Reply #11: Wonder if he'll be as Democratic as the Shah? [View All]

Living in Iran as an exile for many years also reshaped al-Hakim’s outlook and personality. In Iran there were two camps of Iraqis: the refugees and the captives of the Iraqi-Iran war. The latter were generally nationalists and had a vague memory of al-Hakim family. Their identification was mostly with Ayatollah Mohamed Sadiq al-Sadr, the father of Mugtada al-Sadr. The Iraqi refugees who were deported by Saddam for sectarian reasons bitterly resented the regime in Iraq and the way they were treated. It is this group that al-Hakim related to and to whom he offered moral and financial support.

In recent months, al-Hakim’s adversaries have intensified their accusations that he is a tool of Iran and the United States. In Iran, the reformer group appears to support al-Sadr movement not al-Hakim. The ruling conservatives in Iran have their own priorities: ensuring the safety and the survival of the regime and making Qom, rather than Najaf in Iraq, as the intellectual and religious center of Shia Islam. The latter aim may be consistent with al-Hakim’s goals of having a weak Hawza not connected to the daily affairs of ordinary Iraqis. This may allow him to project himself as the only champion of the cause of the people in central and southern Iraq.

Similarly, al-Hakim interest in maintaining the presence of foreign forces and his apparent friendship with American representatives in Baghdad, do not necessary evidence that he is an American instrument. Rather, his interests seem to be consistent with the goal of the neoconservatives; incapacitating Iraqi political and cultural institutions.

In recent months, al-Hakim more than ever has strengthened his relationships with the representatives of the occupation powers. Furthermore, he visited Irabil in Northern Iraq and promised Kurdish separatists to transfer Iraq into semi-independent three regions. This has angered the majority of Iraqis who regards the proposed division as a threat to the democratic order and peace and security in Iraq. Since then, al-Hakim has faced mounting pressures, to espouse patriotic agenda, from two credible rivals: Al-Dawa Party and Sadrist movement.

http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/February/23%20o/The%20Making%20of%20Abdul%20Aziz%20al-Hakim%20By%20Abbas%20J.%20Ali.htm