The homecoming of Ayatollah Muhammed Baqer Al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's most prominent Shi'ite movement, brought into focus questions about the movement's future and its relationship with the occupying power. Omayma Abdel-Latif reports Only hours before his departure from Tehran and heading home for the first time in 22 years, Ayatollah Muhammed Baqer Al- Hakim, head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was asked in a press interview if he was to be "Iraq's Khomeini"? Al-Hakim offered a rhetorical answer. "I am but a soldier of the Islamic (revolution) in Iraq," he said. It was precisely such statements which kept Iraq's occupying power nervous about Al-Hakim's homecoming. The show of strength put up by thousands of Al-Hakim supporters, fervently welcoming him on Saturday in Basra and on Monday during a visit to his birthplace in Al- Najaf Al-Ashraf, sent a clear message to the occupying powers about the spiritual and political clout Al-Hakim and his movement wield among Iraqis. Observers noted that the public display of emotions has elevated Al- Hakim to the status of spiritual and political leader for Iraq's Shi'ite population. In two fiery speeches, the 63-year-old spiritual leader appealed to the public's discontent with the presence of a foreign power -- launching a scathing attack on the US occupying forces and insisting that Iraqis should be left to rule themselves. "Let them leave Iraq to its own people," Al-Hakim told tens of thousands of supporters in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf on Monday. "The Iraqis are capable of providing security and protecting Iraq," he added. Al-Hakim's return brings back into sharp focus the question of the role of Islamic-oriented groups in the future political make-up of Iraq. The SCIRI is considered to be the most prominent Shi'ite political movement. It was founded in Iraq by Al-Hakim himself in 1979 but was relocated to Tehran where Al-Hakim sought exile. For the past two decades, SCIRI, carried the opposition banner against Saddam Hussein's regime along with the Al-Dawa Party, the oldest Shi'ite opposition movement. The remaining Islamic party includes the Iraqi Islamic Party which is the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Iraq. Western fears are growing high over the rising tide of popularity for Islamic politics in post-war Iraq. While Al-Hakim's homecoming is seen as a move to consolidate the SCIRI position in the future political make-up of Iraq, the biggest challenge is likely to be over how the SCIRI manages the political transition from an opposition movement to a key player in Iraq's political scene. In addition it will have to articulate a clear position vis-à-vis its relationship with the US. In a recent interview with Al-Ahram Weekly from Tehran, Al-Hakim made it clear that he wants to see an end to the US occupation as soon as possible. He also insisted that the SCIRI does not seek a bigger role for Iraq's Shi'ites but rather wants "a democratically-elected government which is representative of Iraqis from across the political and ethnic divide". In Al-Hakim's view the idea that Iraq needs some type of foreign rule is an insult. Such a stand prompted the US press to suggest that the Shi'ite leader wants to establish an "Islamic theocracy" in Iraq -- à la Khomeini -- and that the SCIRI has been heavily influenced by "its Iranian patrons". Responding to those claims, a high ranking official of the SCIRI, in an interview with Al- Ahram Weekly this week, insisted that the US accusations about Al-Hakim and the SCIRI's aim to establish an Islamic state in Iraq are "utterly untrue". "What Al-Hakim and the SCIRI call for is not an Islamic theocracy but that religion should be respected in any political make-up. The Iraqi people will not accept a secular rule which pours scorn on religion. It is as simple as that," Bayan Gabr, the head of the foreign and Arab affairs of the SCIRI told the Weekly during a recent visit to Cairo. He pointed out that Western media outlets have overplayed fears that Iraq was set for a theocratic rule because slogans were raised by Iraqi demonstrators which stated "Al- Hawza (the religious seminary) represents us." While the religious component is central to the make-up of Iraqi society, Al-Hawza, which comprises more than 20 madrasas, is only a place of learning and not where the leadership is to be found, explained Gabr. "Among the ordinary Iraqi Shi'ites, the leadership rests with the Marjee, a religious authority who is the source of emulation. This is why Al-Hakim will be both the spiritual and political Marjee and will pass on SCIRI leadership to his brother Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim." Gabr defended the SCIRI's relationship with Iran insisting that by overplaying the Iranian influence on the SCIRI, the US wants to put pressure on the movement and to undermine it in the eyes of the Iraqi people. He explained that the SCIRI has always acted independently from the Iranian state, which played host to the movement during the past two decades. The Iranian state, he explained, established diplomatic contacts with Saddam's regime and exchanged visits at the foreign ministerial level -- at a time when the SCIRI was fighting the regime. "We have had contacts with the Americans for the past 12 years when the Iranians did not establish any diplomatic relations and they did not put pressure on us because of those contacts," explained Gabr, who has been engaged in a dialogue with US officials via the US Embassy in Damascus since 1993. Al-Hakim's visit coincided with the arrival of the newly-appointed viceroy in Iraq, Paul Bremer, who replaced the retired General Jay Garner to run the affairs of an occupied Iraq. It also comes at a time when the Iraqi opposition groups are coming under heavy pressure to name the six members that will represent the interim government. While the SCIRI is represented in those meetings by Al-Hakim's brother, the grand Ayatollah himself explained that he will not participate in any US supervised meetings. Gabr expressed the SCIRI's dissatisfaction with the status quo. He explained that all along the SCIRI has opposed the idea of a US military intervention to ouster Saddam Hussein's regime. He disclosed that the group, along with other opposition movements, presented a proposal at the Istanbul meeting held at the beginning of March for a non-military strategy to topple Saddam, but it was snubbed by the Americans. "The SCIRI did not approve of the idea to have an American military ruler in Baghdad. The Americans feared that if there was a popular movement against Saddam, they might not have things under their control. This explains why they opted for a military intervention." "But now we do not have a clear idea of what the true intentions of the Americans are in Iraq. Almost a month after the end of the war, there is still no civil administration to fill the political and security vacuum, there is a critical shortage in humanitarian aid in Iraq and the Americans are not setting a timetable to leave the country," Gabr said.
