Iraq

Cleric's army now political, charity group

BAGHDAD - Followers of radical Islamic cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are trying to re-energize support for him in the movement's stronghold in Baghdad's Sadr City by reaching out to its 2-million mainly Shiite residents with relief work, protection and spiritual counseling.

After two bloody revolts against U.S. forces this year, the "Sadrists" are back to what they do best - street politics - and they seem likely to cash in on the new energy and make a bid for the January elections.

A truce reached in early October between militiamen loyal to Sadr and U.S. troops ended weeks of fighting in Sadr City, the sprawling Baghdad district where the Sadrist movement rose in the chaotic and lawless aftermath of Saddam Hussein's ouster 19 months ago.

But recently the Sadrists have begun turning their attention to the peaceful tasks that won them significant support among poor Shiites, the majority of the community that makes up about 60 percent of Iraq's estimated 26-million people.

Robed and turbaned clerics are back on the streets overseeing the work of Sadr's militia, known as the Imam al-Mahdi Army, as they organize lines at gasoline stations and heating fuel depots and protect government property.

The Mahdi Army's revival comes less than a year after the United States vowed to "capture or kill" Sadr and destroy his militia when it launched its first revolt in April after occupation authorities issued an arrest warrant against him for killing a rival cleric.

Now, the murder charge has been all but forgotten and the cleric's movement is riding a popular wave, although Sadr himself has not been seen publicly in weeks.

At the movement's Sadr City office, hundreds of residents thronged a courtyard Sunday afternoon, waiting to see the clerics inside to seek their assistance or counsel.

On Friday, the movement's revived standing as Sadr City's main force was evident when a series of announcements were made at the end of the weekly prayer, attended by 10,000.

A girls' school was praised for making the Islamic dress code mandatory for its pupils and an appeal was made for others to follow suit. Holders of university degrees were asked to meet Saturday as a first step toward electing a Sadr City shura council.

Inside a damp and poorly lit room in the office Sunday, a group of bearded men in their 30s demanded from one of the Sadrist clerics that immediate action be taken to end a "dangerous sedition" within a militia battalion in a part of the district.

Squatting on the floor below a poster of Sadr and a large Iraqi flag, Ibrahim al-Jabri, a black-turbaned cleric in his late 30s, faced two rows of men. In turn, they approached him, whispering their business in his ear. He used small bits of paper stacked on a tiny table covered with prayer mats to write notes to other clerics who could help.

In some cases, he would authorize small amounts of cash or offer advice, in whispers.

"No matter how big my turban is, I will never be too big for my people," Jabri told an elderly man.

The scene at Sadr's office harked back to the days and weeks after Hussein's overthrow, when the Sadrists' young seminary students and their followers took over the running of Sadr City, providing inhabitants with protection against criminal gangs, restoring water and power supplies and offering medical services and financial assistance to the needy.

Their full-time return to street politics is timely.

With two months left before the January vote, Sadr's followers appear to be succeeding in rekindling the zeal their supporters felt about the movement a year ago. Some of it may have been lost because of the bloodshed that left hundreds, perhaps thousands, killed or wounded.

Leaders of the reinvigorated movement may choose to abandon negotiations to join the all-Shiite electoral ticket sponsored by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric.

Relations between Sistani and Sadr are tense. The elderly Sistani, along with other senior clerics in the holy city of Najaf, have kept the young anti-American Sadr at an arm's length.

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