Asia Times Online :: Middle East News - A Shi'ite storm in the making: "Sadeq's power base was so deeply grounded in the plebeian Shi'ite population, especially in eastern Baghdad, that still four years after his assassination in 1999 by Saddam's regime his movement continued to expand. On entering Iraq after more than 20 years of exile in Iran in 2003, Hakim witnessed the rise of a major Shi'ite political rival, a young cleric named Muqtada al-Sadr, who would publicly question his bravery and Iraqi credentials for not only failing to stand up to Saddam, but also for being a foreign agent backed by the Iranian government. "
Broken Spring? : Information Clearing House This is a sequel to my June 2011 article, ‘After the spring’, on the upheavals in the Arab world. It is an article that has been painful to write, because it brings bad tidings and offers a pessimistic analysis of the upheavals, at least in the short term, in a number of Arab countries. The outcomes and potential outcomes of these uprisings have also acquired new, very significant dimensions. These include a complex entanglement with the accelerated preparations for a possible attack on Iran, and a poisonous, sectarian aspect that could have the consequence of ripping Syria and the Middle East apart.
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