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Pilgrims shout anti-US slogans
22/04/2003 12:11 - (SA)
Karbala - United States troops kept their distance on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims converged on the Iraqi holy city of Karbala for the climax of a long-suppressed pilgrimage amid growing expressions of anti-American sentiment by some of their religious leaders.
In the capital, hundreds of Shi'ites demonstrated outside US military headquarters for a second straight day, accusing coalition troops of detaining a prominent cleric involved in organising the pilgrimage.
General Jay Garner, head of the US civil administration, met Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani as he continued his preparations for post-war reconstruction.
Meanwhile, defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld angrily denied press reports that Washington intended to maintain permanent military bases in Iraq.
The anti-US slogans which rang out in Karbala, about 80km southwest of Baghdad, were the first expression of anti-Americanism heard by correspondents during the mass pilgrimage, banned throughout the long years of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.
"No America, no Saddam," shouted about 30 men in English from the majority Shi'ite community as they passed a hotel housing foreign reporters.
"No to America, no to Saddam, no to tyranny," they chanted in Arabic, marching behind black flags.
Thousands came to shrine
Slogans such as "Saddam, thug, where are you now?" had previously targeted the toppled president only.
US forces were not present in the city during the pilgrimage, which has drawn hundreds of thousands of faithful from across Iraq.
They came to the shrine of Imam Hussein to commemorate the annual mourning of his decapitation in 680AD by an Umayyad caliph, a pivotal event in Shi'ite history.
Many pilgrims appeared little affected by the anti-US rhetoric of some religious leaders as they went on with the rituals, including self-flagellation, banned under Saddam.
Some voiced gratitude to the United States and Britain for having removed the leader that ruled the country with an iron fist since he became president in 1979.
"I say thank you (US President George W) Bush and thank you (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair," said lawyer Mohsen Abdul Ali Zubeidi in the middle of a debate on post-Saddam Iraq with sheikhs and journalists in a hotel.
But, in the capital, hundreds of Shi'ites complained that a prominent mullah and people travelling with him had been arrested by US forces.
About 400 Shi'ites gathered outside the makeshift US headquarters in the Palestine Hotel to protest against the alleged detention of Sheikh Mohammed Fartusi.
US forces warned
However, US officials said they had no word of his arrest. No violence was reported.
About 5 000 fist-shaking people turned up at the same spot on Monday to rail against the Americans.
A senior Shi'ite leader, Sheikh Hussein al-Assadi, said they had no idea of Fartusi's whereabouts, but issued a warning to US forces.
"We want to tell America, which claims it came here to protect freedom, that if it does not do so, it will have to deal with the Iraqi people," he said.
A statement by protestors on Monday vehemently denounced Fartusi's alleged arrest, as well as that of sheikhs Abdul Rahman Shwili and Abdul Rahman Fetlawi and three travelling companions.
It charged that it "recalled the methods of the tyrant Saddam Hussein and his gang," and warned of "serious consequences".
Garner held his first talks with a Kurdish leader, meeting Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), in his northern stronghold of Suleimanyah, reporters said.
Garner and his team were due to head later to Iraq's main northern city of Mosul for further talks on restarting vital services.
The PUK and the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) called on Tuesday for a major meeting of opposition movements in Baghdad to prepare for an interim administration.
Former Iraqi foreign minister and opposition figure Adnan Pachachi said in Kuwait on Saturday that he hoped a broad-based conference would be held in Baghdad soon to elect an interim authority to put Iraq on the path to free elections.
Mounting anger at lack of amenities
On Monday, 65-year-old Garner, who is in charge of humanitarian relief and the setting-up of an interim government, promised to restore electricity and water supplies to Iraq's main cities as soon as possible.
Garner and his team of civilian administrators face mounting anger among Iraqis about the US presence in the country amid the continued lack of food, water and power.
Baghdad has been largely without electricity since April 4, when the city went dark amid intense US-British air strikes ahead of the coalition drive on the capital.
The US defence secretary angrily denounced a New York Times story saying Washington was planning a long-term military relationship with an emerging Iraqi government that would give it access to bases in the country.
"The impression that is left around the world is that we plan to occupy the country, we plan to use their bases for a long period of time, and it's flat false," said Rumsfeld at a Pentagon briefing.
There had been "zero discussion" among top-level Bush administration officials about the long-term use of four Iraqi air bases, he said.
There was still no sign of Saddam or any of his immediate family, although US commanders on Monday hailed the capture of a former member of the Revolutionary Command Council, the central decision-making body of the ousted regime.
Mohammed Hamza al-Zubaidi was the queen of spades in the "most-wanted" pack of Iraqi officials issued by the US military.
His arrest brought to eight the number of fugitive Iraqi officials seized since the fall of Saddam's regime.
- AFX
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