PREACHER URGES SADRIST SELF-RESTRAINT

C O N F I D E N T I A L HILLAH 000060

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/17/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR SOCI
SUBJECT: PREACHER URGES SADRIST SELF-RESTRAINT

REF: HILLAH 51

CLASSIFIED BY: Mark G. Davison, Team Leader, Provincial
Reconstruction Team, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (U) This is a Najaf PRT cable. Mark G. Davison, Leader.


2. (C) On April 13 at Friday prayers at the Kufa Mosque, Sheik
Jawad Al-Rubaiee delivered the sermon. Speaking to some 600-800
congregants, he made the following points of political interest:

-- We condemn the military raids and actions taking place
against the Sadrists in Diwaniyah, who along with the innocent
people of the province, are suffering;
-- Nonetheless, the Sadrists must continue to exercise
self-restraint; to do otherwise would be to invite a massacre,
and that is what the Invaders desire;
-- Muqtada al-Sadr is, in his person, a symbol of Iraq united
against the Occupation; he is a true leader who places Iraqi
national interests above any personal ambition;
-- Muqtada al-Sadr is in Iraq and with his people;
-- The Sadrists must stand with their brothers from other ethnic
groups; this approach was used successfully in the recent
Protest, itself an exercise that unified Iraqi hopes for the
future and demands that the Occupiers leave the country.


3. (C) According to our source on the ground, the congregants
were mainly of the younger set, from ages 16 to 40. Mahdi
militia (JAM) members guarded the main gate to the Mosque, its
perimeter and conducted thorough searches of all who entered the
Mosque itself. They also did not allow vehicles to part near
the Mosque or to utilize the parking lot behind it.


4. (C) It is interesting to note how Sheik Al-Rubaiee's
remarks build on the published quasi-religious statement of
Muqtada himself, made in the days before the April 9 march and
demonstration (reported Reftel). The political points in the
sermon appear to demonstrate close coordination between Muqtada
and his supporters in the religious community, wherever he
himself might be at present, and we note particularly the now
repeated call on the Sadrists for self-restraint in the face of
what remains an ongoing security operation.

DAVISON