'Shiite Giant' Extends Its Reach

KUFA, Iraq -- Pumping their fists in the air, the men and boys inside the colonnaded mosque shouted their loyalty to Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr. "Hasten the coming of the Mahdi!" thousands chanted in the baking sun of the open-air mosque, summoning the central religious figure of Sadr's movement. "And curse his enemies!"

Booming loudspeakers outside the mosque echoed the devotion of Sadr's followers converging for Friday prayers last month in Kufa, the cleric's spiritual base outside the Shiite holy city of Najaf. "Moqtada! Moqtada!" martial male voices intoned over the loudspeakers in rhythmic cadence with the footsteps of the gathering worshipers. "Even the child in the mother's cradle cries: 'Moqtada! Moqtada!' "

Photos Sadr City Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's organization of social, religious, political and military programs have become the strongest force in Iraq after the United States, whose presence they vehemently oppose. News From Iraq U.S. Spy Agencies Criticized On Iran Iraq's Rising Power: 'Shiite Giant' Extends Its Reach Bush's New Iraq Argument: It Could Be Worse Rice Orders Difficult Posts Filled First Marine Called Haditha Shootings Appropriate More News FULL REPORT: America at War   Special Report Washington Post stories and multimedia reports about Iraq, Afghanistan, the War on Terror and more. • Faces of the Fallen • Veterans: In Their Own Words • Afghan Reconstruction » FULL COVERAGE