Posted on 11/27/2019 6:58:14 PM PST by BenLurkin
Anti-government protesters in Iraq burned down an IranianConsulate Wednesday, as unrest continues to grow against Iraqi lawmakers and Tehran's growing influence in Iraqi affairs.
The consulate building in Najaf was torched and the Iranian flag was removed and replaced with an Iraqi one. Staffers inside were not harmed and escaped through a back door.
One protester was killed and 35 were wounded when police opened fire to prevent them from entering the facility. Protesters previously attacked an Iranian consulate in Karbala earlier this month. No one was harmed in that attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Stock up on the popcorn.
Neocon Nation Building!
Same ol’ same ol’...
_X_ Not sorry to hear this.
bttt
“Too bad they both can’t lose”. Nostalgia.
They wanted to make s'mores, and they just couldn't wait.
The consulate building in Najaf... previously attacked an Iranian consulate in Karbala...
Its got to be other Shi’ites, to be operating in force, in those towns.
Regarding their record I wonder what are neocon plans for Iran. One thing for sure it has too be exponentially worse than it is now.
Neocon Motto: No blood and treasure burden too great for America’s taxpayers.
Yep, and it is your kids who are fighting their wars, not theirs.
Oh the irony!
Oh boy, the Justine Raimando post mortem fan club has already arrived.
I love it. When I heard this today I cheered !
Dramatic developments in #Iraq after Sistani’s speech..
-PM Abd Mahdi announce he will give resignation to parliament
-Abu Jihad Hashemi the office director of the of PM, announces his resignation
-Most of the Iraqi parties, announced the move to dismiss the PM
https://twitter.com/Mustafa_Habib33/status/1200392572381933569
They are fed up with the Iranians influence in the Iraqi government.
For years, Sistani, who has endorsed a religious and political viewpoint independent of Iran, has been Khamenei’s top challenger for the leadership of the global Shi’ite community.
Sistani has more followers in Iran than any other cleric as well as links to some of the top clerics in Iran’s holy city of Qom.
This is a background about Sistani written two weeks ago https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/80346
Here’s the problem-— Al-Sistani is closing in on his 90’s, the question is WHO will replace him when he’s gone?
Will it be someone like him? Or someone more akin to the Iranian Ayatollah?
Here’s the problem-— Al-Sistani is closing in on his 90’s, the question is WHO will replace him when he’s gone?
Will it be someone like him? Or someone more akin to the Iranian Ayatollah?
The opinion of the Shia community in Najaf is that Wilayat al-Faqih, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurist i.e. the Khomeini version of how to run a country with a supreme leader on the top of the heap is wrong.
Iran has several times tried to push Najaf/Karbala to change this and even tried to push for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Hashemi_Shahroudi as a replacement (He died 2018 only 70 years old)
According to an article in 2018 by the Kurdistan Conflict and Crisis Research Center there are some possible replacements: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Hakim ,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashir_al-Najafi
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Fayadh
http://www.kurdistanc.com/EN/details.aspx?jimare=1050
I have not investigated this enough to give an educated guess. But it is probably important to check who Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai, the spokesperson for Sistani is spending time with.
However, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has directed Iraqi leaders to shut down Iraq's protests, even if that means more violence.
and on November 21, Khamenei met in Tehran with Iraqi officials including Falih al-Fayadh, head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU); Hadi al-Amiri, head of the pro-Iran Badr Organization; and Mohammad Hashimi, head of the prime minister's office.
Mohammad Hashimi just resigned.
It is likely that more persons in Iran are listening to Sistani than to Khamenei, and the change of government in Iraq may increase the pressure in Iran.
The persons around Khamenei are probably very nervous today.
Protesters are reclaiming symbols of Shi’ism and repurposing them in ways that are meaningful to them. As a result, they are also challenging the theme of the cross-national Shiite identity that marked and motivated historical protests, such as those in 1979 and in 1991. The anti-Iranian sentiment, particularly in the south, is a rejection of the Iranian brand of Shi’ism.
The most prominent aspect of this brand is the Iranian-supported parties and militias. These groups are largely seen as corrupt and implicated in extreme violence against Iraqi protesters. As a result, headquarters and offices of Iranian-affiliated Islamist parties and groups throughout the south have been attacked. Iran’s consulates in Najaf and Karbala — Shi’ism’s holiest sites — have been burned. Anti-Iranian chants and anti-Iranian slogans populate the protest spaces in Tahrir and the south.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.