The incidents that occurred in Iraq over the past few months also indicate that the United States, with the help of certain regional Arab countries and the Abu Masab al-Zarqawi terrorist group, is attempting to gradually isolate the Shia majority of Iraq while simultaneously eliminating Iraq’s political and religious leaders.

The assassination of Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, the former leader of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI), in Najaf, the assassination of Aqila al-Hashimi, who was one of three women members of the Iraqi Governing Council, the assassination attempts against Mouwafak al-Rabii, Ahmad Chalabi, and Ibrahim al-Jafari, who are Shia members of the council, and the resignation of Nouri Badran, who was Iraq’s interim interior minister, were also part of the U.S. plot to prevent the Shia from gaining power in Iraq.

In fact, in 1991 the U.S. implemented a similar plot during the Shia uprising in southern Iraq.

At the time, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had become extremely weak after his defeat in Kuwait and the Iraqi Shias, in an uprising known as the Shia Intifada, seized 14 provinces from the forces of Saddam’s Baath regime. But the U.S. gave Saddam the green light to brutally suppress the Iraqi Shia and a massacre followed. During the suppression of southern Iraq Saddam’s regime killed at least 150,000 innocent Shia civilians, leaving thousands more homeless, and also attacked the holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala.

This strange incident showed that the U.S., influenced by certain regional Arab countries, has never been inclined to allow the Shia majority of Iraq to play an active role in the country’s affairs.

Several months ago when the occupying forces felt that they could no longer control the situation in Iraq, they provoked the people of Fallujah in order to cause a clash. Several Arab countries then collectively announced their all-out support for the city’s Sunni majority.

At about the same time, U.S. administrator Paul Bremer met 1500 detained high-ranking officials from the former Baath regime and asked them to prepare to return to power in Iraq.

General Maher Abdul Rashid al-Tikriti and General Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tikriti, two criminal commanders from the former Baath regime who have a long history of massacring the Shia community, were released from prison and tasked with organizing members of the al-Tikrit tribe. Following discussions between U.S. occupying forces and the people of Fallujah, Bremer, despite the disapproval of the Iraqi Governing Council, appointed General Taher Habush and General Jasem Saleh (both high-ranking members of the former Baath regime) as security officials in Fallujah.

The U.S. forces then besieged the two holy cities of Najaf and Karbala under the pretext of disarming the Al Mahdi army. Besides desecrating the Shia holy shrines, U.S. forces also martyred dozens of civilians in the cities.

At the same time, the U.S. both directly and indirectly urged elements of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi’s terrorist group, which is associated with Al-Qaeda, to bomb Shia holy sites and assassinate their political and religious leaders.

Inexplicably, Al-Qaeda members are moving about freely in Iraq and carrying out operations, even though it would not be difficult for U.S. forces to capture them.

If the U.S. had not disarmed SAIRI’s Badr Brigade, leaving the army responsible for security in Iraq’s Shia regions, these incidents would never have occurred and the security of various Iraqi cities would have been provided at no cost at all.

The disarming of the Badr Brigade and the attack on the Iraqi holy sites under the pretext of rooting out the Al Mahdi militia were two phases of the U.S. plot in Iraq.

Until the transfer of power from U.S. occupying forces to an interim Iraqi government, the U.S. is still pursuing its policy of eliminating Shia leaders.

In addition, the Al-Qaeda network will surely intensify its terrorist operations now that the U.S. has given them the green light, with their assassination attempts mainly targeting Iraqi Shia political and religious leaders.

Therefore, a defensive force comprised of dedicated Shia youth must be established, since that is the only way to protect Iraqi religious leaders and holy sites from Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks. Otherwise, more assassination attempts against Iraqi political and religious leaders will be carried out and the world will witness the gradual return to power of elements from the former Baath regime.