Joanna
Colin Brace wrote:
>http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000365.php
>
>February 24, 2006
>
>Who Benefits?
>
>The most important question to ask regarding the bombings of the
>Golden Mosque in Samarra on the 22nd is: who benefits?
>
>Prior to asking this question, let us note the timing of the bombing.
>The last weeks in Iraq have been a PR disaster for the occupiers.
>
>First, the negative publicity of the video of British soldiers beating
>and abusing young Iraqis has generated a backlash for British
>occupation forces they've yet to face in Iraq.
>
>Indicative of this, Abdul Jabbar Waheed, the head of the Misan
>provincial council in southern Iraq, announced his councils' decision
>to lift the immunity British forces have enjoyed, so that the soldiers
>who beat the young Iraqis can be tried in Iraqi courts. Former U.S.
>proconsul Paul Bremer had issued an order granting all occupation
>soldiers and western contractors immunity to Iraqi law when he was
>head of the CPA…but this province has now decided to lift that so the
>British soldiers can be investigated and tried under Iraqi law.
>
>This deeply meaningful event, if replicated around Iraq, will generate
>a huge rift between the occupiers and local governments. A rift which,
>of course, the puppet government in Baghdad will be unable to mend.
>
>The other huge event which drew Iraqis into greater solidarity with
>one another was more photos and video aired depicting atrocities
>within Abu Ghraib at the hands of U.S. occupation forces.
>
>The inherent desecration of Islam and shaming of the Iraqi people
>shown in these images enrages all Iraqis.
>
>In a recent press conference, the aforementioned Waheed urged the
>Brits to allow members of the provincial committee to visit a local
>jail to check on detainees; perhaps Waheed is alarmed as to what their
>condition may be after seeing more photos and videos from Abu Ghraib.
>
>Waheed also warned British forces that if they didn't comply with the
>demands of the council, all British political, security and
>reconstruction initiatives will be boycotted.
>
>Basra province has already taken similar steps, and similar
>machinations are occurring in Kerbala.
>
>Basra and Misan provinces, for example, refused to raise the cost of
>petrol when the puppet government in Baghdad, following orders from
>the IMF, decided to recently raise the cost of Iraqi petrol at the
>pumps several times last December.
>
>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.
>
>As quickly as these horrible events began, they were called to an end
>and replaced by acts of solidarity between Sunni and Shia across Iraq.
>
>This, however, was not shown by western corporate media.
>
>The Sunnis where the first to go to demonstrations of solidarity with
>Shia in Samarra, as well as to condemn the mosque bombings.
>Demonstrations of solidarity between Sunni and Shia went off over all
>of Iraq: in Basra, Diwaniyah, Nasiriyah, Kut, and Salah al-Din.
>
>Thousands of Shia marched shouting anti-American slogans through Sadr
>City, the huge Shia slum area of Baghdad, which is home to nearly half
>the population of the capital city. Meanwhile, in the primarily Shia
>city of Kut, south of Baghdad, thousands marched while shouting
>slogans against America and Israel and burning U.S. and Israeli flags.
>
>Baghdad had huge demonstrations of solidarity, following announcements
>by several Shia religious leaders not to attack Sunni mosques.
>
>Attacks stopped after these announcements, coupled with those from
>Sadr, which I'll discuss shortly.
>
>Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, shortly after the Golden
>Mosque was attacked, called for "easing things down and not attacking
>any Sunni mosques and shrines," as Sunni religious authorities called
>for a truce and invited everyone to block the way of those trying to
>generate a sectarian war.
>
>Sistani's office issued this statement: "We call upon believers to
>express their protest ... through peaceful means. The extent of their
>sorrow and shock should not drag them into taking actions that serve
>the enemies who have been working to lead Iraq into sectarian strife."
>
>Shiite religious authority Ayatollah Hussein Ismail al-Sadr warned of
>the emergence of a sectarian strife "that terrorists want to ignite
>between the Iraqis" by the bombings and said, "The Iraqi Shiite
>authority strenuously denied that Sunnis could have done this work."
>
>He also said, "Of course it is not Sunnis who did this work; it is the
>terrorists who are the enemies of the Shiites and Sunni, Muslims and
>non Muslims. They are the enemies of all religions; terrorism does not
>have a religion."
>
>He warned against touching any Sunni Mosque, saying, "our Sunni
>brothers' mosques must be protected and we must all stand against
>terrorism and sabotage." He added: 'The two shrines are located in the
>Samarra region, which [is] predominantly Sunni. They have been
>protecting, using and guarding the mosques for years, it is not them
>but terrorism that targeted the mosques…"
>
>He ruled out the possibility of a civil war while telling a reporter,
>"I don't believe there will a civil or religious war in Iraq; thank
>God that our Sunni and Shiite references are urging everyone to not
>respond to these terrorist and sabotage acts. We are aware of their
>attempts as are our people; Sistani had issued many statements
>[regarding this issue] just as we did."
>
>The other, and more prominent Sadr, Muqtada Al-Sadr, who has already
>lead two uprisings against occupation forces, held Takfiris [those who
>regard other Muslims as infidels], Ba'thists, and especially the
>foreign occupation responsible for the bombing attack on the Golden
>Mosque in Samarra.
>
>Sadr, who suspended his visit to Lebanon and cancelled his meeting
>with the president there, promptly returned to Iraq in order to call
>on the Iraqi parliament to vote on the request for the departure of
>the occupation forces from Iraq.
>
>"It was not the Sunnis who attacked the shrine of Imam Al-Hadi, God's
>peace be upon him, but rather the occupation [forces] and
>Ba'athists…God damn them. We should not attack Sunni mosques. I
>ordered Al-Mahdi Army to protect the Shi'i and Sunni shrines."
>
>Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, urged Iraqi Shia
>not to seek revenge against Sunni Muslims, saying there were definite
>plots "to force the Shia to attack the mosques and other properties
>respected by the Sunni. Any measure to contribute to that direction is
>helping the enemies of Islam and is forbidden by sharia."
>
>Instead, he blamed the intelligence services of the U.S. and Israel
>for being behind the bombs at the Golden Mosque.
>
>British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that those who committed the
>attack on the Golden Mosque "have only one motive: to create a violent
>sedition between the Sunnis and the Shiites in order to derail the
>Iraqi rising democracy from its path."
>
>Well said Mr. Blair, particularly when we keep in mind the fact that
>less than a year ago in Basra, two undercover British SAS soldiers
>were detained by Iraqi security forces whilst traveling in a car full
>of bombs and remote detonators.
>
>Jailed and accused by Muqtada al-Sadr and others of attempting to
>generate sectarian conflict by planting bombs in mosques, they were
>broken out of the Iraqi jail by the British military before they could
>be tried.
>
>Posted by Dahr_Jamail at February 24, 2006 06:45 PM
>
>--
> Colin Brace
> Amsterdam
>
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