Ayatollah Al Hakim.(Mohamad Baqir Al Hakim)(Interview)

Ayatollah Mohamad Baqir Al Hakim may hold the key to a stable post- Saddam government in Iraq. Head of the dominant Shiite exile group, the Tehran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, he is a possible future leader of Iraq's Shiite majority. As such he could well determine whether the country becomes democratic and secular--or drifts toward Islamic fundamentalism.

SCIRI was founded in the early 1980s to export Iran's fundamentalist revolution to Baghdad. The group, which has a large militia called the Badr Brigade, says that is no longer its goal--Iraq has been too secular for too long. Still, it must decide whether to work with the United States or not. Likewise, the United States must decide whether it wants the SCIRI inside or outside Iraq's inchoate political tent. Last week Al Hakim spoke to NEWSWEEK's Owen Matthews in Tehran. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Why did you decide to boycott the U.S.-led meeting in An Nasiriya last week, meant as a first step toward forming an interim government?

AL HAKIM: I personally was not invited, though SCIRI was invited. We talked about going, but decided it wasn't necessary because we didn't know the [agenda]. Also, there were major popular demonstrations in Nasiriya against the meeting.

There were reports that those demonstrators were calling for an Islamic republic in Iraq. Do you support that?

The aim of the Nasiriya demonstration was to support the religious leadership, and to call for Iraqis to manage their own affairs.

Do you want an Islamic republic in Iraq?