Eugene, Ore.: Professor Cole: Given that Mr. al-Sadr's support base is the two million impoverished people of Sadr City, do you feel that Mr. al-Sadr's resistance is directed mostly at the Americans because he feels: a. it's the best way to intimidate the secular Iraqi middle class? b. because he sees significant number of Iraqis who are dissatisfied with Ayatollah al-Sistani? or c. he may be able to gain greater recognition or respect from within certain Iranian circles?
Juan Cole: Muqtada wants an Iran-style government in Iraq, and is a follower of the ideas of Ayatollah Khomeini. He is also a strong Iraqi nationalist and finds foreign, Christian Occupation impossible to accept. Obviously, he cannot get a Shiite-dominated, clerical theocracy in Iraq as long as the Americans are occupying the country. So he has to try to get them out first. I think his dedication to an independent Iraq is primary, since he is risking his life for it. If he only wanted power, he would operate more carefully so as to ensure he was alive to get it.
Wheaton, Md.: Isn't it well known that the government of Iran is directly behind the incitement, funding and arming of the Shiite terrorists in Iraq? Why isn't the U.N. and the rest of the world condemning Iran for this?
Juan Cole: No, I don't think Iran is behind the Sadr movement or the Mahdi militia. It is a homegrown phenomenon, springing from the Shiite Iraqi ghettoes. Actually the Sadr movement are very critical of Iranian dominance of Iraqi Shiism.
The Iranians probably give Muqtada some money and supplies, but they give money to all major Iraqi factions-- Ahmad Chalabi, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the Kurds, etc. They seem to want to make sure that whoever comes out on top has reason to be grateful to them.
There are a handful of Iranian volunteers in the Mahdi Army. Some are pilgrims who got caught up in the fighting and joined the Sadrists. Others slipped across the border to fight. They don't seem to be numerous and there is no evidence that the Iranian government is sending them.
In fact, when Muqtada visited Iran in June of 2003, the high Iranian clerics told him to make a common front with Sistani and not make waves.
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/04/r_outlook081604.htm