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American Morning
The New Iraq: Journey of Faith
Aired April 21, 2003 - 07:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shiites are celebrating their new found religious freedom. They are making a pilgrimage from Najaf to the tomb of Hussein, a Muslim martyr who was killed more than 1,300 years ago.
Our Karl Penhaul went along on this spiritual journey, and joins us now live from Karbala.
This pilgrimage actually banned under Saddam Hussein's regime, right -- Karl?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi, not exactly. What was banned under Saddam Hussein was the fact that pilgrims couldn't walk to the shrine here at Karbala. They were allowed in a much more restricted fashion to travel here in trucks and buses. But obviously Saddam Hussein was no friend of the Shiite Muslim majority here, and his aim was to restrict the pilgrimage as much as possible, thereby limit the influence of the Muslim clerics and the hold that they had over 67 percent of the population.
Today, as you're seeing, tens of thousands of pilgrims are flocking now to Karbala to the site of the shrine of Hussein. Most of them have walked here. I've come from the city of An Najaf this morning, that's about 45 miles away, tens of thousands of pilgrims flocking, a human tide along the highway. Many of those people are now reaching the outskirts of Karbala, and you can see that a small proportion of them are now here in the square. But I can tell you, Heidi, many, many thousands more are on their way.
And so, yes, in this sense, because they have been allowed to walk here, this certainly is an expression of religious freedom since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
What's also interesting, Heidi, is that behind the scenes here, back in the holy city of Najaf, like I say, 45 miles away from here and the center of the Shiite Muslim faith here in Iraq, a religious power play is going on. A number of senior clerics are vying for power there because those that manage to gain the religious control, the upper hand in the religious matters, will almost certainly therefore gain a very important social and political position, that, as you -- as you know, before any civil administration has been put in place. And so a religious leader that gains a greater influence now can also expect to have a hand in how that civil administration is formed -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Karl Penhaul, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 21, 2003 - 07:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shiites are celebrating their new found religious freedom. They are making a pilgrimage from Najaf to the tomb of Hussein, a Muslim martyr who was killed more than 1,300 years ago.
Our Karl Penhaul went along on this spiritual journey, and joins us now live from Karbala.
This pilgrimage actually banned under Saddam Hussein's regime, right -- Karl?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi, not exactly. What was banned under Saddam Hussein was the fact that pilgrims couldn't walk to the shrine here at Karbala. They were allowed in a much more restricted fashion to travel here in trucks and buses. But obviously Saddam Hussein was no friend of the Shiite Muslim majority here, and his aim was to restrict the pilgrimage as much as possible, thereby limit the influence of the Muslim clerics and the hold that they had over 67 percent of the population.
Today, as you're seeing, tens of thousands of pilgrims are flocking now to Karbala to the site of the shrine of Hussein. Most of them have walked here. I've come from the city of An Najaf this morning, that's about 45 miles away, tens of thousands of pilgrims flocking, a human tide along the highway. Many of those people are now reaching the outskirts of Karbala, and you can see that a small proportion of them are now here in the square. But I can tell you, Heidi, many, many thousands more are on their way.
And so, yes, in this sense, because they have been allowed to walk here, this certainly is an expression of religious freedom since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
What's also interesting, Heidi, is that behind the scenes here, back in the holy city of Najaf, like I say, 45 miles away from here and the center of the Shiite Muslim faith here in Iraq, a religious power play is going on. A number of senior clerics are vying for power there because those that manage to gain the religious control, the upper hand in the religious matters, will almost certainly therefore gain a very important social and political position, that, as you -- as you know, before any civil administration has been put in place. And so a religious leader that gains a greater influence now can also expect to have a hand in how that civil administration is formed -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Karl Penhaul, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
