Confronting mounting resistance in Iraq from militant Islamic clerics and Arab nationalists, the White House said today that it was determined to see an "Islamic democracy" built in Iraq and that it had recently warned Iran against interfering with its efforts to organize a government.
The warning to Iran reflected a growing concern in the White House that the American-led plans for the occupation of Iraq were facing fresh difficulties. Responding to the instability still evident in Baghdad, competition for power among Kurds and Arabs in the north and an anti-American outpouring from Shiites in the south, a senior administration official said today that "it's clear we are going to have to step in a little more forcefully."
American officials said the United States was redoubling its efforts to promote pro-American clerics and other leaders in Iraq to counter the radical messages being heard from many mosques, particularly in the heavily Shiite south.
As part of the effort, Special Forces troops and intelligence officers are identifying friendly clerics in small towns and cities and encouraging them to issue religious edicts, or fatwas, in support of the postwar American administration....
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/24/international/worldspecial/24ISLA.html> ***** -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>