In the Ancient Streets of Najaf, Pledges of Martyrdom for Cleric

[Blackaxe]

Like posters advertising a rapper's latest release, Moktada al-Sadr's hectoring, finger-pointing portrait is plastered across the old quarter here.

The 10th-century Imam Ali shrine, one of the most revered sites in Shiite Iraq, where once pilgrims came by the millions to kiss the giant wooden doors, is under the control of his ragtag militia. His men, even after bruising battles with American troops, still guard the checkpoints leading to the old city. His recruits, some too young to shave, stand sentry at the shrine gates, barking at women old enough to be their mothers.

At 23, with no more than a primary school education and a short stint as a soldier in Saddam Hussein's army, Mustafa Jabbar says he and his wife stand ready to be martyrs for Mr. Sadr's movement. If need be, he said, they will volunteer their first born as well, a baby boy, now 45 days old. "I will put mines in the baby and blow him up," Mr. Jabbar said. He has named the baby Moktada.

Mr. Sadr's dominion over this sacred centerpiece of Iraq's Shiite heartland is nothing short of extraordinary. The shrine is a no-go area to the Iraqi police. The fledgling Iraqi Army has not ventured anywhere near. American soldiers, once under orders to arrest the renegade preacher in connection with the murder of a rival cleric, are posted on the fringes of town, unable to enter the city center under the terms of the truce struck with the Mahdi Army.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/10/international/middleeast/10NAJA.html

[acmavm]

1. Having an enemy who is willing to die for his cause, willing to sacrifice

his wife, and willing to sacrifice his child is a very dangerous enemy to have indeed. This is a man that holds NOTHING so near and dear that he won't let it go in defense (offense?) of his beliefs.

Not the kind of enemy that I'd like to have, although I guess I do since he feels that he's fighting all Americans.

Good work George.