Americans bow before holy shrine to deter protesters [Yesterday at Najaf, Iraq]

UK Telegragh ^ | April 4, 2003

[george wythe]

American soldiers retreated warily from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf yesterday after a furious crowd gathered around them to stop foreign soldiers from approaching one of the holiest shrines of Shia Islam.

"Everybody smile!" shouted the platoon commander as he told his baffled men to kneel down and point their weapons at the ground, in a surreal act of submission.

The mightiest army in the world is learning the hard way the awkward art of trying to "win the hearts and minds" of suspicious civilians.

In other cities civilians have largely been bystanders in the military drama, neither rising up to cheer nor uniting to resist.

But in Najaf, hundreds poured into the streets to block the way of American soldiers as they came within sight of the golden dome of the mosque. They waved the soldiers away as some explained in broken English: "In the city, OK. In the mosque, No!"

The mosque is the reputed burial place of Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam and the first Imam of Shia Islam.

It was damaged by Iraqi forces during the Shi'ite uprising against Saddam Hussein at the end of the 1991 Gulf war. But despite any hatred Najaf's people may harbour for Saddam, they seem resolutely opposed to having "infidel" soldiers violating the holy ground.

Nevertheless, the city's religious authorities seem to be reaching an accommodation with the occupying forces.

According to a US commander in the Gulf, Brig-Gen Vincent Brooks, a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric in Najaf has issued a religious edict urging Iraqis to remain calm and not to hinder American forces.

Across Najaf, American forces searched buildings for Fedayeen paramilitary fighters loyal to Saddam.

US officers said most of the Fedayeen forces had simply dropped their equipment and fled, but some were still putting up a fight.

[discostu]

It was one knee on the ground. The Fox morning folks said his order was to "take a knee" which of course in football speak not only means putting one knee on the ground but it's also ending the game or (metaphorically normally literally here) ceasing hostilities. And as you point out, if the trick didn't work our guys then have a stable shooting platform to defend themselves from.

[smith288]

Bowing down before false gods.

Then you have no idea what they did. It was a benign display to show they were not trying to threaten the civilians. They didnt bow to the mosque but knelt to the crowd in a non-threatening manor.

[swarthyguy]

The headline's wrong.

How about

American Commander Defuses a violent mob situation near a Shia Mosque.

Individual muslims in America, particularly shias, would be appreciative i hope, but the jihadi sunnis groups like CAIR, AMC and the Saudi funded mosques/centers would prolly hate it.

Hypocritically, they'd prefer the US to destroy the mosque so they could use it as a propaganda tool even though they themselves hate the Shias and would probably destroy the heretical mosques themsselves.....

[discostu]

When in Rome... Regardless of what we think of the regional religion we need to treat it with respect if we want there to be peace, nothing quite insures a large number of snipers shooting at your people for years to come like trashing holy sites.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

I saw the pictures, it was on one knee, rifles pointed to the ground.

The soldiers were respectful and the crowd was angry. There must have been a couple thousand men in the crowd.

Let me say it was much bigger and growing much faster than any anti-war crowd in the US that I have seen.

After it was obvious the crowd was not going to be happy, they left.

[RoseofTexas]

I'll tell you, if we don't do it, they will! Remember it's SadDEMON's men who violated the mosque. The town muslims aren't happy about that, but they PREFER to clense it themselves. So with a bit of guidence from our soldiers the muslims can go right in and remove the trash!

[DudleyDoright]

American servicemen in uniform are expressly forbidden to bow or kneel. Oh really? Care to provide us with a regulatory or policy cite on this? Or do you just want to provide us with your unsubtantiated and unsupported opinion?

[Zathras]

This is bogus.
"Infidels" have been visiting the Citadel in Cairo and the Dome of the Rock in Israel for years.
All they ask is for everyone to remove their shoes and to be quiet and respectful.

[Toskrin]

I saw the footage too. It was well-handled by the American commanding officer. The whole thing was a misunderstanding too. The confrontation occurred several blocks away from the mosque. The local cleric had been under house arrest for several years. He wanted to come out and support the American troops, but was afraid of the Fedayeen, so he asked for an escort by the American troops. The troops started moving toward his home, which was in the direction of the mosque. The crowd mistakenly thought that our soldiers were moving in on the mosque and blocked the way. It got pretty wild. There was even footage of the cleric coming out and speaking to the crowd to try to calm them, but he got drowned out and gave up. Our guys knelt down and pointed their guns at the ground in deference. The crowd calmed and we basically walked away.

[Boston Capitalist]

Indeed, it was. A shootout in front of cameras is exactly what Saddam would have wanted most. The platoon's "commander" (presumably a young lieutenant) deserves a big boost to his career out of this.

[discostu]

But there were bad guys in the building, we wouldn't have removed our shoes or been quiet.

[RoseofTexas]

OBTW, one reporter said that the REASON the crowd grow SO HUGE a rumor was spread that the Americans were going to capture the mosque and keep the muslims from praying in it...something like that. SO IT SPREAD LIKE WILD FIRE! I think one of SadDEMON's man probably spread the rumor. Given all the facts the Commander did an EXCELLENT job in controlling the fear and tricky finger from our soldiers! SadDEMON was honestly hoping to enrage the community enough where we would have another situation like Black Hawk Down!

[stilts]

But it was okay for Saddam's guys to be shooting at our guys from within the mosque?

Actually, the Shiite's and several other Muslin Clerics outside of Iraq were very unhappy with the soldiers using the mosque. This tactic did not play well with the Muslim world. The Shiite's, whose Mosque that was, have been oppressed by the Sunni's who were the ones doing the shooting.

In watching the video you can see another dynamic at play. Apparently the commander had a meeting set up with the Ayatollah who presides at the mosque. Most of the crowd was unaware of this. You can see some Arabs helping the soldiers by trying to hold back the mob. Rather than further anger the mob who didn't have the facts it was better to back away in a fashion that supporrted the arabs that were helping. Very probably, the Arabs helping knew about the meeting.

By backing off we build a stronger bond with the group that has been an oppressed minority. Further, we do nothing that would put the Ayatollah in a difficult position. Imagine if we had insisted on attending the meeting and started a riot in which we had to open fire to protect ourselves. This would have left the Ayatollah without much ground to offer support.

Since the Shiite's are the majority and have been oppressed we can expect to see a complete power shift away form the Sunnis. If we are going to have friendly relations with the new government it will be best to be on friendly terms with the Shiite leaders. Imagine what an incredible ally the Ayatollah of the new ruling class would be for creating longterm relationships with Iraq.

I think this commander made a difficult decision that was brilliant in the understanding it showed for the longterm interests of the United States. Truly an American hero exhibiting the very best of American initiative.

[philetus]

Earlier this week there was a story.
Soldier said he went into a house to search it and the family was terrified.
Said he knelt and offered a little girl some gum and the family immediatly became friendly. The father went ahead of the soldiers and told the other famlies there was nothing to be afraid of.

The town people opposed to the troops going into their mosque didn't want it destroyed.

Saddams goons were in it because the people KNEW they would be killed if they tried to stop them.
The town people would never try to stop the goons like they did our troops.

[nanny]

From your lips to God's ear - as I said it was tongue in cheek.

I still did not like the 'gesture'

[Grut]

This American platoon commander seems to remember this:

"However strong your armies may be, you will always need the favour of the inhabitants to take possession of a province."

Niccoló Machiavelli

Or possibly:

"Paris is worth a mass."

Henry IV

[discostu]

It was definitely ugly. Even though the Fox guys had already told us the situation ended peacefully when I was watching it I was thinking they plugged in the wrong footage, I was absolutely convinced a riot was gonna start. I was scared seeing it on TV with tape delay, the fact that everybody in our uniform kept their head screwed on straight is pretty amazing, I think I'd have snapped and started shooting.

[Bryan24]

That unit leader probably earned a nice commendation letter for his coolness in a tough situation.

[AngryJawa]

Watch the video. The squad "took a knee", bbls down. It was not submissive - just less threatening. They would have easily been able to raise and fire if the SHTF. Their LT defused the situation quickly and saved bloodshed on both sides. I think it was a good call.

[Poohbah]

American servicemen in uniform are expressly forbidden to bow or kneel.

Since when did IGNORANCE become "a point of view?"

Your statement here is absolutely false.

The guy turned off a riot before it got started.