Shiite Contest Sharpens In Iraq

The fight is also political; both parties control 30 seats in Iraq's parliament. Last year, Sadr backed Nouri al-Maliki for prime minister, largely to prevent Hakim's candidate from gaining office. By the end of 2006, the Bush administration and Hakim had grown closer, to counter Sadr's growing street power.

In Najaf, a city governed by Hakim's party, posters of Sadr and his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq Sadr, who was assassinated by Hussein's men in 1999, have mushroomed defiantly on the streets. Hakim's portrait, usually paired with a portrait of Iraq's paramount Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, hangs in many police and government offices.

This year, Sadr and Hakim have sought to position themselves at the center of Iraq's ideological sphere. To bolster his nationalist credentials, Sadr pulled his loyalists from Iraq's factionalized government and tacitly approved the U.S. surge offensive. Hakim removed the word "revolution" from the name of his political party, suggesting that it was no longer an armed opposition group.

"It was based on reality, and not a maneuver," said Sadr al-Din al-Qubanchi, a turbaned cleric who heads the Supreme Council in Najaf. "Who were we going to revolt against? We are leading the political process."

The change was also widely seen as an attempt by the Supreme Council to distance itself from Iran's theocratic government, which uses similar slogans.

A referendum on creating an autonomous Shiite region of nine provinces is scheduled for April, mandated by Iraq's constitution, although political deadlines in Iraq are seldom met. The Supreme Council wants a mini-Shiite state, but opponents such as Sadr, who views himself as an Iraqi nationalist, fear it will lead to a breakup of the country.

"It is the war of the wills," said Hazim al-Araji, a senior Sadr official in Najaf. "Everyone is trying to improve their position for the sake of winning the elections. Perhaps these will take place next year, so they want to eliminate the Sadr trend."

"That is as clear to me as the sun at midday."

Clashes and a Freeze

On a recent day, scores of black-cloaked women loyal to Sadr flowed into the city's center. They clutched large white banners protesting the arrests of their husbands and sons -- Sadr's foot soldiers. Some of the women came from Diwaniyah, most from Karbala. They wailed, and they chanted: "Our Shia government! Release our sons! Release our husbands!"

Twenty minutes later, police loyal to the Badr Organization arrived and broke up the protest, which had been coordinated by Sadr's movement.

The arrests of Sadr's loyalists began after fierce street battles in late August around two holy shrines in Karbala. The fighting pitted Mahdi Army gunmen against guards believed to be loyal to the Badr Organization. More than 50 people were killed, making it one of the deadliest days of Shiite-on-Shiite violence since the U.S-led invasion in 2003.

Karbala's police chief blamed the Mahdi Army for firing rocket-propelled grenades and guns from rooftops toward thousands of pilgrims gathered between the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines. An Iraqi government committee, headed by independent lawmaker Mithal Alousi, also found the militia largely responsible, although the committee has not completed its investigation. Sadr officials have denied the allegations.