Resistance in Iraq

THE HANDOVER of ‘sovereignty’ to the interim government of Allawi in
Iraq (28 June) was meant to be a step towards ‘democracy’ and accelerated
reconstruction.

Lynn Walsh

Since taking over as prime minister, Allawi has tried to assert himself
as a new Iraqi strongman. He has given himself dictatorial powers,
reintroduced the death penalty, and closed down the Baghdad office of Al-Jazeera,
the Bahrain-based Arab TV station. At the end of July, he authorised a new
US offensive in Najaf against the militia forces of Moqtadr al-Sadr.

The intense fighting in Najaf has ignited fighting in at least seven
other cities. The Shia insurgency rapidly spread from Najaf to Basra,
Nasiriya and Baghdad’s Sadr City. Armed conflict also intensified in the
Sunni triangle, especially in Falluja. There have been hundreds of
casualties, many of them civilians.

The occupying forces control only small fortified enclaves and
watch-points. None of the major road routes are safe for transportation.
There have been 700 attacks on oil facilities, continually disrupting
exports and renewal of production facilities. Reconstruction is a fiasco.
The US Congress approved $18 billion for rebuilding Iraq, but so far only
about $600 million has been paid out, much of it on improving security.

Conflict in Najaf

LAST APRIL, the US made an unsuccessful attempt to smash al-Sadr’s
forces in Najaf. After intense fighting, the US was forced to concede
control of large areas of the city to al-Sadr’s militia. At the beginning
of August, the US renewed pressure on al-Sadr, provoking a new uprising.
Intense fighting has forced most of the civilians to leave the old town.

This is classical guerrilla warfare, between the heavily armed US
forces and lightly armed, highly mobile, militia. The US has the firepower
to crush al-Sadr’s forces, particularly if they could smash their way into
the Najaf mosque, which the militia use as their base.

The Imam Ali shrine, however, is one of Shia Islam’s holiest sites.
Destruction of the mosque, or even occupation by foreign troops, would
cause an explosion throughout Iraq and the Arab world, and not only among
Shia.

So far, the US have held back, and Allawi’s government has been forced
to underline the bar on US occupation of the shrine.

The main fighting in Najaf has been in the vast ‘Valley of Peace’
cemetery, with US forces and militia playing lethal hide-and-seek between
the mausoleums and graves. This macabre battleground symbolises the
guerrilla struggles now taking place throughout the country. "The closer
we get, the scarcer they [the militia] become," said a US sergeant. "When
we move forward they move back… you gotta give ’em credit, they got
guts." US troops are increasingly demoralised by the situation. "If we
stay ten years or if we stay one year," says a young corporal from Las
Vegas, "we’re going to leave and there’s going to be chaos here."

Al-Sadr’s support

WILL THERE be a prolonged siege in Najaf or will US-led forces attempt
to smash al-Sadr’s militia? Even defeat for al-Sadr in Najaf would not
wipe out the forces behind him.

Al-Sadr’s main support comes from Sadr City, the poor Shia area of
Baghdad, which has over two million of the city’s 5.5 million population.
It is an area of hellishly hot and overcrowded slums, afflicted by mass
unemployment. People feel a deep-rooted rage at the lack of any real
progress since the overthrow of Saddam’s regime. There is also fear that
Allawi is attempting to reassemble Saddam’s former Sunni-dominated state
apparatus, especially the army, secret police, and police, cheating
Iraqi’s Shia majority (60%) of majority political control.

Iraqi leaders who fear the potential power of the Shia poor, denounce
the Mahdi army as ‘gangsters’, ‘fanatics’, ‘uneducated rabble’, and so on.
But al-Sadr’s militia is highly organised, with a neighbourhood command
structure and a communications system, together with coordinated medical
care and food supply. Local police joined their demonstrations against the
siege of Najaf.

National conference

THE IRAQI national conference, which convened on 15 August, was
completely overshadowed by events in Najaf. Already delayed, it was
boycotted by several political groups. The thousand or so delegates were
charged with selecting 100 members of an interim national assembly,
pending elections, scheduled for next January. The conference was shaken
by mortar fire, despite heavy security and a day-time curfew imposed on
the surrounding neighbourhoods.

The opening session was dominated by protests from Shia delegates,
demanding an end to the siege of Najaf. "What is happening in Najaf," said
one protester, "is much more important than this conference and demands
our immediate attention." Another asked: "How can we have a conference if
we have a war in Najaf?"

Faced with this pressure, Allawi and his ministers were forced to
pledge that there would be no siege of Najaf’s Golden Mosque, reversing
their aggressive support for the US offensive only a few days earlier.

No matter what happens in Najaf, the resistance against US and other
imperialist occupation will continue to grow. Allawi’s stooge government
will be more and more discredited. US imperialism faces defeat in Iraq,
just as it did in Vietnam.