Calls for vengeance as Iraq's Shias mourn their dead (UK Independent)

[WillyT]

<snip>

Thousands of angry mourners called for vengeance as they gathered outside Iraq's holiest Shiite shrine where yesterday a car bomb killed more than 100 people, including one of country's most senior Shia Muslim clerics.

The bomb also injured more than 140, at the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf as Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim emerged after delivering a sermon calling for Iraqi unity.

"Our leader al-Hakim is gone. We want the blood of al-Hakim," a crowd of 4,000 men beating their chests chanted in unison outside the mosque today.

Tens of thousands of worshippers filled the shrine and the surrounding streets for a funeral service for Ayatollah Hakim and other blast victims later Saturday. The main road leading to the shrine was open only to pedestrians, and residents carried coffins on the tops of cars and backs of trucks for the funeral service.

<snip>

Link: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=438457

Man.... We're in some deeper shit now!

:argh:

[w13rd0]

1. Has anyone taken credit...

...for the bombing? I mean, bombing a mosque on holy day...

[WillyT]

4. No Credit, Just Suspects !!!

From what I've heard\read so far. And those suspects are suspect, ya know???

Can we get Al-Jazeera through the Internet? I'd love to hear their reporting on this. Maybe if we use their spin to counter our spin, we'd have a more reliable picture of what the hell is going on over there right now.

I sure as hell don't believe anything we're being told at this point!!!

:grr:

[Athame]

6. Al-jazeera online

Al-Jazeera in English

Here's what their lead story says:
Car Bomb Kills Leading Shiite Cleric Hakim

Naseer Al-Nahr, Asharq Al-Awsat, Arab News

BAGHDAD, 30 August 2003 — A massive car bomb exploded at the Imam Ali Mosque complex after Friday prayers, killing at least 90 people including a key Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer Al-Hakim, and wounding 150. The attack, which comes as country’s Shiites are engaged in a generational power struggle, was certain to complicate American efforts to pacify an increasingly violent Iraq.

The terrorist strike against innocent civilians as they emerged from a mosque on the traditional Muslim day of prayer and rest produced what may have been the biggest one-day death toll in the war since American forces fought their way into Baghdad on April 8 and 9.

The Shiites immediately laid blame on Saddam Hussein loyalists — chiefly from the rival Sunni sect and oppressors of the majority Shiites for decades.

<snip>

Thanks for the reminder, Willy, I had not checked this source in a while.

Ma

[Aidoneus]

7. that's not the same news organization

al-Jazeera's English page isn't up yet, but it'll be at english.aljazeera.net; aljazeerah.info is a distinctly different page run by different people, though is useful all the same.

[Athame]

8. hmmm, good to know

But who is running the Al-Jazeera info site? Are they reliable? The slant does seem very benign toward USA.

Ma

[realFedUp]

2. gee, this looks familiar....

...

[mmm]

3. prologue to a free for all

these good people are FRUSTRATED and full of RAGE
and looking for a fight. It will take very little to
set off the firestorm.

[WillyT]

5. Damn It !!!

There is a companion piece by Robert Fisk entitled:

'Unless the White House abandons its fantasies, civil war will consume the Iraqi nation'

But you have to subscribe and PAY for it.

I resent having to pay for my ticket to Armageddon.

Link here: http://www.robert-fisk.com/

And here: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/story.jsp?story=438454

Damn it!!!

:shrug:

[Kbowe]

9. If they fight the Sunnis they will be playing right into coalition hands..

This is what the US/UK/I want.

[WillyT]

10. You Gotta Wonder, What's Next ?

A Shiite Muslim man is carried aloft by a sea of mourners on Saturday in the Najaf streets.

Shit...

[brokensymmetry]

11. Do we really wonder?

I suspect we all have a sneaking suspicion about what's next. It probably won't be pleasant.

[LeftistGorilla]

12. We knew Civil war was going to happen....

and here is the begining...
aint freedom a bitch?

[Kbowe]

13. Vengance against whom?

Who really is responsible for the blast?
Has Saddam sent a message?
Has any group claimed responsibility?

[TeeYiYi]

14. That's a good question . . .

. . .from what I've been able to gather, the Sunni's and the Shi'ites had agreed to work together against the coalition.

Here's a good article that was printed the day before the blast at the Mosque:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EH28Ak02.html

TYY

[shirlden]

15. Good article

Thanks ....very informative.