IRAQ: The first battle of wills between US forces in Iraq and the country's impoverished Shia Muslim majority receded yesterday, when the Americans released a prominent cleric, 24 hours after his arrest by US Marines.
At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Shias, perhaps more than a million, demonstrated their strength by gathering in their holy city of Karbala for a religious festival.
Five thousand Shias from the slums of north Baghdad began a protest vigil outside the Palestine Hotel when they learned that Sheikh Mohamed al-Fartussi (34), three other clergy and two bodyguards were detained in Daura, south Baghdad, late on Monday.
"It was a well-orchestrated, peaceful but loud and constant demonstration," said Lt Justin Morseth of the US 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, whose soldiers are ensconced behind miles of barbed wire at the hotel.
"Yes, yes to Islam . . . Fartussi, don't worry. We are with you," the demonstrators chanted yesterday morning. Sheikhs led the mass meeting from a platform in Sa'adoun Boulevard. "Release al-Fartussi," said a banner beside them.
The crowd sat on the ground and went silent on a preacher's orders, then rose and repeated the Shia cry of "Haidar, Haidar," an allusion to the 7th-century Imam Hussein.
In Karbala, 108km away, hundreds of thousands moved in unison, standing, kneeling, and touching their foreheads to the ground. With each passing hour, the rhetoric outside the Palestine Hotel grew more strident.
"We believe the Americans have something against the howzah [Shia religious schools in Najaf]," Sheikh Sa'ad al-Maliki said. "If they don't free Sheikh al-Fartussi, the Shias in Karbala will move from there to Baghdad," he threatened.
The words, "No to the US and Saddam," were added to the chant of "Yes, yes to Islam." And reinforcements arrived, marching down the boulevard, waving the green flag of Islam, shouting, "We want, we want . . . immediately, immediately."
The US caved in, freeing the religious leader in early afternoon. Sheikh al-Fartussi made a victory lap in an ambulance, bolstered by the prestige of being the first, albeit short-lived, "political prisoner" in post-war Iraq. Then the entire demonstration headed south, to join the commemorations of Imam Hussein's "martyrdom" in 680.
The US military provided no definite explanation as to why it arrested Sheikh al-Fartussi. It is unlikely that the main religious leader of Sadr City - home to 40 per cent of Baghdad's population - was stopped by accident.
Since US forces arrived in Baghdad on April 9th, Sheikh al-Fartussi has taken control of the capital's poor Shia neighbourhoods, dispensing advice, favours and instructions from the Hikmat Mosque in Sadr City. He was chosen by Muqtada al-Sadr, the Najaf sheikh who is challenging the ageing ayatollahs for leadership of Iraq's Shias.
"Watch out," the US was apparently saying to the young sheikhs: "We know who you are, and we know where to find you." "Don't provoke us; we hold the power of numbers," the Shias responded.
One report suggested Sheikh al-Fartussi and his colleagues were travelling in a stolen vehicle, without registration plates. The "rehabilitated" Iraqi police have begun stopping cars without plates in a feeble attempt to retrieve some of the thousands of cars stolen since US troops arrived in Baghdad. Their actions have sparked a rash of new thefts - of car licence plates.
Lt Morseth said Sheikh al-Fartussi "may have been obstructing some kind of military operation." Every day, US military convoys create huge traffic jams, so "obstructing a military operation" is a charge easily levelled. After the Sheikh's release yesterday, Shia sources said the Americans arrested him because his bodyguards carried weapons, allegedly forbidden by US regulations.
If armed bodyguards were the reason for Sheikh al-Fartussi's brief detention, it was a feeble pretext. The Iraqi National Congress (INC), a former exile group which receives $1 million every month from Washington, boasts 1,500 armed men in Baghdad. Sheikh al-Fartussi's followers say they need weapons to fight off Sunni Muslim fundamentalists, Saddam loyalists and the rival Iranian-backed "Badr Brigades" in north Baghdad.
The return of electricity to Baghdad yesterday morning, after a 19-day black-out, provided proof of the number of weapons on the streets.
Celebratory shooting continued for close to an hour. At last, the US had fulfilled a promise. But cynical Baghdadis suggested US forces deliberately waited for the arrival of Gen Jay Garner, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, to switch on the power.
