In the Belly of the Green Bird by Nir Rosen

Author:Nir Rosen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 2006-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

THE U.S.- LED Coalition Provisional Authority decided to lash out at Moqtada in March 2004 by shutting down his organization’s newspaper, Al-Hawza. It was a foolish move. An ocean of literature was stirring up strife against the occupation, and conflict between Shias and Sunnis.

Yet only Moqtada’s newspaper, a radical Shia organ, was closed down on March 28. Singling out Moqtada only gave him a useful grievance. Thousands of Iraqi Shias staged a demonstration in Baghdad’s al-Hurriya square to protest the closure. They demanded an apology from the Americans for insulting the Shia seminary and all Iraqis. Al-Hawza was published every Thursday and sold throughout Iraq. The text of Moqtada’s sermon from the previous Friday was displayed on the front page. News of Moqtada’s latest activities, such as an invitation to all his representatives in Iraq to meet him in Najaf or his latest pronouncement, was also on the front page. Al-Hawza contained articles obliquely critical of moderate leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Typical headlines were “Kurdistan Always Belonged to Iraq,” “America Kills, Then Apologizes” (with a picture of Americans abusing an old man), “America Releases Prisoners After the Hawza Threatens Them,” “Iraqis of All Religions and Sects Refuse to Watch Half-naked Women on Television.”

The American occupying forces closed its offices for sixty days, padlocking and chaining the doors, handing the editor a letter signed by Paul Bremer explaining that the newspaper had violated a ban on fomenting violence. Though the Americans were attempting to silence a vocal and vitriolic critic of their efforts in Iraq, the move played directly into Moqtada’s hands. Hamid Bayati, the spokesman for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, confirmed that the move would only “provoke Moqtada al-Sadr’s supporters” and confirm Iraqi suspicions that Americans are hypocritical and selective in their application of democracy. (The occupying forces already punished Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, two Arabic satellite news networks, for broadcasting programs the Americans found distasteful, but no other print publications.)

The punishment of yet another media outlet only confirmed the worst views Iraqis had of Americans and drew parallels with the censorship imposed by the previous government. Shias view themselves as an oppressed and persecuted sect. Moqtada al-Sadr himself often warned of his impending martyrdom. By closing down the newspaper the Americans only supported these fears. Al-Hawza had a circulation of only a few tens of thousands. Moqtada reached his supporters through his sermons, CDs of which were sold throughout the country; through statements posted on the walls of his local offices; and through the sermons of his local representatives. Closing Al-Hawza did not prevent him from reaching his audience. It was a stupid move.

In Kufah, Moqtada threatened armed opposition to the occupation, and railed against U.S. administrator Paul Bremer’s announcement that Islam would not be the main source of the new Iraqi constitution. “We want to advise everybody,” Moqtada said, “that the Iraqi people have the ability to attack their enemies.” After the interim constitution was signed, Moqtada fumed, comparing it to the British 1917 Balfour Declaration “which sold off Palestine.

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