Shiite Cleric Claims to Control Iraq City (Kut)

KUT, Iraq - A Shiite Muslim cleric who has occupied city hall to stake his claim to local control insisted Wednesday that he was chosen to lead by Kut's people, who he said don't want the U.S. military to be in charge.

Hundreds of Said Abbas' supporters were camped outside the building and struck up a chorus of protest whenever U.S. troops passed by.

The competition for control of the eastern crossroads city is an especially tense example of the power struggles that have arisen in Iraq following the rout of Saddam Hussein.

"The regime ended and there was no local authority, so the people here chose us to take care of them," Abbas told reporters in an ornate room at city hall, surrounded by robed clerics. "We want Kut to be an example for Iraq."

American officers contend Abbas is backed by Iran and has the support of only about 10 percent of townspeople.

Abbas, in a black-and-white checked turban and a white robe, became flustered when pressed about ties to the Iran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq - the largest Iraqi opposition group and an opponent of U.S. involvement in building a new Iraqi government.

Asked if he gets money from Iranian sources, he said, "The government of Iran doesn't support us; however, we have relations with them - religious and other relationships."

Twenty U.S. Marines had tried to enter city hall Tuesday, but decided against it after they were confronted by a crowd of about 1,200.

Abbas said Wednesday that he has nothing against the American presence as long as they "fulfill their promises" of liberation and democracy. "Let us live alone; let us decide what we want to do," he said.

Marines plan a meeting Saturday of local leaders to discuss how the city should be run, and Abbas said he would attend.

He said the city doesn't need Marines for security, saying he will put police back on the job and weed out die-hard supporters of the former regime.

U.S. officers said Abbas' supporters have gotten hold of most of the weapons left in Kut and are using them to intimidate other potential leaders.

Abbas denied he had any weapons. "Our only force is the people," he said. "We are peaceful."

Related article:

Shiite Clerics Rise to Power in Iraq Holy Cities

NAJAF, Iraq (AP)--In this holiest of Muslim Shiite cities, clerics are running a self-declared government. It's the same in nearby Karbala, another sacred Shiite city.

Muslim Shiite clerics have in the past week moved swiftly to fill the power void created by Saddam Hussein's ouster--appointing governors, imposing curfews, offering protection, jobs, health care and giving financial assistance to the needy.

In some respects, they have replaced Saddam as Iraq's new leadership.

Ominously, they distrust the Americans who rid them of Saddam's tyranny and have little faith in the opposition leaders now returning to Iraq from years in exile. They also question whether Western democratic values are suited for their country.

And, they seem unwilling to surrender authority to a central government they don't like.

Shiites make up 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million people, but have traditionally been pushed to the political sidelines by members of Islam's mainstream Sunni sect, of which Saddam is a member. They have long complained of religious persecution under Saddam and erupted in jubilation at his downfall, practicing their rituals in public for the first time in years.

Scores of Shiite pilgrims can now be seen walking on highways and country roads to Najaf and Karbala, carrying the black flags that mourn the 7th century ``martyrdom'' of al-Hussein, one of the sect's most revered saints. Al-Hussein's shrine is in Karbala, while his father, Imam Ali, son-in-law of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, is buried in Najaf.

Such instant Shiite empowerment could reverberate in an Iraq whose social and political fabric is fragile in the aftermath of war and the removal of a president whose iron-fist policies held the country together. It also could provoke a Sunni backlash or spark inter-Shiite violence when the sect's factions are vying for position in a new order.

In today's Iraq, the power of the ``al-Hawza al-Ilmiya''--an Arabic phrase that roughly means the supreme seat of Shiite learning--is second only to that of U.S. forces. It is something of a magic phrase that has become associated with authority or government.

Sheik Abbas al-Rabia'i, a 42-year-old Shiite cleric who has just come out of four years in hiding from Saddam's fearsome security apparatus, is a hard-line cleric with blind loyalty to the al-Hawza al-Ilmiya.

Squatting on the floor of a tiny house on a back alley in Najaf, he said the al-Hawza would be prepared to surrender power to a government the people approve of, but hastened to add: ``It must be a government that has been freely elected and is not under any foreign influence.''

``We don't say anything or do anything without the approval of the al-Hawza. We are only foot soldiers,'' said al-Rabia'i.

The extent of al-Hawza's influence is perhaps best manifested by orders it issued this week. Posted on the outer wall of Karbala's al-Hussein Mosque, one of the holiest Shiite shrines, it orders the city's Shiites not to organize marches without its prior approval and bans anyone from joining a political party without its permission.

``It's absolutely forbidden to speak to news agencies,'' says another order. ``When something happens, don't act. Wait for instructions from al-Hawza,'' says another.

Sheik Mohanad al-Assadi is a 28-year-old Shiite scholar in Karbala. On Wednesday, he met with Youssef al-Haboubi, the long-serving civil servant appointed governor of Karbala by the al-Hawza this week, to discuss city affairs. Before him, he conferred with a doctor, police officers and ordinary people who sought his help to find jobs. He has bodyguards, a precaution after two senior clerics were killed by an angry crowd in Najaf last week.

``Al-Hawza is not contemplating the permanent assumption of executive power through it own members,'' he explains in a soft voice at the Spartan al-Mokheim Mosque in Karbala. ``We have those whom we trust to do this for us.''

Assadi used diplomatic language to express his views on Iraq's opposition returnees, saying that while senior Shiite clerics appreciated their efforts, ``justice'' must be done for those who stayed in Iraq and endured Saddam's oppression.

Al-Rabia'i was more blunt.

He said many Iraqis would be uncomfortable with the rule of politicians who had spent decades abroad. ``Many of them want to introduce Western democratic systems that don't suit us here. We have a people here who suffered so much for so long they cannot accept imported ideas.''

AP-NY-04-16-03 1739EDT

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