Posted on 11/22/2004 7:45:06 AM PST by Pfesser
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen on Monday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics' group that has called for a boycott of national elections, just a day after Iraqi officials announced the balloting would be held Jan. 30 in spite of rising violence in Iraq (news - web sites).
Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces recovered 12 bodies, including five decapitated ones, from an area south of Baghdad, police said Monday. One was identified as a member of the Iraqi National Guard. The bodies were found during a raid Sunday in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, said Lt. Adnan Abdullah.
Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, was shot by gunmen at his home in northern Mosul — a sign of the continuing violence that wracks the country.
The slaying could further alienate Iraq's Sunni Arab minority ahead of the Jan. 30 election. The association is already calling for a boycott of the vote, and if many Sunni heed its call, the legitimacy of the election could be deeply undermined.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said his government was determined to hold the election as scheduled. He described those calling for a boycott as "the eventual losers" and "a small minority."
"The forces of darkness and terrorism will not benefit from this democratic experience and will fight it," Allawi said. "But we are determined that this experiment succeeds."
The vote for the 275-member National Assembly will be Iraq's first election since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s fall and is seen as a major step toward building democracy.
But the ongoing violence, which escalated this month with the U.S.-led offensive against Fallujah, has also raised concerns that balloting could be nearly a practical impossibility in insurgency-torn regions. Iraqi authorities insist ballots will be cast even in volatile areas — including Fallujah, Mosul and other parts of the Sunni Triangle.
Twenty nations, including Iraq's neighbors and Western and Arab countries, gathered in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheik for a conference aimed at showing support for Iraq.
The delegates intended to call on Allawi's government to reach out to its opponents to encourage broad participation in the election. According to a draft of the conference's final statement, they were also to underline their condemnation of "terrorism" in Iraq — a boost to Allawi's and the U.S. military's crackdown on insurgents.
In a gesture to Sunnis, Allawi on Monday ordered an inquiry into a raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces on Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque, one of the holiest Sunni shrines in Iraq. The raid just after Friday prayers left three people dead and enraged many Sunnis.
It also brought a condemnation from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, conferred Sunday with Sunni officials on several issues, including the Abu Hanifa raid. Allawi told them that "although there had been reports of terrorist activity around the mosque, mistakes appeared to have been made and that he had ordered a full investigation," a statement by Allawi's office said.
Allawi's government has warned that Sunni clerics who incite violence will be considered as "participating in terrorism." Some already have been arrested.
Elsewhere Monday, a U.S. patrol that came under attack returned fire, killing two attackers in Hawija, about 150 miles north of Baghdad, according to witnesses. The U.S. military had no immediate confirmation.
The military said Monday a U.S. soldier died after he was wounded in an attack the night before in Baghdad. At least 1,222 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an AP count.
The former police chief of the northern city of Mosul was arrested after allegations that his force allowed insurgents to take over police stations during this month's uprising, Deputy Gov. Khasro Gouran said Monday.
Brig. Gen. Mohammed Kheiri Barhawi was arrested Sunday by Kurdish militia in northern Irbil, where he fled after he was fired in the wake of the uprising
A rocket slammed into a residential district in the center of Baghdad on Monday, injuring five people including a child, witnesses said. The blast sent a giant cloud of black smoke rising over the eastern side of the Tigris River.
U.S. and Iraqi troops have been clearing the last of the resistance from Fallujah, the main rebel bastion stormed Nov. 8 in hopes of breaking the back of the insurgency before the election.
Allawi called the Fallujah assault was an unqualified success.
"We went to Fallujah and we broke their back," he told AP. "We found enough weapons there to destroy an entire country."
In Fallujah, Marine Maj. Jim West said Sunday that U.S. troops have found nearly 20 "atrocity sites" where insurgents imprisoned, tortured and murdered hostages. West said troops found rooms containing knives and black hoods, "many of them blood-covered."
The storming of Fallujah has heightened tensions throughout Sunni Arab areas, triggering a surge of clashes in Mosul, Beiji, Samarra, Ramadi and elsewhere.
The government's announcement Sunday that elections were set for Jan. 30 reflected Iraqi and U.S. determination to hold the vote despite the persistent violence.
Iraq's Shiites, believed to comprise about 60 percent of Iraq's nearly 26 million people, have been clamoring for an election, and voting is expected to go smoothly in northern areas ruled by the Kurds. But Sunni Arabs, estimated at about 20 percent of the population, fear domination by the Shiites.
During the January election, Iraqis will choose a National Assembly to draft a new constitution. If it's ratified, another election will be held in December 2005. Voters will also select 18 provincial councils and in Kurdish-ruled areas a regional assembly.
it's amazing that the appologists can not accept the fact that islam is pure evil.
of all the conflicts in the world on any given day name 2 or 3 that does not envolve muslims. these people need to go away.
A dead muslim cleric? I have more compassion for the dead squirrels in the street in front of my home.
Educate yourself. Read. Research. You decide. I have been having this same discussion with people like you for three years. It's boring.
Mohammad is islam. Islam is mohammad. Take the 'prophet' out of islam and islam doesn't exist...the entire koran is nothing but the 'prophet's' plagiarism from ancient hebrew texts and some arab/mesopotamian lore thrown in.
Sell's biography will provide you with something extremely important that isn't in the koran: chronology. You will then understand just how and why and when the 'verses' were 'revealed' to mohammad. When it suited him.
But don't take my word for anything. The last thing I care about is convincing you. All you are being asked to do is READ A BOOK OR TWO!
The Caliphate:Its Rise,Decline and Fall.
http://answering-islam.org.uk/Books/Muir/Caliphate
There you go. Completely non-judgemental. Historical. My copy cost me hundreds of dollars. You get to read if for free!
you get a big ol, drum roll rim shot for that one.
talk about putting the ball into someones court.
yeeeouch :)
i hate these guys already, reading that much history just makes my brain hurt ( but it's added to my favorites now )
incase i ever need data for a good campfire arguement, thanks.
Thanks I appreciate your generosity. I will read it and get back to you with questions or comments sir
I'm still laughing at your first response to me. "As a professional in the mental health field..."
I am at the moment reading Mein Kampf. It's mind-numbingly boring, but I will persevere. Herr Hitler was also the 'historical founder' of a system of belief. Daresay you would hold to it that he was maligned and misunderstood.
I think we can dispense with the need for a diagnosis. Mohammad's 'episodes' were documented by arabian sources and are clearly identified by Edward Sell in the numerous footnotes.(In the original arabic!) Whatever mohammad and hitler 'suffered' from was nothing...compared to the millions, hundreds of millions who died as a result of what 'ailed' them.
Yeah every Muslim is evil and we should kill them all. Uh huh.
You are another sicko sir. Your bright idea 'kill em all' will never win the war on terror and is repulsive. Get therapy now
Well maybe I won't be getting back to you since you allow yourself to scorn someone who dares to question your allegations. Perhaps you are just another self-righteous angry fool and you are giving every indication that is what you are, sir. If you are so correct why are dripping with scorn and rage, hmmmmmmmmmmm? I will tell you - professionally, Mr tough guy- you best be looking at your own mental health. You have a very high and mighty opinion of yourself as judge of Islam, 1 billion people and of me. Lottsa luck winning the war on terror with your game plan and your subtle approach.
"I will read it and get back to you with questions or comments sir"
Good gracious me...I really would prefer you didn't bother. Hey, there's lots to read on:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1285836/posts
'The Childhood Origins of Terrorism.'
537cant be wrong
Why obviously not
Clearly you are always right- but why is that?
You spew rot and expect me to read it. NOT!
thanks, made my night.
i can just picture you running in slow motion with arms spred wide through a field of flowers, to welcome the islamofacists to tell them all they need is a little tlc theropy. they are just misunderstood in the west and you can help bridge the misperceptions of our two cultures.
i'm sure you will still have a bewildered look on your face as your head rolls into a patch of petunias.
while i sir take careful aim and blow your new found friend to freakin he11. :)
ah being delusional aint all that bad afterall. it feels quite uplifting.
Not even gonna read your dumb crapola- obviously your sick brain has a plan to kill millions and its all my fault
Get therapy before you hurt yourself
Nerks, you are a pompous angry little man and you will have no further chances to recommend anything to me, all knowing one
idiot, get therapy before you hurt someone
Them's mighty harsh words coming from a 'spiritual/religious humanist' newbie. (Since Oct 15,2004)
Oh Fred you who know me and billions of others so well!
Please please please spare us your scorn......little angry boy, please
you must be one o' them thar californiaa
i'm ok your ok kinda psychotheropiss
until you get flumoxed and then run screaming get therapy
get therapy WAAAAA.
and class, ah 1 ah 2 DEATH TO ISLAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now stefanbc dont get your panties all scrunched up there.
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