[kellynla]

S.O.P., once you receive enemy fire from a religious location, all bets are off! ...the next sound you hear will be "doom"...

[tjwmason]

you receive enemy fire from a religious location, all bets are off!

I can sympathise with what you are saying, and personally have no problems with attacking a Mosque, as I do not regard them as holy in any sense. What we are talking about here is P.R. This is considered by Shia moslems to be their holiest shrine (the burial site of Imam Ali); if we attack it, then those moderate Shia are going to turn against us, and Iraq will become utterly ungovernable. If we cannily expose the manner in which the shrine is being used as a shield, it can undermine the sympathies which al Sadr is gaining.

I repeat, I couldn't give a **** what happens to the Mosque, but most of Iraq is Shia, and they do care.