Inside the Soldiers of Heaven

The extremist cult that met its fate at the hands of Iraqi and Coalition troops in Najaf, is like something out of a novel. . . .

The messianic Soldiers of Death had a long and interesting history. Reportedly, near 300 of its members and their followers were killed in the battle at Najaf over the weekend. Amongst the dead was their leader. The twists and turns of their story and connections boggles the mind. They were in fact a Shia cult and were out to kill the pilgrims at and destroy the holy city of, Najaf. And they wanted it to happen on a holy day. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government is rushing to publicize on al-Jazeera, to pro-Leftist western media, and to the Coalition leaders, that the group was linked to Saddam Hussein. This may or may not be true. The government also would like it to be believed that the group is tied to al-Qaeda. But given that al-Qaeda is made up of Sunni loyalists, this seems very unlikely. At any rate, it is not only another great mystery in the jumble of Middle Eastern inter-tribe warring and it's complicated political history. It is also in itself an interesting story - this group is so bizarre, that one would suppose it was made up as part of some spy novel - except that we know it's true.