Iraqi Sunni's and Shia unite over golden dome mosque bombing

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Iraqi Sunni's and Shia unite over golden dome mosque bombing

Postby hmm » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:01 am

Odd that most of the corporate media wish to portray a different picture of iraq,why do they need civil war?<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1716754,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/S...54,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Exit without a strategy<br><br>The popular response to Iraq's latest atrocities has been to blame the occupation, not rival sects<br><br>Sami Ramadani<br>Friday February 24, 2006<br>The Guardian<br><br>The shattered golden dome of Samarra is yet another milestone in George Bush's "long war" - in which a civil war in Iraq shows every sign of being a devastating feature. But what sort of civil war? I am convinced it is not the type of war that politicians in Washington and London, and much of the western media, have been anticipating.<br><br>The past few days' events have strengthened this conviction. It has not been Sunni religious symbols that hundreds of thousands of angry marchers protesting at the bombing of the shrine have targeted, but US flags. The slogan that united them on Wednesday was: "Kalla, kalla Amrica, kalla kalla lill-irhab" - no to America, no to terrorism. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The Shia clerics most listened to by young militants swiftly blamed the occupation for the bombing.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> They included Moqtada al-Sadr; Nasrallah, leader of Hizbullah in Lebanon; Ayatollah Khalisi, leader of the Iraqi National Foundation Congress; and Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader. Along with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, they also declared it a grave "sin" to attack Sunnis - as did all the Sunni clerics about attacks on Shias. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Sadr was reported by the BBC as calling for revenge on Sunnis - in fact, he said "no Sunni would do this" and called for revenge on the occupation.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>None of the mostly spontaneous protest marches were directed at Sunni mosques</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. Near the bombed shrine itself, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>local Sunnis joined the city's minority Shias to denounce the occupation and accuse it of sharing responsibility for the outrage</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. In Kut, a march led by Sadr's Mahdi army burned US and Israeli flags. In Baghdad's Sadr City, the anti-occupation march was massive.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>There was a string of armed attacks on Sunni mosques in the wake of the bombing but none of them was carried out by the protesters. Reports suggest that they were the work of masked gunmen</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. Since then there has been an escalation of well-organised murders, some sectarian, some targeting mixed groups, such as yesterday's killing of 47 workers near Baquba.<br><br>But as live coverage of Wednesday's demonstrations on Iraqi and Arab satellite TV stations clearly showed, the popular mood has been anti-occupation rather than sectarian. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Iraq is awash with rumours about the collusion of the occupation forces and their Iraqi clients with sectarian attacks and death squads</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START >: --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/mad.gif ALT=">:"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> the US is widely seen as fostering sectarian division to prevent the emergence of a united national resistance. Evidence of their involvement in Wednesday's anti-Sunni reprisals was picked up in the Times, which reported that after an armed attack on the al-Quds Sunni mosque in Baghdad the gunmen climbed back into six cars and were ushered from the scene by cheering soldiers of the US-controlled Iraqi National Guard.<br><br>Two years ago I argued in these pages that the US aim of installing a client pro-US regime in Baghdad risked plunging the country into civil war - but not a war of Arabs against Kurds or Sunnis against Shias, rather a war between a US-backed minority (of all sects and nationalities) against the majority of the Iraqi people. That is where Iraq is heading.<br>~snip~<br>None of these exit strategies will work for the simple reason that they are based on an unrealisable ambition: to have the Iraqi cake and eat it. All the Bush and Blair strategies are based on maintaining a pro-US regime in Baghdad. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Freed from this hated occupation, proud and independent Iraqis will never elect a collection of US- and British-backed proteges.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>· Sami Ramadani was a political exile from Saddam's regime and is a senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2006/February/focusoniraq_February113.xml§ion=focusoniraq">www.khaleejtimes.com/Disp...ocusoniraq</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Sadr orders militia to protect Iraqi Sunni mosques<br>(AFP)<br><br>23 February 2006<br><br><br>NAJAF, Iraq - Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr has ordered his Mehdi Army militia to protect Sunni mosques in majority Shiite areas in southern Iraq, an official from his office said on Thursday.<br><br>“Moqtada Sadr has ordered the Mehdi Army to protect Sunni mosques and religious places in Basra and in other regions” where his movement is influential, Saheb Al Amiri told AFP.<br><br>The move follows attacks against dozens of Sunni mosques nationwide after the bombing in Samarra on Wednesday of one of the holiest Shiite shrines.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: civil wars are popular

Postby Gouda » Fri Feb 24, 2006 12:10 pm

Good point. And I see those are non-U.S. news outlets. U.S.-based corporate coverage of this bombing reminds me of the Katrina distortions and demonizations perpetrated by the U.S. media and its mouthpieces. Then too, there was scarce coverage of regular people banding up in mutual support - only the viewer-friendly horrorshow, the black bandits, the "anarchy." In fact, many instances of a more genuine form of anarchy arose, which was under-reported: cells of self-organized people working together, helping each other, despite total government abandonment and malfeasance. <br><br>Here is C(IA)NN's latest "sectarian violence" version - note the difference in coverage: <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/24/iraq.main/index.html">edition.cnn.com/2006/WORL...index.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Iraq under curfew to quell sectarian violence - Officials urge end to revenge attacks after mosque bombing</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>With sectarian violence intensifying nationwide</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, Iraqi authorities extended a curfew in Baghdad and two neighboring provinces into Friday to try to calm tensions in the wake of Wednesday's bombing of Shiite Islam's third-holiest shrine.<br><br>The bombing of the mosque in Samarra has sparked dozens of attacks on Sunni institutions, resulting in the killing of clerics, worshippers and bystanders. By late Thursday, authorities said more than 132 people had been killed in the violence. That toll included 87 bodies found in Baghdad alone.<br><br>The curfew, which bars the movement of vehicles but not people, could stir even more controversy because it will remain in effect through Friday's noon Muslim prayers -- the most sacred prayers of the week for followers. The curfew ends at 4 p.m. Friday.<br><br>In addition to Baghdad, the curfew covers Salaheddin and Diyala provinces.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>In Samarra on Thursday, thousands of enraged Shia Muslims gathered at the bombed-out Al-Askariya Mosque and called for revenge. Among those taking part in the protests were followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia has been reported going door-to-door in Sunni areas asking for heads of households.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <br><br>President Jalal Talabani urged Iraqis be calm.<br><br>"If the flames of division get enraged, God forbid, they won't help anyone," Talibani said. "No one will be spared. Putting those flames out is a sacred duty of all Iraqis and a must in order to achieve a unified democratic Iraq."<br><br>Witnesses of Wednesday's attack on the shrine said armed men dressed as police commandos stormed the site, bound the guards and detonated their bombs -- an act that U.S. officials said bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda and wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.<br><br>"It's clearly the signature of Zarqawi and terrorists and foreign fighters," U.S. Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters in Baghdad.<br><br>President Bush has condemned the bombing as the work not of a religious person "but an evil person."<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Iraqis' response to the attack has raised concern that the country could slip into civil war. </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>"I don't think we're anywhere near that, but ... neither do I think we can sit back and suggest that it couldn't happen," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a former U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said in Washington.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>John McLaughlin, the former deputy director of the CIA, said another attack in the next few days could push Iraq toward civil war.<br><br>"Something like further attacks on other Shia sites, the assassination of a major Shia figure, something like that could take this to another level," said McLaughlin, now a CNN analyst.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>On the ground in Iraq, the nation seemed to be struggling to stay together as the divisions between Shias and Sunnis -- from clerics to politicians to ordinary citizens -- appeared to be widening.<br><br>Iraq's largest Sunni political bloc suspended all negotiations with the Kurds and Shia on the formation of a new government after it said the country's Shia leaders had failed to condemn the reprisal attacks.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>In the city of Baquba, Sunni men could be seen crying in the streets after reprisal attacks were carried out there.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Meanwhile, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's most powerful Shiite cleric, called on Iraqis themselves to prevent attacks against shrines.<br><br>"If its security forces are not able to secure these sites, then the believers are capable to do so with the help of Allah," he said.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Al-Sistani asked believers to express their sorrow and condemnations of the Samarra bombing peacefully. But his comments sparked indirect and unusually strong criticism from a group of angry Sunni clerics over the revenge attacks.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>"We point the finger of blame at certain Shiite religious authorities calling for demonstrations while they know Iraq cannot control the streets," said Sheik Abdul Salam al-Qubaisi.<br><br>There were isolated signs of unity Thursday. In the southern city of Kut, tens of thousands of Sunnis and Shias joined together, carrying the Iraqi flag and finding a common foe -- they chanted "No to America!"<br>Other developments<br><br># On Friday, coalition forces and Iraqi police conducted a raid in the capital, killing Abu Asma, whom they described as the al Qaeda military emir of northern Baghdad. The man, an explosives expert, had suicide vests and was responsible for "many deaths and injuries" of security forces, the military said in a written statement.<br><br># While reporting on the Samarra attack, three journalists for Al-Arabiya television, including a female correspondent, were kidnapped and killed, police and the Arabic-language channel said. (Full story)<br><br># An explosion Thursday killed 16 people and wounded 20 others in Baquba. Five people were killed and 10 others were wounded in another Baquba blast that's suspected of being a suicide bombing.<br><br># The U.S. military said Thursday that "about 95 male detainees were released" during the past several days. The Iraqi-led Combined Review and Release Board has reviewed the cases of "more than 28,500 detainees" and recommended release for more than 14,900 of them.<br><br># Also Thursday, ABC News reported that photographer Doug Vogt has been discharged from a hospital and anchor Bob Woodruff is making "good progress" nearly a month after they were seriously wounded by a roadside bomb.<br><br>CNN's Aneesh Raman, Barbara Starr and David Ensor contributed to this report. <hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
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Re: civil wars are popular

Postby Gouda » Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:18 pm

More mixed messages:<br><br>From the <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060224/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq">AP:</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"Several joint Sunni-Shiite prayer services were announced for Friday, including one at the Askariya shrine. But security forces turned away about 700 people, virtually all of them Sunnis, who showed up for the service."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>From the CNN bit above: <br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"In Samarra on Thursday, thousands of enraged Shia Muslims gathered at the bombed-out Al-Askariya Mosque and called for revenge. Among those taking part in the protests were followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia has been reported going door-to-door in Sunni areas asking for heads of households."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>***<br><br>Warerroreporting is hell. OK, there is chaos and many people are highly emotional, certainly there will be non-special-op related revenge attacks, but also certain is that there are blackops & collaborators taking avantage of the chaos. March 2004 violence in Kosovo instructive. Let's see how our independent and professional journalists sort all this out for us:<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>New York Times, with same facts, changes Iraq conflict from 'civil war' to having 'endangered future'</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2005/New_York_Times_backtracks_after_declaring_0224.html">RAW STORY</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br>Published: February 24, 2006<br><br>The New York Times declared on its website early Friday in a headline that the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, had warned to U.S. was on the "precipice of full-scale civil war." Their headline? "U.S. Envoy in Baghdad Says Iraq Is on Brink of Civil War."<br><br>Within an hour and without explanation, the Times yanked the headline in favor of "U.S. Envoy Says Sectarian Violence Threatens Iraq's Future."<br><br>Originally, their lead paragraph had read: "The American ambassador to Iraq said Friday that the country was on the precipice of full-scale civil war, and that Iraqi leaders would have to come together and compromise if they wanted to save their homeland."<br><br>An hour later: "The American ambassador to Iraq said Friday that sectarian violence this week had endangered the future of Iraq, and that Iraqi leaders would have to come together and compromise if they wanted to save their homeland."<br><br>DEVELOPING...<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>edit: bumbling with links</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=gouda@rigorousintuition>Gouda</A> at: 2/24/06 10:21 am<br></i>
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