Iraqi Shiites In Slums Of Baghdad Which

Iraqi Shiites in the slums of Baghdad, which were once called al-Thawrah Towship and then Saddam City, have now renamed their neighborhood Sadr City after the martyred Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated by the Baathists in 1999. There are reports of local Shiite clerics like Ali al-Shawki, arming followers and establishing neighborhood militias to restore order. Shawki told AFP, “We thank the Americans if they came here to liberate us . . . But if they are here to colonize us, we will regard them as enemies and fight them with all means.” Apparently most Shiites feel this way, which augurs badly for the future, since Rumsfeld intends to have the Pentagon run Iraq for a while. One local Shiite in Sadr city said that the community in Baghdad takes its orders from the religious hierarchy in Najaf. But he did not specify if he meant Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani or someone else.