Between tyranny and occupation
Saddam must go and the US should follow him out, a prominent Iraqi Shi'a figure told Omayma Abdel-Latif in a recent interview
Sitting in his two-storey house cum office in Willesden Green, north-west London, Sayed Mohamed Bahrul Oulum, a prominent Iraqi opposition figure in exile makes little effort to hide his wish to see the back of Saddam. "No one knows what it is like to live under Saddam's rule more than the Iraqi people," Bahrul Oulum said. For nearly 30 years, Bahrul Oulum has been in exile yet he has still been unable to escape the suffering being meted out by the Iraqi regime. Over the past decade alone, he had seen 22 members of his family disappear and in 2001 his cousin, Hussein Bahrul Oulum, one of Shi'a Islam's most powerful clerics, died under mysterious circumstances. Wearing his black turban, a sign of being a descendent of Prophet Mohamed, 76-year-old Bahrul Oloum is the scion of one of the most prominent Shi'a families in Annajaf Al-Ashraf. He dwells on the policies of sectarian discrimination, the aggression against the religious seminaries of the Shi'a (Al-Hawza Al-Ilmiya) and interference in their affairs, including the murder of their grand religious guides and their families and the imprisonment and torture of thousands of others. To escape a similar fate Bahrul Oulum left Iraq in the 1970s. He launched his political career in 1947 by setting up 'action committees' in Iraq, which were later transformed into an Islamist party called Al-Dawa'a, currently a key Shi'a opposition movement.
In the 1960s, Bahrul Oulum decided to distance himself from partisan influences, resigning from Al-Dawa'a in order to, "serve the interests of all Iraqis". In 1979, he received a degree in Islamic jurisprudence from the faculty of Dar Al-Oloum, Cairo University. For the past two decades he has been leading the Independent Islamist Movement, an opposition Islamist platform, headquartered in London.
As the final countdown to the US-led attack on Iraq began this week, the role of the different Iraqi political groups in the ensuing conflict after Saddam's fall is being widely debated. Special emphasis has been placed on the role of Iraq's Shi'a population which represents up to two- thirds (55-60 per cent) of the country's overall population of 22 million. Western press reports, however, are painting the picture of an Iraq divided along sectarian lines. Some reports have even gone as far as to bet on a possible uprising by the Iraqi Shi'a akin to that which took place in 1991. In this scenario, the Shi'a would prove crucial to any US efforts to bring down Saddam Hussein's regime. However, contrary to this dominant view, Bahrul Oulum, who has helped shape Iraqi politics over the past 20 years, insists that, "none of the opposition Shi'a movements are interested in the sectarian rule of Iraq." "We are aware of the fact that the Americans want to play the sectarian card. We are totally against it because the existing conflict is not sectarian. Any scheme that does not take into account the unity of Iraq and its genuine Arab identity will be shunned by all Iraqis. Iraqis would not necessarily elect a Shi'a president," he said firmly.
The relationship between Iran and the Shi'a opposition movements, particularly the SCIRI (Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq) has been a point of contention. While Bahrul Oulum acknowledges that there is a doctrinal bond tying the Iraqi Shi'a to the wider Shi'a community, he does not agree with the view that the Iraqi opposition in Iran are under heavy Iranian influence. "We cannot say that they are being used by the Iranians," he said. "The Iraqis who lived in exile in Iran might have come under the influence of Iranian ideology but they still feel Iraqi. The influence has been political rather than religious." He explained that the Iraqi Shi'a are represented by more than 14 political groupings and that independent Islamists outnumber political parties. "There is no such thing as a unified Shi'a front. All the factions do not sing from the same musical sheet. The myth propagated in the Western media about a Shi'a population acting independently from the rest of the Iraqi people has no foundation in reality. All Iraqis suffered from Saddam's wrath," he said.
The Iraqi Shi'a have traditionally opposed any US intervention to bring down Saddam Hussein's regime. If history is any guide, they have been sceptical of US intervention. Recently, however, the stand of some Shi'a movements vis-à-vis cooperation with the US has been oscillating between cautious dialogue and total rejection. Some grand religious authorities -- most of those inside Iraq and the Lebanese Shi'a guide Hassan Fadlullah -- have issued fatwas prohibiting any dealing or cooperation with the Americans. Indeed, a meeting which brought together all Shi'a factions in Tehran this week has also rejected any US intervention. Other Shi'a figures, however, have participated in US-supervised conferences and held meetings with officials in the US administration. Bahrul Oulum himself came under heavy criticism when he participated in the Iraqi opposition conference which was held in London last December. "I attended it but when I realised that democracy in Iraq was the last thing they wanted to discuss, I stormed out," he said.
He describes the relationship with the US administration to be, "a utilitarian one". "We have a vested interest in toppling Saddam and the Americans have an interest as well. Our paths crossed on this issue. We had to accept it because nobody offered us a helping hand. So this is basically a utilitarian affair. We are taking the risk of having this alliance since there are no guarantees that the Americans are going to stick to their promises of a democratic Iraq. But, we will not accept that Saddam be replaced by an American ruler."
In fact, Bahrul Oloum's statements reveal the schism which characterises those sections of the Shi'a opposition which have allied themselves with the United States and those which have steered clear of any relationship.
Knowing that America's backing is more likely to become a liability, the SCIRI, an umbrella for several Shi'a parties based in Tehran and a key Shi'a movement, has traditionally opposed US military intervention in Iraq. Although its head Mohamed Baqir Al-Hakim attended a meeting between Iraqi opposition leaders and Bush administration officials in Washington, it has rejected any direct American involvement in overthrowing Saddam and said it would not accept US aid. This week saw the SCIRI harden its position vis-à-vis any US intervention in Iraqi politics. Indeed, during a military show of force held by the Badr Brigade, the SCIRI's paramilitary wing, in the city of Darbendakhan, Abdel-Aziz Al- Hakim, a senior member of the SCIRI, stated that the Iraqi people are solely responsible for any regime change in Iraq. He dismissed any military or security coordination with the US.
With 10,000-12,000 armed fighters currently inside Iraq, the Badr Brigade leaders seem intent on playing a role in bringing down Saddam's regime regardless of the US's stand. "We have our forces inside Iraq, in Baghdad, Najaf and Karbala and they are awaiting our orders," a commander of the Badr Brigade told reporters this week. There are growing fears, however, that the presence of many armed militias inside Iraq would raise the possibility of civil unrest once the regime collapses.
Bahrul Oulum does not have a clear picture of how the situation will unfold once the regime breaks down. However, he did not rule out the possibility that civil unrest will follow the collapse of the regime in Shi'a-dominated areas. This, he says, is bound to be the biggest challenge for the Americans. "Baghdad has become a ghost city caught between Saddam's tyranny and an expected American occupation."
Despite the fact that both the Iraqi Shi'a opposition and the US have a common enemy, the Shi'a opposition will not make it easy for the Americans if their intent is to remain in the country, says Bahrul Oulum. "We want to see Saddam gone but we also want the Americans to follow him out," he said firmly.
Although America's declared intentions tell a different story, Bahrul Oulum states that, "we reject any scenarios that involve American rule over Baghdad. The Iraqis are not going to accept this and if the Americans don't go, we will tear them apart."
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 20 - 26 March 2003 (Issue No. 630)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/630/sc4.htm