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Sadr backers seethe over Iraqi army but avoid violence
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Jul 20, 2008 11:50pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Saturday, July 19, 2008 05:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD — Under sweltering heat Friday, the prayer leader urged the crowd of thousands to show forbearance and not to retaliate for what he called daily humiliations at the hands of the Iraqi army.
The plea has become a weekly ritual. Baghdad's Sadr City district after Friday prayers is a massive slum seething with unrest, which backers of firebrand cleric Muqtada al Sadr are managing to control, but only just.
The Friday sermon is the key to keeping the peace. After prayers, hundreds of young men began demonstrating Friday in front of nearby government forces. Some men began lunging at the Iraqi troops; most held them back.
"Go on! Go on! Keep walking. Head home to your families," a woman told the men, who sheepishly followed her orders.
"There is anger inside our people. There is a volcano that wants to erupt. But we are obedient to Sayed Muqtada," said Nadhil al Sudani, a Sadr City resident and the chief of security for the women's section of Friday prayers, referring to Sadr with an honorific.
"We respect the army if they respect themselves. Many don't. They push the doors and enter homes without due respect to our privacy. Through these confrontations, they try to trigger some violent reaction from the Sadrist trend."
Sadr's order not to fight fellow Iraqis, no matter what, has prevailed so far over hotheaded youths seeking revenge. But residents said they were always fighting the urge to lash out at what they describe as abusive soldiers.
"It is only Muqtada's orders that are stopping us. The Iraqi army knows that they would become hostages within hours," one worshipper told a McClatchy reporter after Friday's sermon.
At stake is not just the future of Sadr City but also security nationwide. U.S. military leaders and everyday Iraqis think that Sadr's order to his followers is a key reason for the dramatic fall in violence. |
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