Iraqis Mourn Cleric; Brother Blames U.S.

[NNN0LHI]

We had better get our soldiers out of there right now!

NAJAF, Iraq - About 400,000 mourners took to the streets Tuesday, flailing their backs and pounding their chests in anguish at the funeral of a leading Shiite cleric assassinated in a car bomb attack. In Baghdad, another car bomb exploded outside police headquarters, killing one and wounding 13.

In an angry funeral oration, the cleric's brother blamed the U.S. occupation forces for the lax security that led to the attack at Iraq's most sacred Shiite mosque. He raged against the American troops and demanded they leave Iraq.

Men clad in white robes and dark uniforms brandishing Kalashnikov rifles stood guard along the roof of the gold-domed Imam Ali mosque, where Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim was killed Friday in the bloodiest attack since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Accounts of the death toll ranged from more than 80 to more than 120.

"The occupation force is primarily responsible for the pure blood that was spilled in holy Najaf, the blood of al-Hakim and the faithful group that was present near the mosque," said Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the ayatollah's brother and a member of the U.S.-picked Governing Council.

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[Cha]

1. What a Bloody Mess over there!

It's kind of strange because the way I get it this "cleric" wouldn't even have been in Iraq if it hadn't have been for the invasion...So yeah he'd still be alive in that respect, too. Unless, of course, he had some other fatal encounter.