"If the U.S. refuses to withdraw from Iraq the Sadr Movement and its Mahdi Army will once again resort to armed struggle against the occupation forces."

“Patriotic Democracy”

What can he tell me about the Shia-Sunni violence in Iraq? Sheik Hassan Zargani is convinced that the U.S. occupation forces and MOSSAD agents active in Iraq are trying to orchestrate a civil war in a bid to delay the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. According to the Sadr Movement, the terror and chaos currently holding Iraq in its grip can only end with the immediate and complete withdrawal of U.S. occupation forces. “The U.S. assured the United Nations that if the elected Iraqi government wanted them to withdraw they would do so”, Zargani reminds me, “so that is why they are now creating problems for Jaafari and provoking a civil war between the Shia and the Sunni”. The Sadr Movement aims for a government that will protect the unity of Iraq and involve all the Iraqi people, whatever their sect or ethnic background, he claims. He calls it a “Patriotic Democracy”.

U.S. Pressure on Iran and Syria

Sheik Hassan Zargani tells me that if the U.S. refuses to withdraw from Iraq the Sadr Movement and its Mahdi Army will once again resort to armed struggle against the occupation forces. He is outraged that the U.S. has constructed 15 military bases in Iraq and maintains that another reason for the delay in the withdrawal is to increase the pressure on Iran and Syria. And where does Muqtada al-Sadr stand on Iran, Syria and even Turkey? The Sadr Movement, he says, enjoys friendly relations with Iran, Syria and Turkey, and is particularly encouraged by the anti-U.S. sentiments felt by the vast majority of Turkish people.

Invitation to Turkey

What about the reports of a possible visit by Muqtada al-Sadr to Turkey? Sheik Hassan Zargani confirms that Muqtada al-Sadr turned down a recent official invitation to Turkey. He states that Turkey called on Sadr to take part in the Iraqi government, urging him to give up on the idea of an “Islamic regime” in Iraq and instead to follow the Turkish example of “moderate Islam”. “We have heard all this before from the U.S. occupation forces”, says Zargani, “but we will not take part in any Iraqi government until the U.S. withdraws completely from Iraq”. To enter the political process now is, according to Zargani, to legitimate the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and that is something the Sadr Movement will never do.

Mahir Tan is a Turkish journalist based in London. He has travelled widely in the Middle East. He reported from Iraq in Gulf War II and continues to write on issues relating to the region.