Some FWers are deeply concerned about the in-fighting (and
killings) that hass already taked place between different Shia Muslim
schisms in Iraq now that the pressure has been lifted from them. Hassan
Grebawy, mentioned below seems a strong contender for national leadership
of the Shias. After then, will he turn on the Sunnis? After then,
will he turn on the lower- and middle-ranking Baathists (the only people
who are competent to run the country)?
After then, what? An Iranian-type theocracy which, at present, is turning
down every reform which the Iranian Parliament is trying bring
about?
Keith Hudson
<<<<
IRAQI RELIGIOUS GROUP TURNS TO TV AND RADIO
By Charles Clover in Baghdad
A powerful Shi'a political group in Iraq plans shortly to begin its own
radio and television broadcasts from Baghdad, a key step towards
promoting its influence in the country.
Hassan Grebawy, head of the Centre for Public Islam, said he had received
both oral and written permission from US forces to start the broadcasts,
which will be financed by the Hawza, a loose grouping of Shi'a religious
schools in the southern city of Najaf.
Mr Grebawy's centre, set up under the patronage of Shi'a cleric Moktada
al-Sadr, will broadcast from the al-Hikmah mosque in the Shi'a suburb of
Baghdad. He said the range of the broadcasts would be 50km, enough to
encompass Baghdad, and plans are under way to extend the broadcasts to
the rest of the country, where the Shi'a form a 55 per cent
majority.
The television and radio stations should serve as powerful tools for
consolidating Mr Sadr's influence. Already, an overwhelming majority of
Shi'a in Baghdad profess allegiance to him.
He is not known for his tolerance of US forces in Iraq, though he is
rarely heard from publicly. His followers have frequently organised mass
demonstrations in Baghdad calling for an end to US occupation.
Mr Grebawy made it clear that the broadcasts, to be named "Baghdad
reports" and introduced with the calligraphic symbol of Iraqi state
television, will not be friendly towards the US presence: "If I come
to your house riding on a tank, and take over your oil, and take over
your money, and tell you that you need my permission to do anything, then
is this justice?", he asks.
Coalition forces have been tolerant in allowing Iraqis to express
dissenting views, considering it a useful exercise in democracy building.
Numerous newspapers have been set up in Baghdad, many critical of the
coalition presence.
"The Americans said they have no objection in principle to these
broadcasts," said Mr Grebawy.
He showed a letter from the US 1st Brigade, charged with security in
Baghdad, giving permission for a radio station. "The 1st Brigade
Combat Team would like to thank Sayid Ali [a member of Mr Sadr's group]
for his support of US forces in the liberation of Iraq," said the
letter. Mr Grebawy said they had received verbal permission for the
television station, and a letter would follow. The 1st Brigade could not
be reached for comment.
US forces have relied heavily on Shi'a religious leaders to help them
restore basic services such as garbage removal and medical facilities in
their neighbourhoods, and the letter seemed to be partly a quid pro
quo for this help.
But ultimately, giving Shi'a Islamist groups access to their own
television station could undermine the US goal of keeping Iraq a secular
state.
Asked what political message they would be broadcasting on their TV
channel, Mr Grebawy said: "The political content of the broadcasts
will be that religion is politics and politics is religion. We are only
expressing the reality of the Iraqi street.
"We need television broadcasts which will express the views of all
Iraqis, about their problems, including the American
occupation."
>>>>
Financial Times; May 28, 2003
Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath, England
