Once-Ruling Sunnis Unite to Regain a Piece of the Pie

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Jan. 11 — Fakri Abdullah al-Qaisi says the vision came to him as it does with all prophets: in communion with God, atop a holy mountain. God's message, he said, was to unite the Sunni Muslims of Iraq.

That was in February, outside Mecca, at the barren Mount Arafat.

Mr. Qaisi returned to Iraq in June, and now has begun to realize his calling. He has brought together 85 leaders of Sunni groups from across the country — groups often at odds with one other — to form the State Council for the Sunnis, the first unified political voice for Iraqi Sunnis opposed to American rule.

Since the council first met on Dec. 25, it has demanded the release of more than 70 Sunni clerics detained by the Americans. Muhammad Ahmed al-Rashid, a senior member of the council and of the Muslim Brotherhood here, a highly political sect, has condemned the foreign occupation in long interviews with Al Jazeera, the Arab network.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/12/international/middleeast/12SUNN.html