Has Al Khoei Family Intervened On

Has the al-Khoei Family Intervened on Muqtada’s Behalf?

Received the following from an Iraqi reader:

‘ My uncle in Baghdad who is absolutely not a supporter of Moqtada tells me that the Al-Koei family has jointly written a letter to the CPA stating that they do not hold Moqtada responsible for the mob that killed Sayid [Abdul Majid] Al-Koei and that even if we were involved they do not want to press charges against him. Furthermore, the Al-Koei foundation web site blames pro-saddam elements for his death.

I realize that they might be doing this to avoid intra-Shia conflict and still harbor ill will toward Moqtada. Nonetheless if you can corroborate the existence of this letter (it has been widely publicized in Iraq) and its authenticity I think it is an important piece of news.

I hope you will also understand that I am not a partisan of Moqtada in any way, but I want the truth to come out and I think he has been unfairly maligned for essentially what amounts to his political views about theocracy and the presence of US troops in his country. His followers may be uncouth and he may have a militia, but as you point out this is a characteristic of at least a dozen nascent political movements in Iraq.

The only way to defeat Moqtada and theocracy is at the ballot box, if is movement is banned from the electoral process they will go underground and bring a lot of the disenfranchised shia with them. ‘

If this news is true, it rather pulls the rug out from under the Coalition Provisional Authority case against Muqtada al-Sadr.