ABCNEWS.com : Rifts Emerge in Iraq's Shiite Community
Serious Political Rifts Emerge in Iraq's Shiite Community Before Sovereignty Is Restored
KUFA, Iraq Jan. 30 — The political empowerment of Iraq's Shiite Muslims after decades on the sidelines is producing grave internal rifts, with rival factions and religious leaders competing for advantage before Iraqi sovereignty is restored on July 1.
With so much at stake, the line between politics and religion has blurred. Shows of force are common, and mudslinging is on the rise.
Tension among Shiites in Iraq is not new, but it's more widely pronounced than at any time since Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979 and sidelined the sect in favor of the minority Sunnis.
Three clerics are drawing the most attention in the fight for Shiite turf: Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Husseini al-Sistani, arguably Iraq's top Shiite cleric; maverick cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the son of a respected religious leader gunned down in 1999; and Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a junior cleric who took over leadership of a key Shiite political group after his brother died in a bombing in Najaf last August.
Others competing for leadership are Shiite politicians with close U.S. links, such as Ahmad Chalabi and Iyad Allawi who, like al-Hakim, are members of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council. They spent years in exile, however, and their political careers may end if they lose American backing.
Many Iraqi Shiites, believed to make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, are secular-minded, middle-class city dwellers. Those most active in Shiite politics, however, are mainly clerics, whose supporters are generally poor.
Serious Political Rifts Emerge in Iraq's Shiite Community Before Sovereignty Is Restored
KUFA, Iraq Jan. 30 — The political empowerment of Iraq's Shiite Muslims after decades on the sidelines is producing grave internal rifts, with rival factions and religious leaders competing for advantage before Iraqi sovereignty is restored on July 1.
With so much at stake, the line between politics and religion has blurred. Shows of force are common, and mudslinging is on the rise.
Tension among Shiites in Iraq is not new, but it's more widely pronounced than at any time since Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979 and sidelined the sect in favor of the minority Sunnis.
Three clerics are drawing the most attention in the fight for Shiite turf: Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Husseini al-Sistani, arguably Iraq's top Shiite cleric; maverick cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the son of a respected religious leader gunned down in 1999; and Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a junior cleric who took over leadership of a key Shiite political group after his brother died in a bombing in Najaf last August.
Others competing for leadership are Shiite politicians with close U.S. links, such as Ahmad Chalabi and Iyad Allawi who, like al-Hakim, are members of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council. They spent years in exile, however, and their political careers may end if they lose American backing.
Many Iraqi Shiites, believed to make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, are secular-minded, middle-class city dwellers. Those most active in Shiite politics, however, are mainly clerics, whose supporters are generally poor.
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