Iraq: Shiite Uprising
41 minutes, 2004
Ref: 077tvc

Iraqi Shiites are beginning to flex their muscles. They make up 60% of the Iraqi population and have lost patience with the occupying forces. Many of them are followers of the radical nationalist and religious leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, who has openly called for an armed uprising. Sadr's militias - the so-called Mehdi's Army - has the Spanish troops garrisoning in Najaf, the Shia holy city, firmly in its line of fire. Not surprisingly, the Spanish soldiers are counting the days to their return home. But the most important Shiite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, believes that it is better to work with the Americans in the run up to general elections, which will be held by January 2005. Some Shiites, like Wisam Radi, an artist who caricatured Saddam, were overjoyed at Saddam's fall and are strongly pro-American. Most Shiites still feel indebted to them for toppling Hussein, their sworn enemy. But now the Shiites are beginning to demand the power which is their due as the country's majority group. The snag is that the United States promised democracy and is unwilling to leave the country in the hands of the Shiite clergy. But the clergy just happens to be the best-organized force in the country, forged through decades of underground resistance to the dictatorship. "The Shiite Uprising" reveals the differences between Shiite factions and the impending conflict of interests between this community and the occupying forces.