[lbo-talk] Solidarity vs sectarianism

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sat Feb 25 14:24:47 PST 2006


Colin Brace wrote:


>The horrific attack which destroyed much of the Golden Mosque
>generated sectarian outrage which led to attacks on over 50 Sunni
>mosques. Many Sunni mosques in Baghdad were shot, burnt, or taken
>over. Three Imams were killed, along with scores of others in
>widespread violence.
>
>This is what was shown by western corporate media.

Not true of the NYT. E.g.:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/25/international/middleeast/25iraq.html?pagewanted=1>


>Muslim Clerics Call for an End to Iraqi Rioting
>By ROBERT F. WORTH
>Published: February 25, 2006
>BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 24 - With the streets of the capital and other
>major cities largely emptied by an extraordinary daytime curfew,
>imams across Iraq called Friday for an end to the sectarian rioting
>that has left more than 170 people dead over the past three days, as
>political leaders held emergency meetings to contain the crisis.

[...]


>Despite the curfew, which Iraqi officials said was partly aimed at
>keeping people away from sermons that might prove inflammatory, many
>Iraqis walked at midday to their local mosques, many of which were
>guarded by heavily armed Iraqi soldiers.
>There were some gestures at cross-sectarian conciliation by
>political leaders and in the weekly Friday sermons, which American
>officials had said they viewed as a crucial opportunity to defuse
>the situation. Joint Sunni-Shiite prayer services were held at the
>Samarra shrine and elsewhere. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a cleric and the
>leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political coalition, released a
>statement that was read on Iraqi state television in which he
>forbade any attacks on Sunni mosques, and said the bombers of the
>Samarra shrine "do not represent the Sunnis."
>But Mr. Hakim al



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