CIA Gave Murdered Cleric $13 Million to Influence Followers

Newsday -- Witnesses to the slaying said that as al-Khoei was being stabbed, a number of $100 and $50 bills in U.S. currency spilled out of his clerical robes. "There was some American money flying around with lots of blood on it," said one of the witnesses, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution. "The money was hidden in his clothes, and that made the crowd even angrier at him."

Al-Khoei's pro-American sympathies were no secret, and he had returned to Iraq from exile in London several days earlier with the assistance of U.S. troops, who provided a constant escort as he traveled through Najaf. He had urged the Shia community to support the U.S. war to topple Hussein and on the day he was killed was preaching reconciliation with former Hussein backers.