Can you give us information about the situation in the South of Iraq and the current of Moqtada Sadr?

Our movement started with the fall of the regime as we took over the responsability for the medical supply because of the absence of the Iraqi State.
The same for the food supplies and the security, we organized the people to the mosques and we guarantee the security and we could stop the plundering. We even organize the traffic.

We supplied the people also with gas and petroleum.

The Sadr Movement has an old tradition in Iraq in the conscience of the Iraqi people. Its exists since the 70's with the movement of the first Sadr and continued with the Second Sadr who was martyred in 1999. The movement continued under the leadership of Moqtada Sadr after the death of his father, his brother and ant and his uncle.

You can call it "current", you can call it "line" or wathever, anyhow this movement is coming from the people and working for the people. Its represents the helft of the Iraqi people.

This loyality comes from the loyality of Moqtada to his principles and to his responsabilities. The current was not hot to take the power. The current refused to take part in the new government based on the confessionnal quotas principle.

So many sector of the masses and also many religious leaderships gathered around this young and energical leadership and took part immediately after the fall of Baghdad in the pacific resistance like strikes, demonstrations and all form of protests.

Then came the time as the American troops started to shoot on the peacefull demonstrations and closed the offices of Imam Moqtada Sadr, his official newspaper. And thety threatened us with a penalty of 100.000 dollars if we publish any newspaper speaking about our movement. All that was because we wrote for the people and worked for his interests. We didn't bent down our head. We started a popular uprising. We were the only one who adopted officially the resistance. We fought with uncovered face and known name.
And with a political line which is known by everybody. We are proud of this.
Because there is no other force on the earth who stood openly against USA being on its own ground and fighting with its own masses without having to disappear and to go underground.





What do you think about a reationship with the other forces of the Resistance?




We coordinated will all the forces of the Iraqi Resistance but we did not consider as resistance who just wants to export the criminal violence into Iraq, putting bombs beside mosques, churches, students and simple policemen, killing innocent people. These are terrorists and the are actually forces who resist against the Resistance.

They damage the reputation of the Resistance, weaken the popular bases and deapen the split between the different people confessions. But practically, we had a coordination with the other parts of the resistance and we participated in the fight of Fallujah. The mujahidins raised in Fallujah the photos of Moqtada Sadr and the banners with the slogan "From Fallujah to Kufa, we will not give up our homeland. (Min Fallujah le Kufa, hada al Watan men 'ufa)". Now we have a cimeterry in Fallujah which is called the "cemeterry of Al Sadr".

By the beginning of the confrontations in Fallujah and I mean here defending the city against the invasion and not the guerilla street fights, we had four brigades of the Mahdi Army defending Fallujah.

There is a documentary and official books. Everybody admits this and nobody dares to deny it. Also the fighters of Fallujah came to Najaf and participated in the fights there. They supplied us with food and medecines during the battle of Najaf and we supplied them with food and medecines.
That exhausted the ennemy and that's why the attack against Imam Sadr was more violent. Because they were claiming that the Kurds and the Shi’as were victims of the former regime and that the Resistance existed only in the Sunnite zones and was performed by the followers of the Baath regime.

The Resistance led by Sadr who himself was a important opponent of the former regime took the Resistance from its confessionnal aspect and gave it a Iraqi national dimension.

The second point is the charisma of Moqtada Sadr who gained popularity after the confrontation against the American, destroying the image of the invincible USA, using simple weapons. The third point is that this resistance formed a strong solidarity between all the Shi’as of the population and showd the Resistance is an important factor unifying the Iraqi people.


Thats why, the attacks against Imam Sadr was crucial and joined with a strong media diffamation campaign. The Iraqi people understands this role and the difficulties and the responsabilities and its support to the Sadr current increased and the masses defended the offices of Moqtada Sadr in Najaf, Kufa and all cities of the South, the Middle and the North and in Kerkuk. I have to mention that Kerkuk called for help for the damage caused by the Kurds and nobody was ready to help except the Mahdi Army.



That's why, the people of Kerkuk are proud of the Mahdi Army and thankfull to Moqtada Sadr who saved them from the hegemony of the US allied peshmergas.





What are you perspectives for the future?

We hope in a better Iraq because there are many resisting people who refuse the occupation but we have to be carefull because some fundamentalist groups are trying to cause an conflict between the confessions or between the political parties, the different nationalities or between the Muslims and the Christians, putting bombs. Many challenges are still here. The occupation and the traitors are still here. But we still have the big bases of the people masses believing in the victory of the Iraqi homeland against all these phenomena.

A message to the peoples of Turkey?

We wish from the Turkish people a positive role concerning the current situation, a role which corresponds to their regional weight.



Interview made by Bahar Kimyongür from the Front for Rights and
Freedoms (HÖC-Turkey)
26th March 2005