What will be our way out of a full scale civil war now? Dudes, this looks like the end of any slim hope we might have had for some kind of peace. Everytime any faction wants to put a match to the already volatile situation they will bomb a mosque and set off reprisals from the Sunni/Shia crazies. I fear we are doomed.
Whats your take on this latest disaster? comments please. Iraq on alert after shrine attack The latest attack on the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, one of the most revered sites in Shia Islam, has sent Iraq into an instant state of national alert.
Iraqi police reinforcements and US troops were rushed to Samarra itself, where a curfew was imposed almost as soon as the dust had settled over the battered shrine. In Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki held emergency meetings with his top security chiefs and conferred with the US ambassador and multinational forces commander. The prime minister's office then announced that an open-ended curfew was also being ordered in the capital from 1500 local time. A state of emergency was also reported at another major Shia centre, Najaf, to the south of Baghdad.
Calls for restraint Shia militiamen, blamed for a wave of sectarian reprisals after the 22 February attack at Samarra in 2006, were reported to be out on the streets in force in many parts of Baghdad. Loudspeakers at mosques in Sadr City, the teeming east Baghdad suburb where the Mehdi Army militia is strong, began broadcasting chants of "Allahu Akbar!" - "God is Great".
The movement's leader, the maverick young cleric Moqtada Sadr, called for three days of mourning and issued an appeal for calm and restraint. So too did Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the religious eminence who is usually regarded as the most senior clerical figure among Iraq's Shia Muslims. But similar appeals in the wake of the Samarra attack last year did not stop the wave of sectarian revenge killings against the Sunni community, for which the Mehdi Army has largely been blamed.
Watershed The first Samarra bombing was a watershed moment in the Iraqi crisis, triggering a spiral of violence that has taken thousands of lives among both Sunnis and Shia, and has proven almost impossible to stifle. Despite all the precautions and the calls for restraint, there were predictions that the latest attack might add further fuel to the flames.
"Even if Moqtada Sadr appears waving a copy of the Koran, it is 90% cent sure there will be violence," said one Baghdad Shia gloomily. The fallout will clearly be a major challenge to the current security "surge" by thousands of US and Iraqi troops. The level of US forces in Iraq is expected to reach its peak in the coming days, with the aim of stabilising the capital and other troubled areas in advance of an eventual coalition withdrawal.
In the hours after Wednesday's Samarra explosions there were unconfirmed reports that a Sunni mosque in east Baghdad had been burned, and a Sunni neighbourhood in the western part of the capital attacked by Shia militiamen. There are many unresolved flashpoints between the Sunni and Shia communities in Baghdad and elsewhere, despite a process of sectarian separation that has seen hundreds of families from both sides displaced by campaigns of threats and violence. Even if Moqtada Sadr is sincere in his calls for his Shia followers not to fall into the trap of launching sectarian reprisals, there has been a growing question over the extent to which he is really in control of the Mehdi Army.
It is widely reported to have split into several factions and fragments. Whoever was responsible for the latest attack at Samarra - already blamed on radical Sunni insurgents - clearly knew exactly what they were doing and what the likely response would be.
Hi MA. Happy to see you back. I am afraid I agree. This is the end of my country as I remember it. I now feel more sure than ever before that I will never see Baghdad again.
no iraq not finish yet. please all iraq4you pray for iraq. keep your hope for our country. hope is what we must keep in out heart. iraq always problems but we can survive and start again like always.
UNESCO to Help Rebuild Askariya Mosque Estimated $8.4 Million Reconstruction to Begin as Soon as Security Permits
UNESCO pledged assistance on Tuesday to help Iraq rebuild the Askariya mosque in Samarra, badly damaged by attacks last year and earlier this month. The reconstruction will start “as soon as security conditions are guaranteed and will continue over a period of ten months,” UNESCO said in a news release. The Iraqi Government is expected to provide $3 million of the $8.4 million project, with the rest coming from the UN Development Group Iraq Trust Fund.
“The commitment of the Iraqi authorities and the international community to work together on the reconstruction of this highly symbolic site is a reason for hope,” said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. “Respecting cultural heritage is one of the fundamental principles of the reconstruction process for a country such as Iraq, and a decisive step towards national reconciliation.” The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Amman by Mohamed Djelid, Director of the UNESCO Iraq office, and Hak Al-Hakeem, advisor to Iraq's Prime Minister for Reconstruction and Environment Affairs.
Sadr Plans to Go Ahead with Samarra MarchTensions Between Sadrists and SIIC-Dominated Security Forces in Samawa Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr issued a statement Thursday expressing his commitment to a planned march to the destroyed Askari shrine in Samarra, despite calls from the government and Sunni parties to drop the march in fear of insurgent attacks against Shi’ite pilgrims that could trigger another deadly wave of sectarian violence in the country. Sadr’s statement said the goal of the march is to express good will and to break barriers placed by the occupation and takfiris (a reference to extremist militants who consider the Shia to be non-Muslims). “We call upon all Iraqis, be they tribesmen, elders or officials, to show good will and to cooperate in order for the march to be successful, so that it would be a turning point in improving fractured relations, and for it to confirm that those who bombed the two shrines will not be pleased with this march and will attempt to prevent it,” the statement said. “Our purpose is to show that Sunnis also revere the Prophet Mohammed’s family and that they harbor no animosity towards them, except for the takfiris and occupiers who were responsible for the shrines’ bombing.” In the government’s first official reaction, a statement from the office of PM Nuri Al-Maliki warned citizens that the road from Baghdad to Samarra is still not secure and that they could be subject to attacks from Sunni insurgents. Sunni politicians have vocally discouraged the march, while Sunni websites have carried warnings that the real aim of the procession, which is to be guarded by thousands of Mahdi Army militiamen, is to resettle Shi’ites in Samarra and force its indigenous Sunni population out. Following the bombing of the Shi’ite shrines in Samarra on June 13, Mahdi Army militiamen attacked and destroyed at least a dozen Sunni mosques across the country in retaliation. The Sadrist Nahrain Net website quoted unnamed sources in the Hawza of Najaf who said U.S. forces would be making a grave mistake if they attempted to prevent the peaceful march by force, and that it would only confirm their suspicions that U.S. forces are biased against the Shia and are paving the way for Ba’athist militias to regain control over Baghdad. In response to a series of questions from followers in Najaf, Muqtada Al-Sadr issued an internal statement with instructions regarding the march, which is planned on July 5. The following is a full translation of the statement as obtained by Iraq Slogger:
Your Eminence, Hujat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, our leader Sayyid Muqtada Al-Sadr (may God dignify you and grant you victory),
May peace and the mercy of God and his blessings be upon you. Following your call on the Iraqi people to head to Samarra to mark the birth anniversary of Fatima Al-Zahraa’ (God’s peace upon her), we have a number of questions on our minds that for which we seek answers from your eminence. May you please offer us an explanation. A group of residents of holy Najaf. Q: Should the pilgrims continue to visit Samarra until the holy shrines are rebuilt? Or is it just for the duration of the one visit and then to return? A: In the name of God. It is merely a call for visiting, and to return on the same day, unless some find the distance to be long. Then they can stay for one night. Q: What does his Eminence say if we use the visit to stage a sit-in to demand the rebuilding of the holy Askari shrine? A: In the name of God. If you wish to stage a sit-in, do it in your own governorates. It is best to leave the sit-in for the people of Samarra. Q: Some are saying harm would befall the pilgrims from terrorists and takfiris, and there is no reason to perform the visit. What do you say to those doubters? A: In the name of God. There are a number of answers to this: First, our Lord said, “(They are) the ones that say, (of their brethren slain), while they themselves sit (at ease): "If only they had listened to us they would not have been slain." Say: "Avert death from your own selves, if ye speak the truth." Second, our Lord said, “Those who leave their homes in the cause of Allah, and are then slain or die,- On them will Allah bestow verily a goodly Provision: Truly Allah is He Who bestows the best provision. Verily He will admit them to a place with which they shall be well pleased: for Allah is All-Knowing, Most Forbearing.” And I remind you of what the poet said: If they cut the legs and our hands, We will come to you crawling, O’ Hussein. In general, do not look at who ordered you to go, but look at whom and for whom you are going. There is triumph for religion and for the sect of the Prince of Believers (peace be upon him) in your visit. In the end, I ask God to protect the visitors of the two Imams (peace be upon them). Muqtada Al-Sadr
What I don't get is that all those responsible for the destruction of the mosques and churchs profess that they're fighting a holy war. Is it just me, or does anybody else think it's strange that these "Holy Warriors" are destroying all the houses of worship between them?
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