NAME: Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim

AGE: 64

NATIONALITY: Iraqi

CLAIM TO FAME: Iraq’s most powerful Shia cleric

THE US may be clever enough to oust Saddam Hussein on the dubious pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction, but the organizational power of the Iraqi Shias nullified all their efforts. And now with Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim back in the country, the allies are sure to suffer a few more headaches.

Leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the Ayatollah arrived early this month, after a 23-year exile, to stake claim to a country that is facing a desperate power vacuum. And right now his return is more than just symbolic, as may be that of other exiled Iraqi leaders. Hakim made it a point to mark his return to Iraq, via Najaf, one of Islam’s holiest cities. It is also the seat of clerical learning for the Iraqi Shi’ite population and equally important, it is Baqer’s place of birth. He is the man to reckon with, and nobody realizes that more than the occupying American and British forces.

Upon his return, crowds in the thousands thronged him and showered him with yellow roses. Sheep were slaughtered and old men cried as Hakim’s followers spoke of miracles. And in the distance, the British Queen’s Dragoon Guards kept a close eye on a man who has taken charge of a liberated population, and who may well be one of the next leaders of Iraq. After all, Iraq is a predominantly Shi’ite country. They represent 60 per cent of the population and after Saddam’s downfall, they have now found a freedom, suppressed for more than two decades.

But seeing men like Ayatollah Baqer take Saddam’s place isn’t exactly what the Americans had in mind. They want a more pro-West government in Baghdad, not one that is chummy with neighbouring Iran, another Shi’ite majority and a major headache for the US. Still, for the well-organized Iraqi Shi’ite majority, an Iranian-style theocracy is what they want. And SCIRI, one of the most well-organized of Shia groups in the country, may just be the answer. The Ayatollah’s men have been impressing the crowds more with actions and less with words. For example, some 300 SCIRI activists have arrived in Najaf and are working to restore electricity, supply medicine, mediate legal cases, and retrieve looted property. Now that is something that the US has not yet been able to do.

As for the Ayatollah, he seems to have backed away from his past calls for a pro-Iran government in Baghdad, at least for the moment. Doing rounds of the country, having also visited Basra, he is making sure that after years of Saddam’s rule, this time round his people don’t get left out of the power game.