Free Republic

The Arab League summit that began Thursday in Baghdad has illuminated the political and religious divisions splitting with Arab world, while powerful eastern non-Arab neighbor Iran looks on and tries to pull Iraq's strings. One of those fractures is between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, branded a would-be dictator by domestic rivals, who is sitting down with the new leaders of countries that have overthrown tyrants in the often-bloody Arab Spring revolutions. The meeting of Arab leaders in the cavernous Republican Palace built by Saddam Hussein is the first such gathering since those political convulsions began in Tunisia in January...

BRUSSELS -- An ax-wielding arsonist burst into a Shiite Belgian mosque Monday, killing the imam and destroying much of the building in an attack local Muslims tipped as the work of Sunni extremists. Police said the man, detained after mosque personnel trapped him inside the building, apparently used fuel to set fire to the Rida mosque near Brussels' international rail hub, killing 46-year-old father-of-four Abdallah Dadou. The victim, who died of smoke inhalation, was described by worshipper Abdel Adouzeyneb, a 39-year-old real estate agent, as "a person who was loved by everybody -- he was open, well integrated, smiling and...

A bomb tore through a procession of Shiite pilgrims heading toward a largely Sunni town in southern Iraq on Saturday, killing at least 53 people in the latest sign of a power struggle between rival Muslim sects that has escalated since the American military withdrawal. Fears of more bloodshed have risen in recent weeks, with the U.S. no longer enjoying the leverage it once had to encourage the two sides to work together to rein in extremists. Most of the latest attacks appear to be aimed at Iraq's majority Shiites, suggesting Sunni insurgents seeking to undermine the Shiite-dominated government are...

Although a large number of shops in Tehran put a Christmas tree in their windows to welcome Christmas season, the Christmas theme in several shopping centers has displeased the regime dependent media. Last week you could sense the Christmas season in several streets in Tehran. Many shops had placed a decorated Christmas tree where it could easily capture the attention of passersby. But it seems that this trend has upset the pro-government media! ... "One of the main symbols of Christianity, the majority religion of the world, is Christmas which is known by a colorfully decorated tree. What's the point...

Russia is concerned that the Arab Spring revolutions could sow further turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa by provoking a potentially catastrophic rift between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. In written answers to Reuters, Lavrov said the events in the region were still unfolding and cautioned that social, political and religious tensions showed signs of increasing. “There are serious fears about the possible emergence of new zones of instability in the region that could become potential sources of challenges to international stability and security,” Lavrov said. Such threats, he said, included the spread of...

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged Kurdish officials to hand over the country's Sunni vice-president on terrorist charges, in a row that has raised communal tension. Mr Maliki, a Shiite. ... Mr Maliki has also called for the sacking of Sunni deputy prime minister Saleh al-Mutlak, who has decried the Shiite-led national unity government as a "dictatorship". All this comes just days after US troops completed their withdrawal from the country, leaving behind what US president Barack Obama described as a "sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq". Mr Maliki ..."We gave Saddam a fair trial, and we will give Hashemi...

Iraqi authorities issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Muslim Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi on Monday for suspected ties to assassinations and bombings, a decision likely to fuel sectarian tensions after the U.S. troop withdrawal. The move risks unraveling Iraq's fragile power-sharing deal among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs who have struggled to overcome tensions just a few years after sectarian slaughter drove the country to the edge of a civil war. … The political struggle between Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Sunni rivals in the country's delicate power-sharing deal has intensified during the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops...

NEW YORK — In an historic hearing in the federal courthouse in Manhattan on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels said he planned to issue a ruling in the coming days declaring that Iran shares in the responsibility for the 9/11 terror attacks. “The extensive record submitted to this court, including fact witnesses and expert testimony, is satisfactory to this court,” Judge Daniels said. The court “accepts as true” the various allegations of the plaintiffs and their experts, he declared, and “will issue an order” in the coming days that Iran bears legal responsibility for providing “material support” to...

Iran-inspired Shiite Muslim men beating themselves to pulp in a sick religious display. Coming soon to a shopping mall parking lot close to you in the USA. OUR HERO Translation to English Synposis Provided by Freeper "AmericanInTokyo":(Original Iranian Article: "時期米大統領候補、イスラム教徒に侮辱的な発言" (Next Presidential Candidate, Makes (Insulting Comments to Islamists")(MY SYNOPSIS): "Herman Cain is the Republican candidate for the next U.S. presidential election, and much was made by him of the so-called Muslim extremist presence in the United States. According to Mefuru press reports on communications coming from Candidate Cain, he claimed "(and) what with special attention to trends regarding extremist...

I've heard the accusations, but is it true? I don't support him for POTUS by the way, I'm just curious what others think.

Here is what the Iran-Hezbollah Islamo-fascistic entity has been contributing to humanity, since the Islamic Revolution. Religious apartheid and ethnic apartheid: Since the revolution, a total Islamic oppression has been in place, yet, there was always a "special" place for oppression on non-Muslim, racism on non-Ethnic Iranians like; Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs, etc. - Hijacking Americans for 144 days in 1979. - Bombing US and French barracks in 1983. - Multiple kidnapping and torturing of Westerners in the 1980s. - Bombing shopping malls in France 1985-6 - Torturing Lebanese Jews in the 1980s. - Bombing Israeli embassy in Argentina 1992...

'Arab Spring' Part of Iranian Plot to Dominate By Reza Kahlili For the first time, an official entity of Iran's Islamic government has detailed the horrific goal of the regime: destroy America and Israel as part of the Muslim "awakening" sweeping Africa and the Middle East. That "awakening," which the West has labeled the "Arab Spring," is all part of Iran's messianic complex in which it sees itself as the spearhead of a worldwide revolution in which the Shiite version of Islam will dominate humanity.

Sunni extremists opened fire on Shiite Muslim pilgrims traveling by bus through southwest Pakistan on Tuesday on their way to in Iran, killing 26 people...Sunni militants with ideological and operational links to al-Qaida and the Taliban have carried out scores of bombings and shootings against Shiites in recent years... The passengers tried to run away, but the gunmen opened fire, killing 26 people and wounding six others...The attackers then drove off, leaving the dying and wounded where they lay. It was nearly an hour before rescue teams arrived, he said. There were around 40 people on the bus.

Today, a redneck friend was trying to explain the difference between a Sunni Muslim and a Shi'ite Muslim. He says that, when Osama was dumped into the sea, he was a Sunni Muslim. But after being eaten by the fish and crabs, he was digested and converted into a Shi'ite Muslim. Somehow, my friend does not strike me as an expert on Islam, and I have to seek a second opinion. What is the difference between a Sunni and a Shi'ite Muslim?

Tensions and violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims are often in the news in countries like Iraq, Pakistan and Bahrain, but why are they at daggers drawn? swissinfo.ch: How did it come about that a Sunni minority should rule over a Shiite majority, as for example in Bahrain, where there are currently popular protests? Arnold Hottinger: This is a matter of power which has historical roots. Bahrain has a Sunni government but the majority of the population – 70 per cent - is Shiite. The example of Iraq, which also has a Shiite majority, can be easily explained in the...

Bahrain's Blow-up--Amir Taheri - NYPOST.com - 17 Feb 2011 ... Bahrain, the smallest of the 21 Arab states, is often deemed a success ... " Second, the global recession has hit Bahrain hard, reducing job opportunities. Shiites claim that they're the victims of an undeclared "religious apartheid" that reserves the best jobs for Sunnis, including non-Bahraini Arabs.

MANAMA (Reuters) – The United States said Bahrain was on the "wrong track" in trying to crush Shi'ite protests in the Sunni-ruled island, rare criticism that highlighted concern the crackdown could ignite a wider regional conflict. Bahraini forces used tanks and helicopters on Wednesday to clear a protest camp set up by youths from the Shi'ite Muslim majority which complains of discrimination by the Sunni royal family. Three police and three protesters were killed. The unrest has brought an influx of troops to Bahrain from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbors Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, who fear the...

Saudi security forces to crack down on any unlawful protesters From Mohammed Jamjoom, CNNMarch 5, 2011 -- Updated 1838 GMT (0238 HKT) (CNN) -- Coming off two days of demonstrations, Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry warned Saturday that it would crack down on protesters who continue to take their grievances to the streets. Saudi security forces will be "authorized to take all measures against anyone who tries to break the law and cause disorder," the ministry said, according to the country's state-run news agency. /snip An outspoken Shiite prayer leader who demonstrators say was arrested more than a week ago was...

Roger Stockham ... The California man accused of plotting to blow up a Detroit-area mosque rejected his court-appointed counsel Friday, upset that the attorney is a Shiite Muslim and a "patron" of the Islamic center where he was arrested. There are two main sects within Islam, Shiite and Sunni. The schism between Sunni and Shiite stems from the early days of Islam and arguments over the Prophet Muhammad's successors as the faith's spiritual leader.

...[Wikileaks] show how Iranian regional ambitions have placed Teheran's fingerprints on myriad political processes across the Middle East. They detail Iran's extensive interference in Iraq, quote the Saudi king’s assertion of Iranian aid to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, outline Iranian and Syrian involvement with illegal arms transfers from North Korea and describe the extensive involvement of Revolutionary Guards personnel in shipping weapons to Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War (using the Iranian Red Crescent relief organization as cover). So the leaked cables provide added and deepened color to an already existing picture of regional cold war. ... Iran is...