[Mb-civic] Playing The Shiite Card - David Ignatius - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Playing The Shiite Card

By David Ignatius
Friday, August 26, 2005; Page A21

America is finally having its great debate over the Iraq war. In that 
debate, it's worth listening to a young Iraqi Shiite cleric named Ammar 
Hakim. He speaks for the people who arguably have gained the most from 
America's troubled mission in Iraq and, to a surprising extent, still 
believe in it.

Hakim, 34, is the oldest son of Abdul Aziz Hakim, the leader of the 
Iranian-backed Shiite party known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic 
Revolution in Iraq, which is probably the most potent political force in 
the country today. He now lives in Najaf, the Shiite equivalent of the 
Vatican, where he helps direct the party's social and charitable 
network. But he and his family lived 23 years in exile in Iran. To put 
it bluntly, Hakim represents what might be called the "Shiite card" in 
the Iraqi poker game.

I met Hakim a week ago during his first visit to the United States. He 
made quite a sight when he arrived for breakfast, dressed in his black 
turban and flowing clerical robes. Some of the other guests in the 
dining room of the Watergate Hotel seemed to back away a bit, as if they 
feared the visiting mullah might explode. I'm told he drew some stares 
when he toured the Pentagon dressed in the same garb.

Hakim is a remarkably articulate man, with the spark of curiosity in his 
eyes and a presence that we in the United States would call "star 
quality." Whoever had the good sense to invite him here -- where he met 
with officials at the State Department, Pentagon and National Security 
Council -- should get a pay raise.

Hakim had a clear message during his visit, and it's one worth mulling 
carefully as Americans ponder the new Iraqi constitution and the bitter 
Shiite-Sunni tensions that have surrounded its drafting. If I could sum 
up his theme in one sentence, it is that the United States should 
continue to bet on democracy in Iraq -- which of necessity means relying 
on Iraq's Shiite majority and the mullahs who speak for it. In essence, 
he was calling for a strategic alliance between Najaf and Washington.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/25/AR2005082501616.html?nav=hcmodule
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