Post War Iraq Starts off Badly
Apr 11, 2003 8:05:40 GMT -5
Post by BadCompany on Apr 11, 2003 8:05:40 GMT -5
I normally would have just ignored this, but I found it very curious that this was a front page article in the Montreal Gazette, with an in depth analysis, yet there is not one word of it on either CNN or the BBC. Even more strange, the article is not on the Gazette's internet page, though from what I can tell every other front page article is there.
Hmmm.
Anyways, the printed Gazette article talks about this reconciliation meeting organized by the US military, between two-high ranking Iraqi clerics, one pro-Hussein, and one pro-US. The pro-US cleric, Al-Khoei, is quite the big wig in western circles, and the Gazette had a picture of him with Tony Blair. A google search on him brings up all kinds of hits. A helicopter full of western journalists was flown in to witness the event, in this brave new Iraq.
Unfortunately, things went badly. Supporters of a 3rd cleric verbally assaulted one of the clerics (the pro-Hussein one) and things went from bad to worse. A riot broke out, and both clerics were hacked to death with swords and knives. Needless to say, the reconciliation is being delayed for a little bit.
www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030410.wcler0410_2/BNStory/International
Mob kills two Shia clerics in Najaf
Associated Press
Najaf, Iraq — A crowd rushed two Islamic clerics inside a mosque and hacked them to death Thursday during a meeting called to discuss control of the shrine in postwar Iraq, witnesses said. An unknown number of people were injured
“People attacked and killed both of them inside the mosque,” said Ali Assayid Haider, a mullah who travelled from the southern city of Basra for the meeting.
The killings occurred at the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest sites of Shia Islam, practised by the majority of Iraqis.
Witnesses told reporters visiting the mosque that a morning meeting was held among leading mullahs about how to administer the shrine, which has been under the control of Haider al-Kadar, a member of President Saddam Hussein’s Ministry of Religion.
In a gesture of reconciliation, Mr. al-Kadar was accompanied to the shrine by Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a high-ranking Shia cleric and son of a prominent ayatollah whom Mr. Hussein allegedly had executed.
When the two men appeared at the shrine, members of another faction loyal to a different mullah, Mohammed Braga al-Saddar, verbally assailed them, witnesses said. Mr. al-Khoei reportedly pulled a gun and fired one or two shots; conflicting eyewitness accounts had him firing bullets into the air or into the crowd.
Both men were then rushed by the crowd and hacked to death with swords and knives, witnesses said. An unknown number of people were injured.
Hmmm.
Anyways, the printed Gazette article talks about this reconciliation meeting organized by the US military, between two-high ranking Iraqi clerics, one pro-Hussein, and one pro-US. The pro-US cleric, Al-Khoei, is quite the big wig in western circles, and the Gazette had a picture of him with Tony Blair. A google search on him brings up all kinds of hits. A helicopter full of western journalists was flown in to witness the event, in this brave new Iraq.
Unfortunately, things went badly. Supporters of a 3rd cleric verbally assaulted one of the clerics (the pro-Hussein one) and things went from bad to worse. A riot broke out, and both clerics were hacked to death with swords and knives. Needless to say, the reconciliation is being delayed for a little bit.
www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030410.wcler0410_2/BNStory/International
Mob kills two Shia clerics in Najaf
Associated Press
Najaf, Iraq — A crowd rushed two Islamic clerics inside a mosque and hacked them to death Thursday during a meeting called to discuss control of the shrine in postwar Iraq, witnesses said. An unknown number of people were injured
“People attacked and killed both of them inside the mosque,” said Ali Assayid Haider, a mullah who travelled from the southern city of Basra for the meeting.
The killings occurred at the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest sites of Shia Islam, practised by the majority of Iraqis.
Witnesses told reporters visiting the mosque that a morning meeting was held among leading mullahs about how to administer the shrine, which has been under the control of Haider al-Kadar, a member of President Saddam Hussein’s Ministry of Religion.
In a gesture of reconciliation, Mr. al-Kadar was accompanied to the shrine by Abdul Majid al-Khoei, a high-ranking Shia cleric and son of a prominent ayatollah whom Mr. Hussein allegedly had executed.
When the two men appeared at the shrine, members of another faction loyal to a different mullah, Mohammed Braga al-Saddar, verbally assailed them, witnesses said. Mr. al-Khoei reportedly pulled a gun and fired one or two shots; conflicting eyewitness accounts had him firing bullets into the air or into the crowd.
Both men were then rushed by the crowd and hacked to death with swords and knives, witnesses said. An unknown number of people were injured.
