Full Release - IRmep

IL
ALL INFORMATION CONTAI1~D
HEREIN IS lTNCLASSIFIED
DATE 07-29-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/lsg
The United States and Shi'ite
Religious Factions in Post-Ba'thist Iraq
JuanC91e
In post-Saddam Husayn Iraq, Slli'ite militias rapidly established their authority
in East Baghdad and other urban 1Zeighborhoodsofthe south. Among the vqrious
groups which emerged, the Sadr Movement stands Ollt as militant and cohesive.
The sectarian, anti-American Sadrists wish to impose a puritanical, Khomeinist
vision on Iraq. Their political influence is potentially milch greater than their
numbers. Incorporating them i~to a democratic Iraq while ensuring that they do
not come to dominate it poses a severe challenge to tile US Administration.
1 planning the war on Iraq, the American Defense Department a~d· intelligen