Al-Sadr Orders Workers To Strike

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
March 27, 2008
Pg. 1
Shiite cleric hobbles Iraqis' basic services
By Charles Levinson, USA Today
BAGHDAD — Iraq's government was partially paralyzed Wednesday after powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered a nationwide strike, prompting fears that basic services such as hospitals and schools could be crippled.
Al-Sadr has lashed out at the Iraqi government since it launched a crackdown on members of his Mahdi Army militia and other rogue Shiite groups. Street battles raged again in Baghdad and southern Iraq as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki gave the militias a three-day deadline to surrender their weapons.
At least 119 Iraqi troops, militia members and civilians have been killed since the clashes intensified on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. The violence threatens to undermine the improvement in security seen in Iraq during the past six months.
However, the more immediate threat to Iraq's stability may stem not from al-Sadr's military might, but his political power to shut down the ministries and services essential to day-to-day life.
At the health ministry, where the staff is dominated by officials loyal to al-Sadr, the hallways were nearly empty Wednesday. The doctors, bureaucrats and black-clad militia members who normally roam the corridors heeded al-Sadr's call to stay home to protest the government crackdown.
The ministry controls about 3,000 hospitals and clinics throughout Iraq and an extended strike could severely impair their operations by restricting funds, drugs and other supplies.
Al-Sadr loyalists "can stop all the daily affairs of government," says Hashem Hassan, a communications professor at Baghdad University. "They can stop services, schools, and bring the economy to a standstill."
Sadrist officials also control Kimadia, the state-run company that distributes drugs to hospitals. "They can create chaos whenever they want," says Agron Ferrati, country director for the International Medical Corps, a non-profit group.
Chasib Abdel Latif, a senior Sadrist official who is the director of operations at the health ministry, denied any plans to shut down the ministry or other services.
The strike visibly impaired commerce in Baghdad, and minibuses and taxis were scarce.
Officials at other ministries reported high rates of absenteeism due to the strike. Haydar al-Mussawi, a spokesman at the Ministry of Displacement and Migration, said 40% of his ministry's workers failed to show up. Some stayed home out of loyalty to al-Sadr, while others feared violence, al-Mussawi said. The strike "is forcing people to choose between their loyalty to Sadr and their loyalty to their country," he said.
 
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