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Between Iraqi Shiites, a Deepening Animosity
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He added with disgust: "They are not real Iraqis. They never lived here. They never knew how we lived. The Americans planted them here."
Some fighters believed that Iran was using Dawa and the Badr Brigade, which was originally founded and trained in Iran, to foment violence against Sadr, whose movement has long been wary of Iran. All saw American influence. Abu Haider, a senior Sadrist leader, said the U.S. military was using their Shiite rivals to keep the Mahdi Army busy in order to prevent them from attacking U.S. troops. "They will not change," said Abu Zahra, referring to Badr and Dawa.
"They are like the knife. But the hand is the Americans," said Abu Noor, a top Mahdi Army commander in Sadr City.
At the funeral tent, Abu Abdullah seethed. After his son was shot, an Iraqi officer refused to allow an ambulance to take him to the hospital, he said. He believes his son might have lived. "They are behaving like the Americans," he said.
Mustafa, he said, was killed after Sadr had ordered Abu Abdullah's 60 fighters to stand down. And that order, he said, was the only barrier between him and "a revolution" against his Shiite rivals and U.S. forces. "Every day now is worse than before," he said.
Down a narrow street, in a warren of oatmeal-colored houses, children played near fetid pools of water. The smell of rotting garbage wafted in the air. Portraits of Shiite saints graced walls. Scrawled on one house was "Down With Badr," directly across from "Long Live Sadr."
In a house, Abu Noor sat beneath a portrait of Sadr. He said the "gap" between Sadr and his Shiite rivals had "widened so much that it could not be closed." The only way, he said, was for Badr and Dawa to honor the conditions Sadr demanded in exchange for ordering his fighters to stand down last week. They included a halt to arrests and amnesty for Mahdi Army fighters. Otherwise, he warned, they will "reap what they have sown."
Abu Noor paused, then said: "I am expecting many uprisings like this."
