BAGHDAD — Thousands of mourners marched through Baghdad behind the coffin of one of the country's most powerful Shiite leaders Friday, and eulogies from rivals and allies reflected deep worry over the political void left by his death.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim's death from lung cancer comes at a time of disarray among Iraqi Shiites. Just this week, his party formed a political grouping to contest January's parliamentary elections that excludes the Iraqi prime minister, setting up a showdown between former allies.
Rivalries were put aside as al-Hakim's body was flown back to Iraq from Iran, where he died Wednesday, but tensions were clear as he was remembered in memorial services.
"We have lost you while we are undergoing a delicate and sensitive period, and in a time when we are in need of strong men with experience and who have made great sacrifices," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said at the airport upon the arrival of al-Hakim's coffin. "We are still confronting the remnants of a dictatorship and terrorism by those who want to hurt Iraq."
Islamic tradition usually requires the dead to be buried swiftly, preferably within hours.But political factors were at play in the case of al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most influential power brokers, and his body was taken on a three-day mourning tour starting with memorials Thursday in Iran and ending with burial today in the Shiite holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq.
Iraq is holding parliamentary elections Jan. 16 in which competition over the Shiite vote will be stiff because of the split among Shiite parties. In regional elections this year, al-Hakim's party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, did poorly in many parts of the south. Many Sunnis and some Shiites distrusted al-Hakim, seeing him as a tool of Iran in his calls for self-rule in the Shiite heartland that is also home to most of Iraq's oil.
Al-Hakim's death, however, seems to have prompted more worry that instability could ensue without a strong figure at the helm of Iraq's biggest Shiite party.
A show of masses of supporters turning out to mourn al-Hakim could boost the party and the bloc it formed this week with other parties called the Iraqi National Alliance, observers said.
"I think they wanted to use such a procession to give an emotional boost to the Iraqi National Alliance ahead of the coming elections and maybe to show those who didn't join the new alliance the size of popularity and support they enjoy," said Qassim Nassir, the 35-year-old owner of an electrical appliance store in Baghdad.
Officials with his party defended the decision to delay the burial, citing al-Hakim's stature and demands from supporters in other provinces to be allowed to pay last respects.
The body was taken to two mosques in northern Baghdad before being transported to the holy city of Karbala. Followers pressed around the coffin, striking their heads in grief as it wascarried through the crowd in the capital, at one point tearing off the Iraqi flag that had been draped over it.
Al-Hakim, who died at age 59, was a symbol for many of the re-emergence of Iraq's Shiite political majority after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime. He worked with Americans after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion even while maintaining his tiesto Iran, where he lived in exile for 20 years.
His death comes as insurgents have stepped up attacks, including coordinated bombings last week against government ministries in Baghdad that claimed about 100 lives.
On Friday, the U.S. Army's top general said it was too early to tell whether the recent spike in violence in Iraq will have an effect on the pace that Washington withdraws its troops from the country.
A string of high-profile bombings since U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities June 30 has raised questions about whether the country's security forces are capable of protecting the population.
Gen. George Casey, the U.S. Army chief of staff, said he expected the security situation in Iraq to continue to "ebb and flow" over the next months and years.
"So I think it is way too early to make any judgments of the impact of some of the recent bombings on the long-term strategy," Casey said during a brief visit to Kuwait's Shuaiba port, which will play a key role in the withdrawal of U.S. forces from neighboring Iraq.
Security was tight in the capital Friday, and many major roads were closed, amid fears that his funeral procession could become a prime target for insurgents hoping to stoke sectarian tensions.
Iraqi state television broadcast the service, which also was carried live on a number of other Arabic stations.
Information for this article was contributed by Sameer N. Yacoub, Sinan Salaheddin and Diana Elias of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 08/29/2009