Top Aide to Sadr Outlines Vision of a U.S.-Free Iraq

[Rose Siding]

Yaqoubi is considered an intellectual, in the vanguard of Sadr's Shiite movement. In an interview over the course of an afternoon, he outlined his views of an organization that is scarcely known to Americans. His children occasionally came in to interrupt, putting a hand on his knee to whisper a message from the women out of sight in the back of the house.

Despite their ascendancy now, Yaqoubi said, Iraq's Shiites owe no gratitude to the Americans. "The Americans are not saving us from Saddam for the sake of the Iraqi people," he said. "They gave Saddam clearance in the 1990s to strike at the Shia people. It was in their own interest to get rid of Saddam."
...
"We believe the American people are not coming from Mars. They see on their televisions how it is here," Yaqoubi said. "They have the same mentality we have. We believe that if the Americans were occupied by another country they would do the same as we are, or even more."
...
How would a Sadr government look, should the cleric come to full power? "Our main goal, by our nature, we are Islamists," Yaqoubi said. "Our only desire is to obey God. We want the heavenly laws to be applied, in a normal way."

Yaqoubi described a gentler version of Shiite Islamic government. He insisted that Iraq would not model itself on Shiite Persian Iran next door. But he spoke approvingly of Iran in hinting how Iraq might look, saying, "There is freedom of journalism, women can drive, can go without veils."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091101337_2.html

[Kagemusha]

1. That last paragraph quoted is pure comedy.

Dunno about the driving part but... the freedom of journalism and going without veils? Sometimes. When the authorities feel like it. When they don't, it doesn't happen.