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BAGHDAD, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A hundred
thousand Iraqis across the country marched on Friday
in support of a maverick Shi'ite cleric opposed to a
draft constitution that U.S.-backed government
leaders say will deliver a brighter future.
The protest could reinforce the opposition of Sunni
Arabs who dominate the insurgency and are bitterly
against the draft.
Supporters of young Shi'ite firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr,
who has staged two uprisings against U.S. troops,
also protested against poor services during their
marches, stepping up the pressure on the government.
A hundred thousand Sadr supporters marched in eight
cities, including 30,000 people who gathered for a
sermon delivered on his behalf in a Baghdad slum
district.
They hardly noticed a huge government poster which
read "One Nation, One People, One Constitution",
instead seeking guidance from Sadr who inspires
fierce devotion in his followers.
Sadr returned to centre stage this week after his
fighters fought a rival Shi'ite militia, the Badr
organisation, raising fears of a new front in Iraq's
relentless cycle of violence.
He is stirring hopes among his vast following at a
time when Iraq's divided politicians have missed a
series of deadlines for reaching a consensus on the
constitution, which is expected to be put to a
referendum in October.
Sadr has also come out in support of Sunni
opposition to the federal state that his Shi'ite
rivals in government, with their Kurdish allies,
have outlined in the charter.
"Bush and America out," yelled cleric Abdel-Zahra
al-Suwaidid, reading a statement on Sadr's behalf in
the Baghdad slum of Sadr City which is named after
his revered father, a cleric allegedly killed by
Saddam Hussein's agents.
Another widespread complaint was written simply on
banners: "We want water, we want electricity."
The young cleric has gained followers by portraying
himself as a champion of the poor. Sadr's cult-like
popularity means he can quickly mobilise his
fighters if a full-scale conflict with the Badr
movement breaks out.
CULT VERSUS CONSTITUTION
Young boys wore T-shirts with images of Sadr and his
father as others played a song on a scratchy
cassette which repeated "Oh Moqtada, Oh Moqtada"
over and over.
"I like Sayyid Moqtada," said eight-year-old
Montadhir Taei, using Sadr's religious title.
It was clear his elders have been influencing him:
"Iraqis should write the constitution, not the
Americans," he said.
The image of Sadr, a burly figure with a turban, was
pasted on a water tank carried by a teenager
spraying cool water at the crowd of tens of
thousands under a cruel sun in Baghdad.
Sadr, who has denied U.S. and Iraqi government
accusations he ordered the killing of a rival
cleric, assumed a low profile after a U.S. offensive
against his forces last year in Najaf.
Now he faces the Iranian-trained Badr movement,
which some Iraqis accuse of operating in hit squads
alongside government forces. Badr officials and the
government deny the accusations.
Sadr's supporters say Badr militiamen attacked his
office in Najaf on Wednesday, and clashes then
erupted in several cities. A Badr official denied
any involvement. Eight people were killed, health
officials said.
"These people just want power and money. You go ask
the Interior Ministry who did this," said Hussein
Saleh, referring to the Badr movement.
The fighting between the two groups across several
cities raised the spectre of a new security crisis
in Iraq, already ravaged by a Sunni Arab insurgency
that has killed thousands of Iraqi police and
soldiers, civilians and U.S. troops.
At the Baghdad protest, fighters in Sadr's Mehdi
Army stood alert on rooftops with assault rifles as
speakers condemned the United States.
Some of Sadr's authority comes from credentials of
his slain father, Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr.
"We don't need a constitution because Mohammed al-Sadr's
writing is our constitution," said Mohammed Ubeidi,
26, sitting below a wall-clock dominated by pictures
of Moqtada and his father.
Reuters
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