Iraqi Shi’ite leader warns against civil war

By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – One of Iraq’s most powerful Shi’ite
leaders urged his followers on Saturday to resist being drawn
into a sectarian civil war after a triple suicide bombing
killed at least 70 people at a mosque associated with his
party.

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a top figure in the ruling Shi’ite
Alliance, urged Shi’ites to stand firm against what he called a
campaign by al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to ignite
civil war with bombings like the one at a Baghdad mosque a day
earlier.

“The alert Iraqi people, who are obedient to the religious
establishments, should not give in to sectarian discord that is
part of a campaign by Zarqawi and groups associated with him
aimed at sectarian war,” he told thousands of supporters.

“This nation will not fall into the trap of sectarian war
that is being pursued by Zarqawi’s groups.”

He spoke before a car bomb killed at least six Shi’ite
pilgrims near a shrine south of Baghdad, according to police.

Friday’s violence at the Buratha mosque in Baghdad, the
biggest single suicide attack on a Shi’ite target since
November 2005, raised fresh fears of a full-blown communal
conflict, with the United States, Britain and UN quickly urging
Iraqi unity.

Hakim’s speech, delivered on the anniversary of the
execution of top Shi’ite cleric Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his
sister by Saddam Hussein, called for unity between Iraq’s main
Shi’ite, Kurdish and Arab Sunni communities.

But he also reminded 60 percent majority Shi’ites of their
decades of suffering under Saddam’s Sunni-dominated regime.

“(Sunni) militants and insurgents want to return Iraq to
Saddam’s formula,” said Hakim, leader of the pro-Iranian
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Sectarian tensions have been rising since the bombing of a
Shi’ite shrine on February 22 touched off reprisals and pushed
Iraq to the brink of civil war.

Hundreds of bodies of people shot or strangled have turned
up on Baghdad streets bound, blindfolded and showing signs of
torture.

The mosque carnage, which came one day after a car bomb
killed at least 15 people near a Shi’ite shrine in the southern
city of Najaf, was the latest proof of how Iraqi leaders are
unable to tackle violence as they struggle to form a
government.

Hakim’s ruling Alliance is under intense pressure to
replace Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its nominee for prime minister to
break the deadlock over postwar Iraq’s first full-term
government.

But Jaafari, who is the serving prime minister, refuses to
step aside despite calls from Sunni and Kurdish leaders and
even from within his own Alliance.

Hakim said repeatedly that Zarqawi and Saddam loyalists
would fail to derail the political process. But four months
after parliamentary elections, he could offer no clear
timetable on the formation of a government.

“After the guidelines of the (Shi’ite) religious
establishment, we will proceed to form a national unity
government as soon as possible,” he said.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabor has said he was confident
that Zarqawi was no longer a serious threat. But Western
intelligence sources disagree and Hakim seems just as concerned
as ever, saying the whole region would suffer if he is not
defeated.

“The battle of today is not just an Iraqi battle. Other
countries will suffer and in the future there will be more
suffering,” he said.

“These militant groups oppose all Arab rulers. They must
stand with strength with Iraq and the political process in
Iraq.”