Sistani Arrives in Najaf

Sistani Arrives in Najaf; Dozens Killed in Kufa

By Karl Vick, Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 26, 2004; 11:15 AM
NAJAF, Iraq, Aug. 26 -- Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, arrived here on a peace mission Thursday, but the occasion was marked by considerable violence, numerous deaths and no firm sign of any resolution of the conflict that has been raging here since Aug. 5.

Even before Sistani arrived, more than two dozen Iraqis waiting for him were killed in two separate assaults in the nearby suburb of Kufa. They had been preparing to march in a demonstration organized by Sistani in an effort to bring an end to the three weeks of furious fighting between U.S. troops and the militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, which is holed up in the shrine of Imam Ali here.

In the first assault, mortar rounds(迫擊炮彈) were fired into a crowd gathered at the main mosque in Kufa. Early reports said 27 people died while more than 60 people were wounded. No group claimed responsibility.

In the second attack, gunmen opened fire on a group already on the road from Kufa to Najaf. Reports from that attack remained sketchy but wire services said three were dead and many more wounded.

After Sistani reached the city, an exchange of gunfire between police and people in a surging crowd near the house where the cleric is staying resulted in 10 more deaths and at least 20 injuries. There were varying accounts of how that violence started. But wire service reports from the scene and officials agreed that armed civilians were in the crowd, some of them marching around with signs bearing Sadr's image.

Iraq's Health Ministry put the death toll for the day at 74, with 315 wounded. It was unclear how officials arrived at that total.

Fighting in Najaf also claimed the life earlier in the day of a U.S. Marine, the second to be killed in two days, bringing to 11 the number of American service personnel lost here since Aug. 5.

Meanwhile, the 73-year-old Sistani, who returned to his home city from London where he was receiving medical treatment, was said by aides to be resting in a private home in Najaf after he arrived in a long convoy from Basra in the south.

But thousands hoping to march with him were stuck on the road from Kufa to Najaf, their way blocked by security forces concerned about the potential for more violence.

A Sistani spokesman, Hamed Khafaf, told reporters in Najaf that "now there are serious efforts to look for the mechanism" to bring peace to Najaf. "We are waiting for the coming hours and we hope we will be successful in preventing the destruction of the city of scholars and knowledge" and in stopping "violations of the holy shrine of the Prince of the Faithful [meaning Imam Ali]."

The spokesman called "on all the faithful who are waiting to stay in their places and to wait for the instructions" from Sistani. "If they cannot wait, they can return to their cities," Khafaf said.

Kufa is a key Sadr power base and lies adjacent to Najaf. The mosque there is where Sadr often gives sermons during Friday prayers.

Television footage showed Sistani entering Najaf in a massive convoy guarded by police vehicles with sirens wailing. A surging, swaying crowd of thousands enveloped the convoy as it made its entrance. Many more were converging on Najaf on foot from several regions.

"We have been waiting for a long time for the arrival of Sayyid Sistani and we hope he'll solve the problem," said Hasan Athari, 34, a trader from Najaf dressed in a dirty white ankle-length tunic as he stood in the street. "Our city, my family, our business, our house have all been destroyed."

His family, he said, is staying in a refugee camp outside Najaf. "I used to have a small shop. I never needed to ask people for help. Now my family is living on what people give then. If I have lunch today, I'll not have dinner. I hope Sistani will be able to get my life and dignity back."

On the other hand, Ali Abdul Ameer, 41, laborer from Najaf said: "I don't believe this coward will be able to do anything. He ran away from Najaf and threw himself in their hands in London, so I don't think he'll be able to do anything.

"Even if Sadr leaves the city, who will govern it? We need a strong government able to control the city and keep it from destruction."

Both U.S. and Iraqi officials, while worried about aspects of Sistani's plan for peace, have expressed the hope that he can succeed. While the day brought talk of cease-fires and of potential negotiations between Sadr's followers, Sistani's representatives and the interim government of Iraq, there was no public sign of concrete progress.

Indeed, the violence seemed to escalate as civilians took to the streets to join in Sistani's march.

It was uncertain what would happen when the marchers reach the area around the shrine where there has been heavy fighting for days between U.S. forces and Sadr's militiamen.

There appeared to be no clear coordination between the Iraqi authorities and U.S. commanders over how to handle the pilgrims, who will be trying to move through the tight cordon established by troops around the area.

As night fell, the U.S. military announced that it has suspended offensive operations in Najaf. "At the request of the local and national Iraqi government, Iraqi security forces and the Multi-National Force . . . have temporarily suspended offensive military operations to facilitate the return of Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani to the holy city of Najaf," the military's statement said.

Earlier in the day, the governor of Najaf also announced a cease-fire to allow Sistani to negotiate with representatives of Sadr on a peaceful end to an uprising by Sadr. Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said the cease-fire would last 24 hours to allow talks.

In a statement reported by the Associated Press, Allawi said Sadr's representatives had indicated they would accept a peace plan put forward by Sistani. Under the plan, he said, Sadr's Mahdi Army fighters would be offered an amnesty if they gave up their weapons and agreed to leave peacefully from the Imam Ali shrine. Sadr would also be offered safe passage if he agreed to end the uprising, Allawi said.

Several similar plans have been consummated and abandoned over the past 10 days, however, and it was unclear whether the latest agreement was any more solid than the earlier ones.

Meanwhile, officers for units fighting in the city's badly battered center said that they had no guidance from senior commanders on how to deal with the arrival of peaceful demonstrators.

"We're going to send some trucks [Humvees] out to stop people from going farther for their own safety," said Capt. Jeff Gardner of the 1st Cavalry Division's 5th Regiment, 1st Battalion. Another cavalry battalion, the 2nd of the 7th Regiment, planned to "do some crowd control" from the position it was holding at the main approach to the shrine.

Another American officer said the troops would only search those approaching the city and would allow those without weapons to proceed. "My orders are, if they're civilians, if they're unarmed, let them through," said Maj. Jeff Cushman, a senior adviser to the 4th Battalion of the Iraqi Intervention Force. "If they're armed, pretty much the Iraqi police will take care of them."

Cushman, speaking in the hot sand where 123 Iraqi troops were climbing into trucks for the short trip to a permanent police checkpoint, said: "These people have a right, if they're going to do it peacefully, to do what they want to do. . . . Hopefully these people can help end this on a peaceful note, because that's what everybody wants."

Fighting continued through midday as the city center rang with sniper fire, the roar of rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and, around noon, the thunderous impact of at least two 500-pound bombs U.S. warplanes dropped on the south end of the parking garage behind the shrine.

Although Sistani has quietly disagreed with Sadr's militant tactics, it is not clear what he wants to accomplish through his march.

Iraqi political leaders expressed concern that the march could be co-opted by Sadr's supporters and that an injection of thousands of noncombatants into the war-torn city could interfere with ongoing military operations and allow the militiamen to escape.

U.S. commanders say they are certain that Sadr used a public march toward the shrine during a previous cease-fire as an opportunity to re-supply and reinforce his militia.

But, the political leaders said, it also could reduce tensions by pressuring Sadr to relinquish control of the shrine to more senior Shiite leaders, perhaps leading some fighters to lay down their arms.

Chandrasekaran reported from Baghdad. Barbash reported from Washington.

Shiite

 n.

A member of the branch of Islam that regards Ali and his descendants as the legitimate successors to Mohammed and rejects the first three caliphs.

 什葉派教徒一支承認阿里和他的後 裔爲穆罕穆德合法繼承人而不承認第一批三個哈里發的伊斯蘭教教派的成員

Cleric

 [cler·ic || 'kler?k]

(名)

教 會聖職人員
toll1
[tEJl, tRl]
vi
（道路、港 口的）通行費，過路稅
（因疾病、意外事故等的）傷亡，損失，代價

[俚]引誘(獵物)使其墜入陷阱; 誘惑
He tolled us on with fine promises.
他用漂亮的諾言誘惑我們。

toll2
[tEJl]
vi, vt
敲（鍾），鳴鐘； 一聲一聲地響

shrine 

[?ra?n]

(名) 聖壇; 聖祠; 神龕; 神殿

(動) 將...置於神龕內

Mosque

 [mɑsk /m?sk]

(名) 清真寺

Sketchy

 ['sketch·y || 'sket??]

(形) 寫生的, 概略的, 寫生風格的

cordon 

[cor·don || 'k??dn]

(名)

哨兵線; 綬章; 飾帶; 飛檐層

(動)

用警戒線圍住

Amnesty

 [am·nes·ty || 'æmn?st?]

(名)

大赦; 特赦

(動)

對...實行大赦; 赦免

cavalry 

[cav·al·ry || 'kævlr?]

(名)

騎兵, 騎兵部隊; 裝甲兵, 裝甲部隊

sniper  ['snip·er || 'sna?p?(r)]

(名)

狙擊兵; 狙擊手

Grenade  [gre·nade || gr?'ne?d]

(名)

手榴彈

co-opt

vt.由現會員選舉, 指派

relinquish

[re·lin·quish || r?'l??kw??]

 v.tr.

 re.lin.quished; re.lin.quish.ing; re.lin.quish.es;

To retire from; give up or abandon.

離開；放棄或拋棄