Second front in Iraq: Shiite revolt

As US marines enveloped the restive Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah to respond to the murder and mutilation of four US contractors there last week, a new and potentially more dangerous front was opening in the south - with members of Iraq's Shiite majority.

Sunday, battles broke out in four cities between coalition forces and militias loyal to fiery Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, with the fiercest fighting occuring in Baghdad's Sadr City, home to 2 million Shiites. Seven US soldiers and 30 Iraqis were killed in fighting and more than 100 Iraqis, many civilians, were injured. Fighting also erupted in the southern cities of Najaf, Nasariyah, and Amarah. And Monday, in British-controlled Basra, Sadr supporters seized control of the governor's office.

The incidents in Fallujah were characterized as coming from old-regime supporters fighting a doomed battle to protect their traditional supremacy. But trouble among Shiites - who stand to benefit most from Hussein's removal - would point to a disaffection with US rule so great that the transition plan for Iraq, starting with the June 30 handover of sovereignty to unelected Iraqis, would become untenable.

The minirebellions were sparked by the coalition's closure of Sadr's newspaper, Al-Hawza, late last month, and the arrest of Sadr aide Mustafa Al-Yacoubi by US forces last week, on charges that he aided in the assassination of Ayatollah Abdul Majid Al-Khoei last April. Sadr has demanded the reopening of his paper, the release of Mr. Yacoubi, and prosecution of US soldiers for "crimes" against his people.

Monday, the coalition announced that it was issuing a warrant for Sadr's arrest on charges of having been involved in the murder of a key cleric last year.

It's still too soon to say if this will evolve into a full-fledged Shiite rebellion, something that would throw US plans for Iraq into a tailspin. But the turn of events has left the coalition struggling for a response.

Coalition officials hope that highly respected clerics like Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani will find a way to rein Sadr in. Iraqi radio stations reported Monday that Ayatollah Sistani, who rarely appears in public, was preparing a statement that will call for calm, but also expresses understanding of people's frustrations.

Officials also insist that such incidents are hiccups caused by a bitter few, and that the violence is condemned by most Iraqis.

Sadr "is attempting to establish his authority in the place of the legitimate authority. We will not tolerate this,'' Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, said Monday. "We will reassert the law and order which the Iraqi people expect."

Still, the violence makes finding out what Iraqis want more difficult. It also overshadowed the arrival of UN Iraq envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who the US hopes will build support for the transition plan.

Sadr's supporters claim he speaks for vast numbers of Iraqis. "We will die for Sadr if we have to, because he wants what all Iraqi people want,'' says Sabah al-Faras, a cab driver and member of the Mahdi Army militia, standing guard at the group's headquarters in Sadr City. He refuses to be pushed around by the US.

"There won't have to be an intifada if the US meets our demands,'' he says. The use of words like intifada, with its echoes of Palestinian resistance to Israel, indicates the danger the coalition could be up against if support for Sadr grows. Iraq also has a homegrown language of resistance stemming from battles against British rule in the early 20th century.

Sadr and his supporters insist the fighting in Najaf and Sadr City was started after youths stoned coalition military vehicles and soldiers opened fire. US officers say their men were fired on first, but many Iraqi newspapers favored Sadr's view in their accounts Monday.

Sadr City was largely peaceful in the early afternoon Monday, with thousands of Sadr supporters controlling the center, many shouting their willingness to die as coffins of those killed were taken in procession to Najaf, the shrine city where most Iraqi Shiites hope to be buried.

But there were signs that the calm could quickly change, with large numbers of tanks and armored Humvees rolling out from US bases.

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