Friday, April 11, 2003

Khoei killed.... as implied

pv vivekanand



THE MURDER of a US-British backed Iraqi Shiite
religious leader, Sayyed Abdul Majid Al Khoei, in
Najaf in central Iraq is only the tip of an iceberg in
the Shiite heartland of the shattered country.
At play in the equation are American/British desire
have their own man in charges of Shiite areas in
southern Iraq with a view to having influence over the
people there, the quest of Iranian-supported Iraqi
Shiites to set up a power base there, and Tehran's
wishes to have an Iran-friendly Shiite clergyman to
take charge of Shiite affairs in Iraq. Add to the
bargain the sentiments of the Shiite residents of
southern Iraq.
The killing of Khoei and Haider Kelidar, a caretaker
of shrines in Najaf, and several others at the city's
holiest Shi'ite shrine, Imam Ali Mosque, should not
have been a surprise, given the deep
religious/political currents in the area.
The two and another four were said to have been killed
by a mob in disputed circumstances. Some said the mob
targeted Kelidar for his alleged association with the
toppled Saddam Hussein regime and Khoei, who surfaced
in Najaf last week after more than a decade of life in
exile in London, just happened to be caught in the
crossfire.
Other accounts said Khoei was killed because of
suspicion that he was the man to be installed at the
head of a proposed US-British-backed committee that
would take charge of the Shiite shrines in Najaf.
Khoei had called for Shiite co-operation with the
United States and his appearance in Najaf signalled a
US attempt to promote a "pro-American" current among
Iraq's majority Shiite community as the regime
collapsed.
Khoei was airlifted to Najaf by the coalition forces.
Khoei was the son of Ayatollah Sayyid Abdul Qasim
Musawi Al Khoei, who died in 1992 while under house
arrest since the Baghdad regime crushed a Shi'ite
uprising in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War.
Khoei fled the area to Iran and left for London, where
he assumed charge of the wealthy Al Khoei Foundation
set up by his father.
He also acquired American nationality.
The foundation has blamed "agents of the dictatorial
regime now on its deathbed in Iraq" of being behind
his killing, but it does not seem likely that the
claim could be true.
At the same time, other exile leaders say that Khoei's
killers were angry people who were frustrated from
occupation forces and that exiled opposition members
should not return to Iraq alongside the occupation
forces because they are not going to be welcomed and
will be associated with the invaders.
The Iranian government has condemned the killing, but
it could not be ruled out that hard-line elements in
the country's powerful religious establishment would
have had an indirect role in the killing if only to
pre-empt the pro-Western Khoei being elevated as the
most important Shiite leader in southern Iraq.
The Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq
(SCIRI), the Tehran backed Iraqi Shiite dissident
group, is also seeking to strengthen its influence
among its constituents in southern Iraq. The group,
led by Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer Hakim. could have
deemed Khoei an obstacle to its designs.
Hakim has not revealed his designs in Iraq, but it is
not unfathomable that he would want to have the final
say in Shiite affairs throughout Iraq.
Given the Iranian backing for SCIRI, the US might not
want Hakim to assume that role either.
Prominent among the Shiite residents of Najaf is a
local group led by
Mohammed Baqer Al Sadr, who appears to have his own
plans for the holy city that might run counter the
American and SCIRI plans,
It was reported that the Sadr group wanted to kill the
Saddam-installed caretaker and Khoei pulled a gun and
fired one or two shots. Both men were then rushed by
the crowd and hacked to death with swords and knives,
said the reports.
Khoei, who also in charge of the moderate London-based
Shiite Parliament of Iraq and attended a December 2002
conference in London of the main Iraqi exile
opposition figures, opposed other members of the
Shiite movement, including his father's successor,
Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Sistani.
Sistani, who was kept under house arrest until US-led
forces took the city, refused to welcome them,
instead calling for Shiites to remain neutral.
In any event, the killings brought to the surface a
fact the US should have known: It could not afford to
make a false step with the Iraqi Shiites.