Posted on 04/17/2004 6:36:26 PM PDT by saquin
On the dust-blown plains of central Iraq, Qawliya had long held a notorious reputation as a haven for prostitution, drug dealers and gun runners - until the village was reduced to rubble and its population driven from their homes.
The attack that destroyed Qawliya was launched by the Mahdi Army militiamen of Moqtada al-Sadr, the young clerical firebrand who has become the voice of anti-American discontent for many of the country's Shia Muslim majority.
It was this brutal display of Mahdi Army muscle last month - combined with the increasing power wielded by its Islamic sharia law courts - that finally persuaded Paul Bremer, chief US administrator of coalition forces, to declare al-Sadr an outlaw, The Telegraph has been told.
Yahya Shubari, the young commander of the Mahdi Army in the nearby city of Diwaniya, said last week: "I sent a group of my men to Qawliya because a young girl had been abducted by pimps and we wanted to rescue her. But they were fired at by the villagers and one was martyred. So we went back later in larger numbers and with local tribesmen to confront them."
Others claim that the Mahdi Army had simply decided to make an example out of Qawliya. Whichever version is correct, the village is now a wasteland after an attack that lasted several hours. Some of its estimated population of 1,500 were killed; most fled to other cities, abandoning their homes to looters.
Both sides exchanged gunfire before the militiamen apparently used mortars and rocket-propelled grenades in their onslaught. However, they deny local reports that they used a bulldozer to flatten houses.
Shubari claimed: "In Diwaniya, the Mahdi Army is restoring peace and order. We have sharia courts, they are run by judges sent from Najaf and we impose 80 lashes for stealing and drinking alcohol. The punishments are carried out by court police."
Al-Sadr's militant rhetoric has won recruits among Iraq's young and poor who feel they have failed to benefit from the end of Saddam's rule. But older residents of Diwaniya said that they owed their loyalty to more moderate clerics and accused the militiamen of a campaign of intimidation. "We don't trust these people," said one 51-year-old. "They are too young and they don't know what they are doing."
Coalition officials see the Qawliya attack as a watershed event which gave a disturbing foretaste of how Iraq might develop if religious extremists such as al-Sadr gain the upper hand.
Officials have also received reports of illegal arrests and torture conducted by Mahdi Army militiamen on behalf of al-Sadr's sharia courts. US intelligence sources believe al-Sadr is funded by "donations" from pilgrims - not all of them voluntary - and from hardline ayatollahs in Iran.
Nonetheless, senior coalition officials privately acknowledge that they have been taken aback by the scale and organisation of the uprising launched by the militant cleric in several southern and central cities.
The Telegraph has also learnt that US intelligence warned Mr Bremer not to move against al-Sadr without a back-up military plan - but that he bowed to pressure for quick action from hawks in the Pentagon led by Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defence.
Last week, it was possible to enter the sacred city of Najaf for the first time since al-Sadr went into hiding near the mosque and mausoleum of Imam Ali, the holiest shrine in the Shia faith.
With 2,500 American reinforcements stationed in bases outside the city, his militiamen openly patrolled the dusty streets of Najaf and neighbouring Kufa with AK47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. They may be a rabble, but they are increasingly well-organised and number several thousand. Most of the city's shops were closed and streets were almost empty, free of the usual throng of Shia pilgrims from across Iraq and Iran.
As fears grew that an American onslaught was imminent, Qais al-Khazaali, a spokesman for al-Sadr, said yesterday that mediation between the two sides had halted because of "obstacles" thrown up by the US. He said that his militia was "ready for battle" and there were sounds of occasional gunfire in the direction of American troop encampments.
In an address at Friday prayers in Kufa, al-Sadr quashed any suggestion that he might back down by swearing never to disband the Mahdi Army. "I am ready to meet martyrdom for the sake of Iraq," he proclaimed.
In a disturbing echo of the era of Saddam Hussein, local residents appear cowed as they publicly praise their new leader - a man whose father and brothers were murdered by the former dictator. "We are all volunteers in the Mahdi Army now," said an Iraqi policeman. "At my police station, the policemen and the Mahdi Army stand side by side. Of course I will fight the Americans if they come here."
However, the refrain is different in private. "Al-Sadr is a thief who steals from pilgrims and he is a murderer," said a member of a prominent Najaf family. "His people will kill anyone who speaks out against him."
In one of the few stores still open there is a pro-Sadr tract for sale entitled A Muslim Woman's Education. It forbids women to dance, even with their husbands, and says young girls should not learn nursery rhymes as they must not sing.
It is the type of Islamic zealotry which the Mahdi Army brought to Qawliya, and which al-Sadr hopes to enforce across more of Iraq if coalition forces leave the country.
Before this is over these creatures are going to chugging Bud by the case.
Beer is just what these insaniacs need, what with the heat and the tight head scarves.
I'm not sure this is the thing we want to promote. And the Iraqis probably didn't like it much, either. If you've ever lived in such a neighborhood, I don't think you'd like it at all.
This was a very clever move by Sadr (leaving aside the fact that prostitution, drugs and AK47's are the lifeblood of any jihadi).
Kind of like when Kerry says he will raise taxes on only the "wealthiest" of Americans. But to Dems, a "wealthy" American is anyone not on their permanent welfare voting dole.
These guys are Taliban in training. They have been burning the shops of the Christian liquor sellers who have been selling liquor for as long as anyone can remember. They are merely thugs.
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