004-04-02 10:32:19 PM |