As Sunni Mosque Falls, Sadr Issues a Call
Shiite Cleric Plans March to Damaged Shrine in Samarra, Stronghold of Rival Sect

By John Ward Anderson and K.I. Ibrahim
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, June 17, 2007

BAGHDAD, June 16 -- Another Sunni mosque in the Basra area of southern Iraq was destroyed Saturday, as a leading Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, called on his followers to march to the Sunni town of Samarra next month to a revered Shiite shrine that was attacked Wednesday.

The call for a pilgrimage to the Askariya shrine, also known as the Golden Mosque, could draw tens of thousands of Shiites into an area north of Baghdad that is a stronghold of the Sunni extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Meanwhile, following the completion this week of a buildup of 28,500 additional U.S. troops, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, announced a new offensive against al-Qaeda in Iraq car bomb factories on the southern outskirts of the capital. "For the first time we are really going to a couple of the key areas in the belts from which al-Qaeda has sallied forth with car bombs, additional fighters and so forth," he told reporters Saturday.

In an unrelated development, the U.S. military revealed Saturday that the identification cards of two American soldiers missing since May 12 were found a week ago during a raid on an al-Qaeda in Iraq safe house in Samarra, about 65 miles north of Baghdad. The soldiers, Spec. Alex R. Jimenez and Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, were abducted after their patrol was ambushed south of Baghdad. Four other soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter were killed in the incident.

U.S. forces also found computers, video production equipment, rifles and ammunition in the June 9 raid, according to the military statement. The whereabouts of the two soldiers remain unknown.

Since the bombing of Askariya's twin minarets Wednesday, 14 Sunni mosques have been reported damaged or destroyed. In the attack Saturday in Basra, extremists detonated bombs that leveled the al-Ashra al-Mubashra mosque, a day after another was flattened in the area. A curfew remained in effect in Baghdad until Sunday morning.

Reaction to mosque attacks has been tame compared with the fallout from an assault on Askariya in February 2006, when the mosque's famed gilded dome was destroyed, presumably by Sunni extremists from al-Qaeda in Iraq. That attack sparked widespread religious clashes that left thousands dead.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq was also blamed for Wednesday's attack, but analysts said that this time, Iraq's political and religious leaders -- including Sadr -- quickly issued a near-unanimous call for their countrymen to avoid being pulled into a cycle of sectarian revenge.

On Saturday, Sadr's voice seemed to break from the chorus. The anti-U.S. cleric and leader of the Mahdi Army militia framed the proposed pilgrimage, which is to climax in Samarra on July 6 or 7, as "a duty" to defend "our sacred shrines."

"Here is your sect calling on you," Sadr told his followers in a written statement, adding that the march should "be one of love, peace, security and construction. Go raising olive branches and wearing shrouds."

The pilgrimage also was seen as a dangerous provocation that would present the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iraqi security forces with a major challenge: protecting the pilgrims as they walk and drive through Sunni-dominated territory to Samarra. Any attack on the marchers could spark a response by the Mahdi Army, which is feared for its reputed willingness to exact quick and indiscriminate revenge on Sunnis.

Zuhair al-Hakim, a senior official with the Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq, the chief Shiite rival to Sadr's group, said in a statement that logistics for the pilgrimage needed to be studied. "As you know, the tribesmen in those areas had threatened that if visitors came, there would be provocations, and that could lead to violence," he said.

Lt. Col. Christopher C. Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said that in theory, demonstrations are "a part of democracy," and that if Sadr "can do it peacefully, with no one getting hurt, that's a good thing."

In a sermon Friday in Kufa, about 90 miles south of Baghdad, one of Sadr's followers urged Shiites to rebuild the Samarra shrine, saying the second attack would not have occurred if repairs from the first had been underway.

"The enemy would not have dared to repeat their strike," said Salah al-Obaidy. "If you want to defend yourselves, your imams, then go ahead and start the reconstruction."

Analysts said that many lessons have been learned, and circumstances have changed, since the February 2006 attack.

In particular, thousands of extra troops were on the streets of the capital this week because of a new U.S. security plan, and the government immediately imposed a four-day curfew, as opposed to 2006, when the government did not act until after the sectarian backlash had begun. In addition, the extra Iraqi troops currently in Baghdad are mostly from the army, which is less sectarian than the Iraqi police force.

Ayad Jamaludeen, a Shiite cleric and member of parliament from the secular Iraqiya party, said Iraqis are sick of violence and tired of being used as pawns by al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"Al-Qaeda cannot live except in a situation where there is sectarian tension and crisis," he said. "The Iraqis have understood this and now recognize who the enemy is."

In other developments Saturday, the remains of 13 members of an Iraqi tae kwon do team kidnapped last year were found near Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, police said. The team was abducted in May 2006 while driving to a training camp in Jordan. Two of the athletes remained unaccounted for.

Other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.