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| Volume X, Summer 2003, Number 2 |
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| EXCERPT: Shia Political Alternatives in Postwar Iraq |
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| A. William Samii |
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Dr. Samii is a regional analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Some 14.4 to 15.6 million Iraqis --
60-65 percent of a population of
approximately 24 million people --
practice Shia Islam, and for many years this sector of Iraqi society faced severe repression from the Baathist regime. From the 1970s onward, some Shia were jailed and executed, and others were forcibly exiled. Iraqi Shia participated in an unsuccessful uprising against the regime in 1991, which only worsened their situation. Iraqi Shia who were not members of the Baath party were represented by opposition organizations such as Al-Daawah al-Islamiyah (Islamic Call), the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the Islamic Action Organization and some smaller groups such as the Al-Khoi Foundation. Shia Muslims also are represented in secular Iraqi political organizations. Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi, for example, is a Shia Muslim, as is Iraqi National Accord leader Ayad Alawi.
As the fall of President Saddam Hussein's regime approached, furthermore, new Shia groups appeared. A group calling itself the Iraqi National Liberation Front declared its creation only four days before coalition forces helped tear down the Iraqi dictator's statue in Baghdad, denounced most other Shia leaders, and based its legitimacy on "the fatwas proclaimed by great [Shia] religious authorities . . . led by Imam Ali Khamenei, Ayatollahs [Hussein Ali] Montazeri, [Mohammad Fazel Movahedi-] Lankarani . . . ."1 The Hizballah-Iraq organization claimed at the same time that it had launched the first military action by a Shia opposition group since Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 20, 2003.2
Washington is aware of the Shia community's political importance. When the war started and Iraqi Shia failed to rise against their oppressors, the coalition floated reports that a senior cleric in Najaf, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had issued a decree instructing people not to interfere with coalition operations.3 The coalition dispatched another senior Shia figure, Abd-al-Majid al-Khoi, to Najaf. Before Operation Iraqi Freedom began, however, Washington focused mainly on just one Iraqi Shia organization -- SCIRI -- in its dealings with Iraqi opposition groups.
The political importance of the Iraqi Shia relates to more than sheer numbers and their reasonable demand to play a part in their country's future. Their role in Iraqi politics will affect Iraq's future relations with its neighbors, particularly Iran, where Shia Islam is the state religion and is practiced by the majority of the population, and Lebanon, where the majority of the Muslim community is Shia. This article will examine the main Shia opposition groups, and in the conclusion it will argue that focusing just on SCIRI is unwise. Many Iraqis see SCIRI as an Iranian catspaw, and it has only localized support within Iraq. Those who would like to see a secular and democratic Iraq free of its neighbors' interference should look elsewhere.
1 See the Kitabat website (www.kitabat.com), April 7, 2003.
2 Hizballah-Iraq is led by Abu-Hatim al-Muhammadawi, Kuwait's Al-Ray al-Amm, April 6, 2003.
3 Central Command (CENTCOM) deputy director of operations Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, April 3, 2003 press briefing, State Department Office of International Information Programs (http://usinfo.state.gov).
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