Demonstrators tear up an American flag at a demonstration in Najaf on April 9. AP PHOTO

The protesters marched about 5 km between the holy cities of Kufa and Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered up the march as a show of strength to Washington and Iraq's establishment Shiite ayatollahs.

Al-Sadr, who disappointed followers hoping he might appear after months in seclusion, has pounded his anti-American theme in a series of written statements. The most recent came April 8, when he called on his Mahdi Army to redouble efforts to expel American forces and for the police and army to join the struggle against "your enemy."

The fiery cleric owes much of his large following to the high esteem in which Shiites hold his father, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated in 1999 by suspected agents of Saddam Hussein. Al-Sadr dropped from view before the start of the latest Baghdad security operation on Feb. 14. U.S. officials say he is hiding in Iran.

Fearing attacks or other mayhem in the capital, Iraq's generals ordered all vehicles off the streets for 24 hours starting at 5 a.m. April 9, normally a work day. The capital was quiet, shops were shuttered and reports of sectarian violence fell to near zero.

Police and morgue officials reported finding seven bodies dumped in the capital, the second time the number of sectarian assassination and torture victims had dipped that low in the course of the Baghdad security operation.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 14, 2007
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