The Sadrist "Trend"

An excellent piece that says many things I want to say about the Sadrists, here are some portions I translated:

BY ALI BDAYWI.

The Sadrist Trend. A phrase often spoken by Sadrist current MPs, for the life of me I don't know why does Mr. Bahaa al-Aaraji and his fellow Sadrists love to say "Sadrist Trend" instead of "Sadrist Current." Actually, following the practices of the current, one finds out that it espouses a physically liquid form, Sadrists phrase their sentences in a way the matches the shape of the container, the phrase "Sadrist Trend" invokes oppression and a political victimization, this is especially apparent if it follows "targeting", as in "targeting the Sadrist Trend", a phrase seemingly glued to Mr. Bahaa's tongue. The olive branch distributed by Sayyid Muqtada's followers in sync with the battles of Basra fought by his army's members represents a symbol of the Sadrist double-standard modus operandi which favor maneuver and trickery.
The Sadrist Line, the term Mr. Bahaa prefers over the official title of the Sadrist Current, is an oratory maneuver as well, designed to say that the "Sadrist Trend" is a juridical and/or ideological line. It implies a peaceful point of view that seeks to establish a idea that in its core is quite concept-bankrupt, an ardent observer of "Sadrist Trend" publications can only find two or three words that fit the size of a 3.5 floppy disk: "Kicking The Occupation Out."

Logically we ask ourselves, is there any divine method by which we can topple Saddam's regime other than occupation? Theoretically and realistically, there was never an armed coup, or a popular uprising that managed to do that, thus the scenario we are forced to embrace would be the toppling of the regime by a US invasion that hands the government to the opposition, to create a pro-US democratic regime. Regardless of US intentions, or the political eligibility of those parties, what matters to Iraqi people are the circumstantial results of eliminating a tyrannical military rural rule that outlasted 30 years. In fact, the followers of the "Sadrist Trend" have no tangible idea of what occupation is, sure, they know how to handle an AK-47, but they understand murder more than they understand occupation, the theoretical backbone behind the Sadrist Line ideology. This is demonstrated by the first political sign of the rejection of occupation, the murder of Sayyid Abdulmajid al-Khoei as commanded by Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, based on legal documents and witnesses, this is a murder that is punishable by law, even if the family of the murdered dropped the case.

If the Sadrists had rejected the occupation since its early days, then this means one of two things: they either reject the toppling of Saddam's regime, or they reject the way the regime was toppled. What we saw was that the early Sadrist anti-occupation stance only served the remnants of the Saddamist resistance to America since the two coincided temporally. the early Sadrist resistance confused even populist Iraqi society and state institutions which collapsed due to major mistakes the Americans are to be blamed for. As soon as the ex-regime government Fedayeen and Foreign Fighters were quelled, the Sadrists broke out as if fighting for Hala and Raghad Hussein, what is that about? the direct enemy of Sadr II was Saddam Hussein. Saddam killed Sadr II, executed Sadr I and his sister Bint-al-Huda after she was raped. So why were the Sadrists so keen on fighting the Americans? More importantly, the Sadrists borrowed from the ex-regime the same mentality we need to put out of existence: belief in revolution, rifles and adoption of an ignorant community as a massive popular base, which runs contrary to the traditional Dawa party that favored more intellectual colorings.

the Iraqi people wanted to live in civillian clothes after Saddam, they wanted to bury the AK-47 they lived with for dozens fo years, the Iraqis wanted to be overjoyed, to end the legend of the Eternal Leader, however the Sadrists severely protected those leftovers of the past: ignorant men with no education, herd mentality, deliberate ignorance, Eternal Leaders, and Sadr Offices that issues dispatches for civilians.

Link: Arabic