When Ali Ateya was killed last month at the age of 23 - a victim of an American airstrike on a block of concrete tenements in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, according to his family - there was no money for his burial.Look at that last sentence. Al-Sadr will help "any victim of American weapons." Never mind that al-Sadr's militia fighters fight and hide among civilians, increasing the chances that Iraqi civilians will be killed or injured. This McClatchy propaganda piece is one of the worst I've seen. Hat tip: Newsbusters
Within days, two officials from Sadr City's main humanitarian organization showed up at the family home. Unsolicited, they offered to pay for Ateya's Shiite Muslim burial service and provide food for three days of ritual mourning.
Then they handed the parents an envelope. It was stuffed with 500,000 Iraqi dinars — about $400 — and on it was printed: "A gift from Sayyid Muqtada al Sadr."
Sadr, the fiery anti-American Shiite cleric, has again emerged as the U.S. military's No. 1 problem in Iraq, as his followers wage an increasingly bloody struggle with American soldiers for control of impoverished, militia-infested Sadr City.
But for the slum's 2.5 million predominantly Shiite residents, Sadr plays a different role, one of humanitarian-in-chief — gifting money to families of the dead and injured, resettling displaced families free of charge and, every month, helping to feed tens of thousands of Sadr City's most impoverished people. Sadr offers the funds for any victim of American weapons in Sadr City.
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Previous posts on Leila Fadel:
McClatchy's Leila Fadel endorses left-wing anti-Bush report
McClatchy's Leila Fadel announces al-Maliki lost Basra
McClatchy's Leila Fadel: "The real story is the victims in Iraq"
Liberal media organization gives award to Leila Fadel
