Global Policy Forum

By Thanassis Cambanis

Sheik Fadel Khalaf Jassem and Sheik Mohammed Bakr had been broadcasting an SOS from the minarets as their neighborhood collapsed into near-anarchy in the power vacuum left by the departure of the Ba'ath government and the occupation by US troops. By yesterday, their appeal had borne fruit in the Hay Al-Salam neighborhood: Overnight, crews of men had organized to provide security patrols, garbage collection, and power plant repair, services they used to expect from the state.

But if local grass-roots initiatives are a welcome alternative to the long-pervasive Ba'ath Party structure for both Iraqis and US officials, the nascent, religion-based organizing also holds a warning to the architects of Operation Iraqi Freedom, who hope to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy and tolerance for the Middle East. Jassem, Bakr, and followers of religious leaders like them across the city intend to build an Islamic state to replace the decidedly secular regime of Saddam Hussein, much like what happened in neighboring Iran after an Islamic revolution toppled the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979.

The religious leaders said that while they did not view Iran or Afghanistan as a model, they do want a state based on Sharia law where the Koran offers the guiding principles. They insisted that they would welcome foreign help and did not view America as the enemy. At a meeting Saturday that brought together all the Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in the Baghdad neighborhood, area residents made plans to jury-rig a power substation, organize garbage pickup, and operate a makeshift bus service with private cars.

But while the immediate order of the day is returning city life to some semblance of normalcy, the men hustling to clean up the streets of Hay Al-Salam (and it is all men) dream of something bigger: a post- Hussein state centered on the Koran. ''It's going to be an Islamic state,'' Jassem said. The people of Hay Al-Salam see their collective endeavor as the first step. Ahmad Jamil Hamada, a 35-year-old grocer, said that with the Shi'ites and Sunnis united, residents can put in power a leader of their choosing.

''What we wanted from the Americans was to get rid of Saddam,'' he said. ''If we had wanted to fight back, this war could have taken ages.'' Exactly what the clerics of this city mean by an Islamic state is unclear. For decades, Hussein's government was avowedly secular, although since the 1991 Gulf War it has grown increasingly religious to muster popular support. ''The former government was very corrupt and oppressive and did not respect any religious beliefs,'' said Sheik Faris Jaber Al-Halo, a Shi'ite imam who is spearheading a similar community effort in the downtown neighborhood of Karada.

US officials have strongly encouraged initiatives from clerics and other leaders with local legitimacy as the rebuilding effort gets underway. But they may find that those initiatives form the underpinnings of a potent wave of political Islam. ''An Islamic government is something we all hope for,'' Halo said. ''We hope it comes very soon.''

Despite the political overtones of their work, the sheiks of Hay Al-Salam have turned this neighborhood around in just 24 hours. On Saturday night, Jassem persuaded 150 of Hussein's Fedayeen fighters camped in a half-constructed mosque to leave so that American tanks wouldn't strike. ''I told them nothing good would come of them being in the area,'' Jassem said. ''I told them to stop fighting. I told them they are harming innocent children.''

Yesterday, those Fedayeen were nowhere to be found. And, in what is perhaps more important to a quick recovery for a capital rocked by three weeks of war and then a weeklong frenzy of looting, the imams persuaded thieves to return stolen property that could benefit the community. Looters who return what they have taken are being granted amnesty in this improvised system of justice, where necessity trumps punishment. By yesterday afternoon, the Hassan Jawad Al-Sahel mosque was packed with returned goods, from air compressors and carpets to plumbing fixtures and crates of brand-new sneakers.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.