Iraq: Death Of Shi’ite Leader <PERSON> · Global Voices
<PERSON>, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (the largest political party in the Iraqi Council of Representatives), died of lung cancer on August 26 in Tehran, Iran. His death is expected to have repercussions for politics in Iraq. Bloggers around the region have responded to the news.
In Bahrain, <PERSON> is devastated:
صدمة اليوم ..
وفـاتـه ..
يا رب ..
خفف ألمَ هذا المصاب ..
A shock today…
His death…
O Lord…
Ease the pain of this misfortune…
In Baghdad, <PERSON> writes:
بمزيد من الأسى والحزن تلقينا نبأ رحيل بطل من أبطال العراق والأمة الإسلامية، حجة الإسلام والمسلمين سماحة السيد عبد العزيز الحكيم طيب الله ثراه، رجل كرس حياته للعلم والجهاد فأصابهما معاً
With more pain and sadness we learned of the death of one of the heroes of Iraq and of the Islamic nation, the Proof of Islam and of Muslims [an honorific title], His Eminence <PERSON>, may God let him rest in peace, a man who devoted his life to knowledge and jihad and attained them both.
At the Iraq and Gulf Analysis blog, <PERSON> writes:
More than anything, through his political career, <PERSON> became a symbol of the chaos, the contradictions and the opportunism that have characterised Iraq in the post-2003 period. Having abandoned religious studies at an early level, <PERSON> made a professional career in the 1980s as a political-military operator in what was then called the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), a Khomeinist outfit created by Iran in 1982 in order to maximise its control of the Iraqi opposition during the Iran–Iraq War. He returned to Iraq from Iran after the start of the Iraq War in 2003, and in August that year, after the death of his brother <PERSON> in a terrorist attack in Najaf, was propelled to the top leadership position in SCIRI. […] <PERSON> chose to be treated for cancer in Iran and it is remarkable that the United States was unable to correctly interpret his physical movements as the most revealing indicator of his true political loyalties. Since 2003 and until today, <PERSON>, SCIRI/ISCI and members of the Badr brigades have travelled in and out of Iran without any restriction. It was Iranian territory that was used to orchestrate the new INA [Iraqi National Alliance]. 691
It is inconceivable that the authorities in Tehran would have allowed these processes to go on within their own borders had they not felt that right until his death <PERSON> was pursuing a policy that was in Iran’s best interests. Instead, however, Washington for a long time clung to a rosy scenario in which ISCI was seen as a potential convert to the American cause; ultimately it was the contradictions in this policy that would create the space for <PERSON> peculiar political career.
U.S. President <PERSON> welcomes <PERSON> to the White House Monday, Dec. 4, 2006. (Photo by White House, taken from Wikimedia Commons)
<PERSON> at Palestinian Pundit is not impressed with <PERSON> praise for <PERSON>:
What a let down! This is the first time I am openly disappointed in <PERSON>. He could have kept his mouth shut, or kept the message personal. However, to eulogize the American/Iranian puppet (and his brother before him) as Iraqi “heroes” is a bit much.
On top of that to talk about his struggle for a united and sovereign Iraq! Under the boots of the U.S. occupation, <PERSON>? This is a stooge who literally entered Baghdad on an American tank!
Shame on you <PERSON>. But again, these are the orders from Tehran; I try to be understanding. 691