Posted on 12/25/2002 6:55:30 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Hundreds of Iraqi Muslim leaders gathered in an "emergency session" to declare a worldwide holy war against the United States if their country is attacked, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
"Let's wage jihad together to face the enemy and the infidel," said Imam Omar Hussein Asengawy, according to the Canadian paper.
Chants of "Curse them" rang through a conference hall in the northern town of Kirkuk on Monday, where about 600 preachers met under the auspices of the government. The clerics warned Kurds not to side with U.S. troops, but to fight in defense of a unified homeland, the Citizen said.
Omar issued a fatwa – an authoritative religious ruling – warning Muslims around the world that it is their duty to wage holy war against the U.S. if Iraq is attacked.
"Allahu Akbar – God is Great – Allahu Akbar," came the roar from the clerics as Omar opened his remarks.
"The wicked Americans are using everything against us," he said. "They are using weapons of mass destruction to destroy Iraq."
One irate preacher, who stood to echo the chant of "Curse them," said U.S. President George W. Bush "wants to come to Baghdad and say, 'Hey Saddam, I'm in charge,' so God curse them, and they will go to hell by the hand of God."
Omar, quoting from the Koran, said God "will never give victory to the infidel." He explained that Muslims can declare jihad if someone attacks their land, their honor or tries to change their religion.
"Jihad has been imposed by God on each Muslim," read a banner in the conference hall.
The Ottawa newspaper notes that Kurds in the northern provinces of the country are vital to both U.S. and Iraqi war plans. They occupy part of the route American troops would use for a ground assault from the north, while forming a key ethnic minority that Saddam Hussein wants to maintain.
The overwhelming majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims, like Saddam and his ruling elite, but their 1961 uprising for independence laid the foundation for their opposition to the ruling Iraqi regime.
'War on Islam'
According to a Reuters report in November, Iraqi preachers launched fierce verbal attacks on the United States and Britain at Friday prayers, urging Muslims to rise up in a jihad against the "infidels and crusaders" and saying a war on Iraq would be a war on Islam.
"Bush: Who are you, you little dwarf, to threaten [the prophet] Muhammad and the sons of Muhammad?" demanded Sheikh Bakr Abdelrazzak Samaraei at the Mother of All Battles mosque, before thousands of people.
"Who are you, perverts of the world?" the sheikh said, according to Reuters. "Who are you sons of monkeys and pigs, to threaten the nation of Muhammad?
Today, the preacher declared, "the jihad is a must for every Muslim. By God, we will defy you with our words and then our arms ... . By God, we will defeat you and wipe you out."
Saudi jihad warriors
Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia have said that Saudis are ready to take up arms to defend Iraq if the U.S. attacks the country, the BBC reported in November.
A religious scholar told the BBC, on condition of anonymity, that thousands of people in tribal areas in the north and the south of the country knew how to use arms and would not stand idly by if America invaded Iraq.
During the 1980s, many Saudi jihad warriors volunteered to fight the Russian army in Afghanistan. Many more, the BBC said, would be prepared to embark on jihad in Iraq if America attacks the country.
I think Khaddafy in Libya tried that crap and look what it got him :)
Gee, I wish my priest gave sermons like that.
I guess it's always better to speak softly and carry a big stick.
The butt sniffers have a little stick.
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