The New Arab Shiite Country of ?????

Curator · 12-16-2007, 06:06 AM

The new hub of Shiite political and economic power, not just for Iraq but for the entire Middle East is...... Najaf.

Quote:

Iran is playing a significant role in the plan, helping to improve the city and its holy sites, especially the golden- domed shrine to Imam Ali, the figure most associated with the founding of the Shiite sect, who is said to be buried here.

Money from Iran is financing some of the shrine expansion projects as well as contributing to the construction of a major electrical power-generating plant whose output will be shared between Najaf Province and its neighbor, Karbala, which is also the home of two important Shiite shrines.

Najaf’s governor, Asaad Abu Gulal, says his mission is to prepare the city to become the premier place in southern Iraq. “If we happen to have a southern region, Basra may be the commercial capital, but Najaf would be the political capital,” he said. “We have the political leadership, and we have the religious authority.”

. . . the most powerful Shiite Party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, led by the cleric Abdul Aziz Hakim, runs the city. The council has been the most vigorous proponent of creating a semiautonomous southern superregion similar to the Iraqi region of Kurdistan.

The depth of the city’s sense of its separate identity becomes clear when a driver enters the greater city limits. The security controls are akin to crossing an international border. “The Islamic State of Najaf,” joked one driver recently as he waited in one of five lines where a phalanx of local and national policemen checked each car for bombs and illegal guns. Anyone with a “foreign” license plate, meaning a plate from outside the Najaf Province, is subject to a thorough search and is required to go to a nearby police station to register.

In pursuit of self-sufficiency, Najaf is building an airport, an electrical plant to increase the city’s power, hospitals and small refineries to help increase the city’s supply of fuel for automobiles and cooking. Construction of the $75 million power plant will begin this month and will take two years to complete. Much of the financing for the project has been donated by the Iranian government, said Iraq’s minister of electricity, Karim Wahid.

So what will they name this new Shiite country? The lingering question that I'm wondering is whether Team Shiite aspires to add an ethnically-cleansed Baghdad to their "semi-autonomous region".

I'm sure Bu$h will push to build another embassy where the new Shiite theocracy will set up their capitol.

Cause you know we can't be left out.

...and this is why we occupy? To support the next Iranian friendly country.

The_Heretic · 12-16-2007, 02:39 PM

The bright side is they're handling their own reconstruction instead of foolishly allowing the U.S. war profiteering contractors to do it. And the Iranian influence can be held in check if Biden's plan it put into effect.

12-16-2007, 02:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
The_Heretic Master of Quill-Fu Space Invaders Champion! Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Taylorsville, UT [stuck in the 20th century]. Posts: 6,174 Blog Entries: 4 Thanks: 28 Thanked 86 Times in 61 Posts	The bright side is they're handling their own reconstruction instead of foolishly allowing the U.S. war profiteering contractors to do it. And the Iranian influence can be held in check if Biden's plan it put into effect. __________________ John McCain: "He's in Iraq... with a few centuries to kill." *You won't fight for the Bill of Right? Fine! I won't fight for you in the ballot box!*
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