An earlier protest outside the Oil Ministry had fizzled, and on this day Saadi wanted a bigger turnout. Corrupt officials and insurgents were looting oil supplies, he declared, and the price of kerosene for cooking had skyrocketed. Cars had to wait hours in line for gasoline, he said, while the Americans were filling the tanks of their Bradley Fighting Vehicles and "fouling the air." Shifting from formal Arabic to slang, he chided the men for their lack of enthusiasm: They should do better this week.
"It seems that the birds have eaten your tongues," Saadi said, playing on an Iraqi proverb. "This is not what I expected from you. This is not what I know about your courage."
Iraqis rallied outside the Oil Ministry in Baghdad Jan. 16 as about 300 followers of the radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr began a four-day protest against fuel shortages.
(Mohammed Khodor -- AP)
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Hundreds turned out the following week, sleeping in tents outside the ministry, lining up behind pickup trucks serving lentils, rice, bread and dates and hanging banners on anything upright.
"No rights are lost if they are demanded," said one slogan. "Long live the Sadrist resistance," read another.
Some of the protesters wore green placards on their chests, bearing Sadr's slogans in large letters: "Christians are your brothers in this country," and "Beloved Iraqi people, remain as brothers, as God's messenger commanded."
"There is no country in the world that suffers crisis after crisis like this," said Haider Farhan, 23, one of the protesters. "We're a country blessed with oil, and we have nothing."
While Sadr's officials are blunt about their stance on the elections, the mood among their followers is far more ambiguous. Support for the elections is usually inversely proportional to support for Sadr: the more fervent the backing, the less likely his followers are to say they will vote. In fact, some Shiite residents of Sadr City, which is home to more than 2 million people, seem confused by the conflicting signals from Sadr and Sistani, who has described the election as "a religious and national duty."
Near the group's office in Sadr City stood 38-year-old Hassan Katib, one of the worshipers.
"The elections are very important for Sistani, but what about the other things?" he asked. "What about food, kerosene, food? People are starving now." He looked out at the street and quoted a line from Mutanabi, a medieval Arab poet: "The sword is more reliable than the book."
"The armed struggle should continue," Katib said, by way of explanation. "It's necessary."
Election posters are scarce around Sadr's office, but they abound in the side streets, many bearing Sistani's portrait.
"We want stability and security, and we want a legitimate ruler," said Hassan Mawat, 37, a carpenter who sat at a small table eating lunch with friends. He said he planned to vote for the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi.
"There's no order, and there's no discipline," he said. "We need a real government."
