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BAGHDAD (Reuters)
— Some say Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad
Allawi, is too soft on the radical Shiite Muslim
militiamen posing the biggest challenge yet to his
government.
Others fear he has gone too far by unleashing Iraqi
security forces alongside US warplanes, helicopter
gunships and Marines in the sacred city of Najaf.
But Iraqis agree on one thing — Allawi must deliver
on promises of stability soon.
"Allawi is doing the right thing. These people have
no popular support. They are terrorists. He needs to
be tough," said a retired education ministry
employee from Najaf who only gave his name as Abu
Saad for fear of reprisals.
Fighting between firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada
Sadr's militiamen and Iraqi and American forces has
raged for seven straight days in the toughest test
for Allawi since the US handover of sovereignty to
his interim government in late June. Sadr urged his
Mehdi Army militiamen on Wednesday to keep battling
US forces in Najaf even if he was killed or
captured, raising fears of prolonged bloodshed.
While fighting has erupted in other cities,
including Baghdad, the stakes are highest in Najaf
because any damage to holy shrines in the city is
likely to infuriate millions of Shiite Muslims in
Iraq and other countries.
Pressure on all fronts
That would pile enormous pressure on Allawi because
he is already struggling against a Sunni Muslim
insurgency, suicide bombings, kidnappings and an
economy starved of investment.
But some Iraqis say this is not a time to be
sensitive.
"Allawi has to destroy the Mehdi Army. They are
criminals who pop pills and drink alcohol and then
go out and cause problems," said automobile parts
shop owner Talal Ahmed, 57, a Sunni.
"I have my rifle ready in case they come round here.
They should be crushed."
Stamping out Sadr, whose fighters also battled US
troops in March, won't be easy. It would require
even heavier support from US troops and could
reinforce suspicions that the Americans, not Allawi,
are still calling the shots in Iraq.
"Allawi will only create more problems and violence
if he continues his policy of force. Force will meet
force. Anyway he is a pawn on a chess board for the
Americans," said Fadil Obeid, a 55-year-old Sunni
furniture shop employee.
Even an Iraqi policeman whose comrades have died at
the hands of the Mehdi Army said it would be wise
for Allawi to distance himself from the Americans.
"The approach of force against the Mehdi Army is
right but the Americans should not be fighting. This
should be an Iraqi struggle," said Abu Ahmed. As a
former member of Saddam Hussein's ruthless Baath
Party with ties to British and US intelligence,
Allawi is seen by Iraqis as a potentially effective
strongman in a country where brute force was the law
for decades. But some Iraqis say it is time to end
the violence and rely on politics and diplomacy.
Three colleagues at a currency exchange shop — a
Shiite, a Sunni and a Kurd — sat at their desks
measuring the costs of the fighting. Profits have
fallen from $70 to $18 a day because customers are
staying home and the violence has hit consumer
spending, they said. They have also heard that the
crackdown has pushed disillusioned friends into
joining the Mehdi Army.
"Allawi has crossed a red line. You don't calm
people by force, you win them over through words,"
said Saber Abdel Kareem. "We are still waiting for
stability. We have seen nothing."
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