US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT2298

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 002298 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/W 
STATE PLEASE REPEAT TO IO COLLECTIVE 
STATE FOR PRM/ANE, EUR/SE, NEA/NGA, IO AND SA/PAB 
NSC FOR EABRAMS, SMCCORMICK, STAHIR-KHELI, JDWORKEN 
USAID FOR USAID/A, DCHA/AA, DCHA/RMT, DCHA/FFP 
USAID FOR DCHA/OTI, DCHA/DG, ANE/AA 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA:WGARVELINK, BMCCONNELL, KFARNSWORTH 
USAID FOR ANE/AA:WCHAMBERLIN 
ROME FOR FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
ANKARA FOR AMB WRPEARSON, ECON AJSIROTIC AND DART 
AMMAN FOR USAID AND DART 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREF, IZ, WFP 
SUBJECT:  DART REPORT ON MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISM IN IRAQ 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  This is a DART report.  Muslim fundamentalists are among 
the groups maneuvering for power in southern Iraq, 
traditionally the most conservative region of the country. 
Some conservative Muslims are threatening and harassing the 
country's Christian minority and instigating reprisals 
against former Ba'ath Party members.  End Summary. 
 
2.  This cable is a DART report.  A woman in Al Amarah cried 
as she recounted to the DART how a group of young Muslim men 
shouted insults and spat upon her while she was shopping at 
the market earlier this month because she was not wearing 
the hijab.  Although the woman and her sister are both 
members of the country's Christian minority, they now wear 
the hijab in public to avoid harassment and intimidation. 
She said her family had lived for several generations in Al 
Amarah without incident, and complained that the security 
situation was worse now than under the former regime. 
 
3.  In central Basrah, two large banners, with quotes from 
Shia Muslim imams advising women to observe conservative 
Muslim ways, have been hung above a pedestrian bridge 
spanning a canal.  One banner reads:  "Muslim Sisters:  Do 
not wear a lot of make-up in front of foreign men because it 
cheapens you in their eyes."  Another one says:  "Your 
Islamic hijab is the emblem of a Zeinab-like woman."  (Note: 
Zeinab was the daughter of Ali, the prophet Mohammed's 
cousin and son-in-law.  End Note.)  The banners have 
prompted some Iraqi women who favor Western-style clothing 
to feel uneasy about the implied warnings, and to wear the 
hijab now even though they did not do so before the war. 
 
4.  Conservative Shias are also condoning attacks on former 
Ba'ath Party members.  A flyer pasted onto a defaced mural 
of Saddam Hussein in central Basrah by the Iranian-backed 
political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic 
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), urges Iraqis to live together in 
peace and not to kill each other, unless a Ba'ath Party 
member tries to seize power.  The poster strongly implied 
that killing a Ba'ath party member who tried to seize power 
would be justified.  In Umm Qasr, a hand-written poster at 
the central market said that anyone who "dared" to get 
involved in upcoming elections for the local town council, 
especially any former Ba'ath Party members, would be in 
trouble.  The poster was signed "Umm Qasr Youth". 
 
5.  The SCIRI has taken possession of large hotels or 
abandoned Iraqi government buildings in towns and cities 
across the south.  In Basrah, a three-story building, 
stretching the length of a city block, has been taken over, 
with a huge sign identifying it as the party's headquarters. 
In Qurna, a hotel built at the confluence of the Tigris and 
Euphrates rivers now serves as the group's headquarters. 
 
6.  A shopkeeper selling fruit drinks at the central market 
in Al Kut proudly displays several large posters at his 
stand with photos of well-known Shia Muslim leaders, 
including one of Iran's late Ayatollah Khomeini.  Across the 
south, paintings and posters of the SCIRI Shia leader, 
Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim, and other Muslim religious 
leaders, have begun to appear on walls or have taken the 
place of large Saddam Hussein murals at the entrance to 
cities and major government buildings.  (Note:  Ayatollah 
Hakim returned to Iraq in mid-May after spending 23 years in 
exile in Iran.  End Note.) 
 
7.  A hotel manager in Basrah said Shia Muslim 
fundamentalists stormed into Christian-owned shops in early 
May, threatening the owners that their shops would be bombed 
if they did not stop selling Iraqi-made beer and other 
alcoholic beverages on the black market.  According to 
Coalition sources, presumed Muslim fundamentalists later 
shot and killed three shop owners who had ignored the 
threats.  The word on the streets is that a number of 
Christians in Basrah are so afraid they may flee to Mosul in 
northern Iraq. 
 
8.  The Iranian-backed al-Badr Brigade has encouraged the 
formation of armed "punishment committees" in Al Kut that 
are behind a series of attacks against suspected former 
Ba'ath Party members.  The sources say suspected al-Badr 
Brigade members shot and killed a police captain and a 
teacher in mid-May for alleged ties to the former regime. 
Also, several hand grenades were tossed into the empty house 
of a former Ba'ath party member in late May, causing 
extensive damage but no injuries.  Coalition forces 
overseeing security in Al Kut have reported similar grenade 
attacks recently. 
 
9.  In An Nasiriyah, conservative Muslim clerics wielded 
their political clout in April to engineer the dismissal of 
middle managers of hospitals and clinics throughout Dhi Qar 
Governorate and to replace them with more `religious' 
directors.  Coalition military sources say the 
fundamentalists apparently wanted to ensure that male 
physicians and other male health care practitioners did not 
see female patients, under a strict interpretation of the 
Quran. 
 
10.  Many town councils in southern Iraq have established 
religious departments or committees led by Shia clerics.  In 
some cases, the imams have been given a seat on the council 
itself.  Coalition forces warn that conservative Shia 
Muslims, supported by Iran, are trying to influence public 
opinion in the south against the United States and the 
Coalition.  The sources say the strategy appears more 
effective in smaller towns and villages where traditionally 
there has been less of a Western influence and less post-war 
humanitarian assistance from the Coalition. 
 
11.  The social and political dynamic in southern Iraq 
presents special challenges to the U.S-led interim 
administration, which must balance the need to ensure 
religious freedom and expression for the majority Shia 
population while at the same time mitigate fundamentalists' 
influence and efforts to promote further unrest among 
Iraqis.  Iraqis in the south are increasingly impatient over 
continuing insecurity and the pace of the restoration of 
government services.  Until they see tangible improvements 
in their lives since regime change, there is a danger that 
hearts and minds will be swayed by conservative Muslim 
influences. 
 
JONES