Posted on 09/16/2005 11:35:13 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -
0916iraq-mosque A leading Sunni cleric called for religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against violence as Iraq endured a third consecutive day of sectarian killings - the worst, a suicide car bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed at least 12 worshippers as they left Friday prayers.
The bombing in Tuz Khormato, where a young Saudi man was later arrested wearing a bomb belt on his way to a second mosque, was the latest suicide attack following al-Qaida in Iraq's declaration of all-out war on Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority.
Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror group said it was taking revenge for a joint Iraqi-U.S. offensive against its stronghold in Tal Afar, a city near the Syrian border.
With more than 20 people killed Friday, the death toll over the past three days surpassed 200, with more than 600 wounded.
Sheik Mahmud al-Sumaidaei, a leading Sunni cleric whose group is linked to the country's insurgency, criticized militants for targeting civilians. He called for Iraq's religious and ethnic groups to take a stand against further bloodshed.
"I call for a meeting ... of all the country's religious and political leaders to take a stand against the bloodshed," al-Sumaidaei said during his sermon at Baghdad's Um al Qura Sunni mosque.
"We don't need others to come across the border and kill us in the name of defending us," he declared, a reference to foreign fighters who have joined the insurgency under the banner of al-Qaida. "We reject the killing of any Iraqi."
In Tuz Khormato, 130 miles north of Baghdad, authorities said the attacker detonated his explosives-packed car as worshippers flowed out of the Hussainiyat al-Rasoul al-Azam mosque, a Shiite Turkmen place of worship.
Police said 12 people were killed and 23 wounded in the bombing, which also destroyed 10 shops and eight cars.
"We were stepping out of the mosque and suddenly a big blast shook the ground," said Mustafa Ali, a 63-year-old ethnic Turkmen who escaped injury.
"I saw many people scattered on the ground, drenched in their own blood. I wanted to ask the bomber, 'Why did you attack those innocents who had prayed?'" he said.
Police Capt. Mohammed Ahmed said his men exchanged gunfire with another bomber before capturing him as he fled toward a second mosque. The man, who appeared to be in his early 20s, said he was from Saudi Arabia.
Friday's bloodshed began early, when gunmen opened fire on day laborers in an east Baghdad Shiite district. Three workers died and a dozen were wounded in the drive-by attack.
In Haswa, 30 miles south of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol, killing three officers and wounding four, said police Capt. Muthana Khalid.
Gunmen also stormed the house of the mayor in nearby Iskandariyah, killing him and four bodyguards.
Sheik Fadil al-Lami, the Shiite cleric at Baghdad's Imam Ali mosque, was gunned down as he waited to gas up his car, said police Col. Shakir Wadi. Authorities also found the bodies of three people in the same Shiite district, including one Iraqi soldier.
American forces raiding insurgent strongholds in the Euphrates River valley, northwest of Baghdad, called in airstrikes on militant positions in a stepped-up effort to retake cities and towns in Anbar Province, which includes the fertile region along the Euphrates as it flows southeast through the country from Syria.
A U.S. Marine was killed in the insurgent bastion of Ramadi, the provincial capital, the military said. At least 1,898 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
In the Euphrates region, U.S. jets destroyed an al-Qaida complex in Haditha before dawn Friday. The night before, warplanes struck an abandoned school in Karabilah, killing nine al-Qaida militants.
As Shiite and Sunni clerics condemned the rash of attacks, they also lashed out at the U.S.-backed Iraqi government and American forces, holding them responsible for the recent violence because they were unable to improve security in the country 2 1/2 years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
At the United Nations, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he believes Iraq's government is capable containing the the violence.
"There is no complete immunity against terrorist attacks or suicide bombers or people who are ready to blow up ... car bombs or themselves and downtown markets or schools or to kill children," he said.
More than 300 followers of the powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr traveled from Baghdad's Sadr City to the Kazimiyah neighborhood, where a suicide bombing Wednesday marked the start of the latest bloodshed, killing 160 people as day laborers assembled to find jobs.
The Iraqi government was "responsible for the security deterioration, and (we say to them) if they cannot protect Iraqis, then let Iraqis protect themselves," Hazem al-Araji, a senior al-Sadr aide, told The Associated Press.
Sheik Abdul-Zahraa al-Suwaidi, also a Shiite, said the violence had tarnished the image of Islam and Muslims, but he blamed the continued presence of 140,000 U.S. troops for fueling sectarian tension.
"You have to know that Iraq will gain its security if the occupation troops leave this country," al-Suwaidi told worshippers in Baghdad's Risafaa district.
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Associated Press writers Omar Sinan in Baghdad and Yehia Barzanji in Tuz Khormato contributed to this report.
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Major news here.
The problem with the article is the word "leading", which is questionable and needs further detail. How influential is this Imam among these terrorists really? I am skeptical.
The fact his group is linked to the insurgency ...if correct...speaks volumes.
Hopefully the Iraqis will rise up and eliminate this problem or help by letting our warriors know whom to take out like the evening garbage.
I think Zaraqawi was just sent a message.....
Not the news Zarq wanted to wake up too.
We may see every Syrian, Iranian, Saudi and Jordanian who is in Iraq to cause problems become targets and MIA.
Let's hope so.
Closing down here ....nite all!
wHERE AMONG t h e 1.2 billion moslems is just ONE with enough guts to issue a fatwa of Death on Zarqawi. Not just one of these blah blah fatwas with no teeth. I'm taking about the kind the Shiites put out on Rushdie. Not one moslem on earth has put out that kind of Death Fatwa on Osama or Zarqawi.
They do that, and someone I guess could get one of those 72 virgin travel packages that I've heard so much about, if the waxed Osama or Zarqawi.
Where are all the good moslem mullahs?
Now I have heard that in Spain there was a fatwa against Osama and they called him an apostate.
They accused him of abandoning his religion and urged others of their faith to denounce the al Qaeda leader, who is believed to be hiding out near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The fatwa said that, in accordance with the Koran, "the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and his organisation al-Qa'eda... are totally banned and must be roundly condemned as part of Islam".
added: "Inasmuch as Usama bin Laden and his organization defend terrorism as legal and try to base it on the Quran ... they are committing the crime of 'istihlal' and thus become apostates that should not be considered Muslims or treated as such." The Arabic term 'istihlal' refers to the act of making up one's own laws.
Heretofore we declare in good faith the following resolution:
1. That Islam rejects terrorism in all its manifestations, being the death or damage to innocent human beings or to their properties.
2. That Islam is the main victim of terrorist attacks made by some groups that falsely call themselves "Islamic", inasmuch as such attacks not only take the life of numerous Muslims, but because they also damage the image of Islam by fomenting feelings of islamophobia and serving the interests of the enemies of Islam.
3. That these groups try to conceal their deviation through falsehoods and manipulated interpretations of sacred texts, in an attempt to gain support among Muslims or to reclute new followers.
This fraud must be denounced with force by the wise people and leaders of Islam worldwide
4. That those who commit terrorist acts violate Koranic teachings and thus turn apostates who have left Islam.
5. That the duty of every Muslim is to fight actively against terrorism, in accordance with the Koranic mandate that establishes the obligation to prevent corruption from overtaking the Earth.
Based on what has been exposed, it comes to dictate :
That according to the Sharia, all who declare halal or allowed what God has declared haram or prohibited, like the killing of innocent people in terrorist attacks, have become Kafir Murtadd Mustahlil, that's to say an apostate, by trying to make a crime such as the murder of innocents, halal (istihlal); a crime forbidden by the Sacred Koran and the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad, God bless him and save him.
As long as Osama ben Laden and his organization defend the legality of terrorism and try to base it on the Sacred Koran and the Sunna, they are committing the crime of istihlal and they have become ipso facto apostates (kafir murtadd), who should not be considered Muslim nor be treated as such.
APOSTASY (IRTIDÃD) IN ISLAM:
The act in which a Muslim abandons Islam
"Kill whoever changes his religion," Hadith.
So I say again, where is the big push to kill Osama from the "Arab Street"?
Full Text of Fatwa against Osama at
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/2005jan_comments.php?id=664_0_31_0_C
Has anyone else noticed that the terrorists are reduced to killing moslems lately? Wouldn't seem to be a tactic that would gain all that much support. The msm might be helping the cause after all?????
Thanks for the post. Deals must be going down in the background more often then we realize. These guys just don't pop up and speak like that unless they have a solid backing.
One doesn't want to feel their head will be loosened in a dark ally. I for one continue to support the idea the insurgency will be no more sooner then one might expect. We musn't forget there are no isolated parts in Iraq from the news view point of not having newspapers and TV broadcasts.
And the government continues to broadcast mostly success stories and public interogations. Last week when Zarqawi made that Internet pronouncment that they may soon shift gears to "protecting muslims in Europe", he in essence said Iraq is over. Of course one cannot expect all foreign terrorist are just going to pull up bags and leave, heh heh, perhaps they can no longer cross the border points if no traffic is allowed in or out of the country. There stuck. So either they stay low or they fight in local operations, where they will become fertilizer soon enough. I sense I say things most are not aware of at this point. Lastly, as was posted a day back, the government is now ironing out details to provide military pensions for former Iraqi military. So why should many of these folks want to continue supporting the insurgency? Soon they may be able to retire with a legit pension.
Hadn't seen that one.
You bring up a number of valid points. I am sure you are aware to some degree as how the various sects of Islam ignore the teachings of each other. Wahhabist, Salafist just to name two, do not even think Shi'ites are muslims but apostate at best.
Many of the more radical sects/sub sects, offshoots would openly condemn say the Zikri sect founded in 15th century as not being worthy of walking on the earth. Islam is one big pile of mixed often highly agitated, hard headed, poorly educated accept within their limited circle, groups of peoples, often driven as much by various Islamic ideologies as by their particular ethnic/geographic locations. As you are well aware, some sects only follow the Qur'ran, and totally reject all that is in the various Hadith books.
So how can we expect anyone to even bother attempting what you suggest? There is much more divisions amoung many of the Islamic groups (including many modernized movements found in a given country) then there is divisions amoung say Christian sects. One would not expect an edict prounounced by the Roman Catholic Church would hold any effect in say the Church of Later Day Saints. Right? Your example though ably put regarding the Shi'ite Mullahs fatwah against Salman Rushdie was not recognized by all muslims as committing an offense. That is, the fatwa was issued by Shi'ites, and Sunni groups who don't even think Shi'ite are muslims just looked the other way. Some Muslim Scholars had followed up over time and said it is hard to find fault with what is plainly shown in the questionable verses in the Qur'an as being able to be defended. So I would ask you, why would those Muslims want to adhere to a fatwa issued by a sect that is not recognized as being Islamic.
The problem as partially iterated above is that Islam is a mix of various believes, and therefore one cannot expect all of them to fall under one broad leadership. Especially when they diverse in so many ways both in theology, ideology and ethnic lines.
"Hadn't seen that one."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485989/posts
"For his part, al Duleimi is working on a pension program for members of Saddam Hussein's former military who lost their livelihoods when the U.S. occupation authority dissolved the armed forces at the beginning of the war. The former regime's jobless Sunni soldiers make easy recruits for foreign and homegrown insurgents, al Duleimi said. But he added that he wouldn't hesitate to "crush them" if they fail to meet him halfway."
"Thanks for the links and the explanation of the Islamic fractured religion."
Will be interesting to see how many ex Saddamist jump on the peace buss once they know they will be forgiven and handed monthly checks.
Can any state committed to political Islam as it ruling ideology ever be a reliable U.S. ally, since the whole basis of that ideology lies in drawing sharp distinctions — beginning with what's permitted (halal) and what's forbidden (haram) — when much of what the U.S. represents falls on the wrong side of the line?
"Can any state committed to political Islam as it ruling ideology ever be a reliable U.S. ally..."
No. I do understand your reasoning and agree 100% in that it is not possible for two totally different cultural and political opposites to become true allies. I would never suggest that it is possible. History shows otherwise. And common sense would/should lead to the same conclusions.
What we can do and I believe is being attempted, is for enough of their peoples to see there is another world beyond Islam and the deep rooted stifling ways of their basic culture. But it would appear we have little option but to try to pursuade at a governmental level these countries to not continue keeping their peoples in bondage so to speak that leads to any crack pot using them for personal gain, or otherwise. As you are well aware, Islam is used to control the populace, it is the perfect tool, no different then communisim. The power is held by the monarchy, tribal family in power, to keep the wealth in their pockets at the expense of the masses. In neither system, is free will, the attributes of self worth and self importance applied. So it is easy to control the masses. In both cases we find those systems where gained by force and cunning. Only if those governments/monarchies are forced to allow a democratic system of government where the people have some say in how their lives are governed, via. the ballot box, and participation in political parties of their choice, are allowed to spring forth, will these regions ever have the option of slowly moving toward a more westernized form of living, which as we understand and can see with our very eyes is the prefered way for humans to live. Example: camel humper that really hates life since it has nothing good to offer them, only continued heartache, and living in poverty with no goals of self improvment. Surely contradictory to what our Judeo/Christian heritage makes possible.
So what option do we have but to at least attempt to bring them hope of a better future and in the process make friends. I don't think I am viewing the situation through rose colored glasses. Sure, I could write reams of stuff on how fuck*d up they are in their totality, like I sometimes bring up in posts, the stage was set when Ismael and Hagar where booted out of the tribe and made to go on their own.
Another thing we should keep in mind, is if we do not keep our fingers in the ME, then the Russians will manipulate the scene to their advantage. I make no bones about this being a big part of the ME equation for many years. So much we often have to leave completly out in these short dialogs shared on web sites. Bottom line is if as we see happening in Iraq a democratic government that will represent all the peoples for their betterment is set up and functional, then surely this will help champion the cause for the ME to consider the better option. And in so doing, perhaps we shall find an ME and countries in Africa and elsewhere see it is better to embrace the fine points of westernized democratic institutions then to leave in the dark ages, and continue to have nothing but strife. It would be a mistake not to recognize that many people in the ME do not want the yoke of radical forms of Islam to control their lives. And many cry for what we have in the west. They see the difference in living in a stone age verse what they could have, for both themselves as well as their children. And in this spirit of writing I rest my case. Perhaps this is all a total pipe dream. Let me leave you with the following.
Would you rather see a ME simmering in continued hate and frustration over how the governments in line with the religion control the peoples, and allow the formation of hate for America to continue that leads toward terrorism, and a possible re-institution of real control by Russia, or would you prefer they be given the chance and incentives to start a new? What is happening in Iraq may end up becoming a model that is workable for ME stability. If it works out, where freedom to practice a given form of Islam or other religion is permitted, their laws end up becoming a mix of westernized concepts which embrace a bit of common law etc., and they can rebuild their terribly torn down infrastructure caused by Saddam, and a acknowledgment on their part it is good to do business with the US, and that they must show publically and in private that terrorism must be stamped out, then perhaps our sacrifices will be shown to have been worth the effort. We certainly cannot hide in our hole and think the rest of the world is going to behave itself and not allow dictatorships to flourish and breed terrorist that strike at any entity that does not fit their ideology.
Welcome to the new Iran, pronounced Iraq.
The Iraqi Mullahs of Sistani will compose the mysterious "Supreme Judiciary Council" that is supposed to nominate the members of the supreme court, according to article 89. The constitution does not say how this supreme judiciary council is selected, how many members it has, or how long they will serve. It isn't even clear why such a court needs to exist — is this a council of guardians in disguise, accountable to no one, but able to control the laws of land?
Article (89): The Supreme Judiciary Council will exercise the following powers:
1st - administering and supervising the federal judiciary system.
2nd - nominating the head and members of the Supreme Federal Court and
presenting their names to parliament for endorsement.
3rd - nominating the head of the Federal Cassation Court, the chief
prosecutor and the head of the Judiciary Inspection Department, and
presenting them to parliament for approval.
4th - proposing the annual budget for the federal judiciary system and
presenting it to parliament for approval.
The Prime Minister of Iraq is going to implement Sharia Law:
....Iraq's Prime Minister is Ibrahim al-Jaafari....
Asked if his government would institute Islamic Shari'a law, al-Jaafari replied: "Yes … that is only natural in a country that is populated mainly by Muslims."
"This is a new chapter in relations with Iraq," enthused Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref during al-Jaafari's visit. Agha Panayi, an Iranian intelligence official, has offered a similarly enthusiastic assessment: "Throughout Iraq, the people we supported are in power."
This is not what we are fighting for. It is the opposite. They may have to rename this Operation Islamic Slavery.
Hopefully the constitution will not pass and we will have more time to change this into a real constitution of real freedom instead of an Islamist Shiite Sharia Iranian type government.
Instead of fighting like WW2 we are fighting our enemies war. Iran must be smiling to see U.S. troops fighting to support a constitution that states "No Law shall Contradict Islam." If we allow this Islamist Constitution we will just have to come back and fight Iran AND Iraq later. Better to take Iran out now and with that show the moslems that their god is a worthless piece of dead nothing.
No blood for Islam. Take Iran and Syria out NOW.
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