Eccentric ally in Green Zone Imam extols U.S., reveres Virgin Mary -- desp

[Kadie]

Eccentric ally in Green Zone Imam extols U.S., reveres Virgin Mary -- despised by fellow clerics

Eccentric ally in Green Zone Imam extols U.S., reveres Virgin Mary -- despised by fellow clerics

Robert Collier, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, July 31, 2004

Baghdad -- Fuad Rashid may be the only Sunni Muslim cleric in Iraq who defends America from his pulpit. Right now, however, he is making Lt. Col. Robert Campbell squirm.

Campbell, commander of a battalion in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, visited Rashid's house to discuss neighborhood affairs -- but is starting to look as if he wishes he hadn't.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Rashid cheerfully asked Campbell. "You don't really think you were sent here for democracy? That is so silly."

"But sheikh," Campbell spluttered, as Rashid segued into an extended rant.

President Bush is "too much," he continued, his eyes twinkling incongruously. The military's Iraqi translators are "all corrupt, bad men." Certain U.S. Army officers are "ugly." And American promises to repair the mosque's electricity generator? "I don't know, lies or what," he said scornfully.

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/31/MNGDM80L0P1.DTL

[clydefrand]

1. Rashid Is on something!!

"Rashid says Mary appeared to him in three visions telling him to follow her. He adopted the style when he was a seminary student in Baghdad in the early 1990s, but it has become more pronounced since his mosque came under U.S. protection after the April 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein's regime."

(People who have visions are probably having hallucinations because of mental illness or in this case, he might have been enjoying some of those poppies from neighboring countries)

"A man who drinks is the same as a man who worships another god," he warned. "His mind will be troubled, he will be an animal, like a pig."

(Could this be a reference to the Chimp??)

[King of New Orleans]

2. That is truly funny

And he's all yours you crazy Green Zoners