IRAQ: SHIITE PARTY OFFICES ATTACKED IN BASRA (SCIRI)

[bemildred]

Basra, 25 August (AKI) - Two Hawn missiles were fired at the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) in the southern Iraq city of Basra on Thursday morning. A police source said the attack injured at least one person and broke windows in the building and surrounding homes, but he refused to speculate over who might have carried out the attack.

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The missile attacks on the SCIRI headquarters and Badr organisation come as the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds wrangle over the wording of the draft constitution, due to be presented to parliament on Thursday. The Shiites and Kurds are expected to use their parliamentary majority to approve the document, despite strong Sunni opposition to the wording which allows regional autonomy, and fears the Shiites will demand self-rule for the south of the country, thereby giving them control of a large part of the country's oil wealth.

ADNKI

Edit: I read elsewhere that big demos are called for Friday. Strictly hearsay though.

And there is this:

Government praises Al-Sadr's efforts to contain violence

BAGHDAD, Aug 25 (KUNA) -- The Iraqi Government hailed on Thursday the Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr for exerting efforts to contain tension in the southern holy city of Najaf.

Leith Kubba, spokesman of the government, expressed gratitude, at a news conference in the Iraqi capital, for the bearded young scholar, with substanial influence among the Shiites in the south, for his efforts to calm conditions in the region.

He expressed regret at yesterday's flare-up of the violence that implied a futile bid to sow seeds of discords among the Iraqis.

KUNA

I don't believe I've ever seen him called a "bearded young scholar" before.

[rodeodance]

1. gee, and Rummy said just 2 days ago that he saw NO signs of a civil

war going on in Iraq.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. We need a good Bagdhad Bob name for Rummy.

His ability to deny the obvious is almost an art.

[Roland99]

11. DoD Don?

[bemildred]

12. Donald the Ducker. nt

[bemildred]

19. Actually, now I think about it, "Donald Duck" works fine. nt

[reprobate]

18. Donald Rumsfailed.

[VegasWolf]

2. Rummy doesn't have much credibility left! Stay the course! The edge

of the earth is just ahead!

[Walt Starr]

3. Wasn't Moqtada al Sadr a bad guy a year or two back?

so now he's the good guy?

Sort of a reverse bin Laden, isn't he?

[bemildred]

5. He led an uprising in Najaf and elsewhere last Spring & Summer.

They called in al Sistani to put a lid on it. He (Sistani) was in the UK for "medical care" at the time, but managed to fly back in a hurry to get the "bearded young scholar" to stand down. Sadr's been quiet since then, from what one can tell, despite a number of provocations. I gather he is not at all happy with the new Constitution, and there is fear that he might make common cause with the Sunni resistance.

[H5N1]

6. Seems he is a natural born leader as well as a household name

It will be very interesting to see what he does next.

[Roland99]

8. He had a warrant out for his arrest for the murder of another cleric

[H5N1]

9. That looked like a frame job to me

The US wanted to take him out but failed to do so.
I would imagine they will come to regret it.
He's back.

[Roland99]

10. Ayup...they painted him as a bad guy before. Will they flip-flop again?

They flipped and flopped on Chalabi a few times, too.

[bemildred]

25. That was apparently disposed of as part of getting him to stand down

last year.

[Igel]

23. He was a bad guy then, he's a bad guy now, and he's likely

to continue to be a bad guy.

He's probably pissed that he wasn't given the presidency for life, and the constitution would strip his militia from him, which would unman the twit.

His moral authority was originally all borrowed. He managed to build a bit of his own, Hamas-style, the same way a dog loves you for feeding it, even if what you feed it is it's own tail, cut off and stewed. In other words: you collect taxes through intimidation and control of the mosques, and then garner the people's adoration by actually spending the taxes on them and taking the credit for yourself. But he keeps that sort of bribery within his bases of support.

That really only leaves thuggery as his moral base.

[Roland99]

7. Wait a minute. SCIRI took over the Baghdad mayor's office, right?

Now SCIRI is being fired upon down in Basra?


What a lovely place, this Iraq.

[bemildred]

13. Shia rivals continue violent clashes

Clashes between rival Shia Muslim groups in Iraq today continued for a second day as a spate of violence swept the country.

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The cleric's supporters in Diwaniya, 170km (105 miles) south of Baghdad, occupied parts of the city, setting up checkpoints and firing on police and rival groups, police captain Hussein Hakim said.

SCIRI members then torched a building belonging to Mr Sadr's movement in the Baghdad suburb of Nahrawan, police lieutenant Ayad Othman said.

In retaliation, the cleric's followers set fire to an office of SCIRI's Badr Brigade militia in Baghdad's heavily Shia Sadr City neighbourhood.

and more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1556451,00.html

[H5N1]

14. Sounds like the civil war has started - only in slow motion

[H5N1]

15. Why are these groups rivals?

I am not clear on that.

[ECH1969]

16. Sadr wants a strong national government with no federalism

And, Harkim wants a weak national government and strong regional governments.

[H5N1]

17. Thank you. Do you know how this schism came about?

[Kagemusha]

20. See, SCIRI fought on Iran's side in the Iran-Iraq War.

Sadr doesn't like that. A lot of regular Iraqis don't like that either, but obviously, SCIRI and Badr get a lot of financial and tangible support from Iran, not just what they get from the Americans when their members join the military or police. Sadr and the Sunni guerillas, minus the foreign insurgents, are loosely on the "Iraq for Iraqis" side of the struggle. However, Sistani is an Iranian citizen and the main spiritual leader for most Shiites, with Sadr mainly a leader of the young urban poor in "Sadr City" (named after his tortured and slain father, not him).

That's your quick and dirty explanation.

[H5N1]

21. thank you

[bemildred]

22. Yes.

Which leaves the US siding with Iran against the Iraqi nationalists now.
Is this fun yet, or what?

[FlemingsGhost]

24. Is Negroponte still in Iraq?

I'm just sayin' ...