Shi'ites stage mass pilgrimage in Karbala

OUTPOURING OF FAITH: Throngs of Iraqi Shi'ite pilgrims celebrate as they circle the Imam Hussein holy shrine in Karbala, Iraq. For the first time in decades, Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq were able to gather on Tuesday en masse in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala to mark the end of the 40-day mourning period for the death of one of their most important saints, Imam Hussein. During the rule of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, such rituals were banned.

Karbala, Iraq (Agence France-Presse): Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shiite Muslims converged on the holy city of Karbala on Tuesday for a pilgrimage banned under Saddam Hussein as the U.S. military confirmed the capture of two more top henchmen from the deposed regime.

Amid growing discontent among Iraqis over U.S. occupation of the country and the failure to restore basic services, coalition forces stayed away from the pilgrimage, where a crowd of 3,000 Muslims shouted anti-American slogans.

Retired U.S. general Jay Garner began the second day of his mission to rebuild the war-ravaged country by meeting a key leader from the Kurdish minority.

And as disputes raged within the international community over how to verify Iraq's alleged arsenal of banned arms, United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was preparing later on Tuesday to address the UN Security Council, accusing the United States and Britain of using "shaky" intelligence to justify the war on Iraq,

In Karbala, Shiite leaders were expecting more than a million worshipers to flock to the shrine to mark the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussein in 680 AD.

The celebration, which was due to reach a climax on Tuesday and Wednesday, is the first time many Iraqi Shi'ites have been able to celebrate the anniversary and also a chance to show Shiite political muscle in postwar Iraq.

Shi'ites make up more than 60 percent of Iraq's 25 million people, but few were represented in Saddam's Sunni-dominated government.

Many of the pilgrims entered the golden-domed shrine crawling in a sign of humiliation before Hussein, and then hit their chests while flogging their backs with chains.

U.S. troops were not present in the city during the pilgrimage and also kept a low profile on the road linking Baghdad to Karbala to avoid inciting agitation for an end to "foreign occupation".

The Shiite pilgrims, many of whom made the 80-kilometer journey to Karbala from Baghdad on foot, expressed mixed feelings about the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam's regime.

"If America stays, it will suffer," shouted a crowd of some 3,000 people as they passed in front of an hotel housing foreign reporters. "No to colonialism, no to occupation," they continued, marching behind black flags.

"No America, no Saddam," a group of 30 men shouted in English. "No to America, no to Saddam, no to tyranny, no to Israel," they continued in Arabic.

But lawyer Mohsen Abdul Ali Zubeidi said: "I say thank you (U.S. President George W.) Bush and thank you (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair. Whatever the reason, if it wasn't for them, Saddam and his sons would be still around for another hundred years."

The climax of the pilgrimage comes at an awkward point in relations between U.S. forces and Iraq's Shi'ites, after Shi'ites staged a second day of demonstrations in Baghdad against the alleged arrest by the U.S. army of prominent mullah Sheikh Mohammed al-Fartusi.

His followers said al-Fartusi later arrived in central Baghdad aboard a minibus to cheers from the protesters, but U.S. army officials did not confirm that the cleric had ever been arrested.

At Central Command in Qatar, the U.S. military announced two more successes in its bid to round up the leading henchmen from the former Iraqi regime, including the highest ranking official seized yet.

Jamal Mustafa Abdullah Sultan, one of Saddam Hussein's sons-in-law who was handed over to the coalition by the Iraqi opposition, ranks number 40 on playing card list of the 55 most wanted former Iraqi officials.

The capture of Mohammad Hamza al-Zubaidi, former prime minister and rare Shiite in Saddam's ruling elite, is a major coup for the United States, which ranked him number 18 on the list, where he is portrayed as the queen of spades.