Shia declare Jihad against occupation troops

[aneerkoinos]

It's official now:

"Some 15,000 of al-Sadr's supporters staged a peaceful protest heading towards the Spanish headquarters in the southern city.

According to al-Sharif, Spanish troops and helicopters opened fire randomly at the protesters, while some witnesses say demonstrators threw stones at military vehicles.

Al-Sadr's militia, the al-Mahdi army, has also taken control of the police stations in Najaf.

Occupation forces also fired at journalists at the scene, including Aljazeera's crew, injuring al-Sharif.

Al-Sadr's office has issued a statement calling on supporters to end their protests but to declare jihad and take up arms against occupation forces."

more:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DFE045E8-ABA4-411F-89D7-78EE1403052F.htm


The REAL war just started and will not end before the invaders are driven out of Iraq and probably from Kuwait and Qatar as well.

[LittleApple81]

1. Holy shiiate!!!!! n/t

[Mattforclark]

3. I suspect 'Holy Shi'ite'

will become an increasingly common expression in the English language.

[Mattforclark]

2. Oh joy

bleh

[papau]

4. 15,000 of al-Sadr's supporters is 50% more than his following - he

is just IRAN's bet in this "game"

Perhaps Bush will invade Iran now that they are not behaving?

[LittleApple81]

5. Holy shiate!!!!. What will happen to EVERYBODY there?? ours, theirs,

everybody....THE HORROR, THE HORROR...

[papau]

13. THE HORROR! - true - death for power of a version of a religion

Seems that has happen in the past.

Hard to believe that Turks and Saudi are both Sunni.

Or that Iraq has really given up atomic weapons as a means to converting all Islam to Shia.

[LittleApple81]

6. kick. n/t

[DIKB]

7. Hrmm

dunno how to feel about this situation. Can't say it wasn't expected, I don't wish for any more death, but this administration should have known better.

After ignoring/insulting the international community, do "we" deserve any less than the muslim community's hatred and outright aggression ?

[ThomWV]

8. Huh?

I honestly have to say, well, so what? I'd agree that its one more step towards the very real war that is going to break out in Iraq (which I can't bring myself to call a civil war anymore) but I don't think it will put our troops in in greater or lessor danger.

[LittleApple81]

10. Oh yes it will. Why do you think Saddam had to kill them?

Otherwise he would lose control. Are we ready to massacre people now?

[xchrom]

9. oh great

[wtmusic]

11. Well did we see this coming a mile away

Honestly, the leadership in this country has the foresight of a gnat

[aneerkoinos]

12. From Baghdad Burning blog:

"There have been demonstrations by Al-Sadr's followers in Baghdad and Najaf. In Baghdad they are gathered near the Green Zone and the Sheraton hotel by the thousands- a huge angry mob, mostly in black. In Najaf,, they were just outside of the Spanish troops' camp. The demonstration in Najaf was shot at by the soldiers and they say that at least 14 are dead and dozens are wounded… An Iraqi friend in Diwaniya was telling me that they had to evacuate the CPA building in Najaf because it was under attack. He says there’s talk of Jihad amongst the Shi’a.

Let me make it very clear right now that I am *not* a supporter of Al-Sadr. I do not like clerics who want to turn Iraq into the next Iran or Saudi Arabia or Kuwait… but it makes me really, really angry to see these demonstrations greeted with bullets and tanks by the troops. Why allow demonstrations if you're going to shoot at the people? The demonstrators were unarmed but angry- Al-Sadr's newspaper was shut down recently by Bremer and Co. and his deputy is said to have been detained by the Spaniards down south (although the Spanish troops are denying it). His followers are outraged, and believe me- he has a healthy number of followers. His father was practically revered by some of the Shi'a and he apparently has inherited their respect."

more:
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

[Columbia]

41. From Healing Iraq blog

Since Al-Sadr's weekly newspaper Al-Hawza was closed about a week ago for inciting violence against the coalition, there have been daily demonstrations near the Green Zone by Sadr supporters demanding re-opening the paper and against the national reconciliation conferences initiated by Kurdish leader Mas'ud Barzani, current head of the GC. I passed through one such demonstration last Wednesday with Omar and AYS at Tahrir square and it looked dangerous, they were armed with pistols and AK-47's.

Anyway, last thing we heard was that Muqtada Al-Sadr's residence in Najaf was surrounded by coalition troops and that his followers clashed with Spanish troops in Kufa, 21 of them killed and 120 wounded. IP stations in Kufa were attacked, and there was news of fighting in Sadun street and Al-Thawra in Baghdad. Last word from Muqty was that he asked his followers to stop demonstrating and to resort to 'other methods' since demonstrations aren't working. Al-Jazeera is having difficulties concealing their excitement and they have already coined this as the 'start of the Shia resistance in Iraq'.

Iraqis know very well who those 'pious' people are. They are gangsters, rapists, murderers, thieves, kidnappers, looters, and criminals. They are only using religion as cover. I can't even dream of what would happen if those people were left to make trouble on our streets that way without punishment. I believe that it's now time for Al-Sadr to experience a very bad accident soon. We will be sorry for him I assure you, "Oh poor fellow, what a terrible misfortune, what a great loss" we would say to each other knowingly. It's scenes like these that make me sometimes wonder to myself if Saddam wasn't justified in assassinating all those clerics. Get that new Mukhabarat working.

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/

[Djinn]

14. bet the BFEE

continue to use words like "pro-Saddam" and "Baathists remnants" for ALL anti US occupation activities though...doesn't actually need to be true, just needs to have a nice ring to it that sounds good repeated ad naseum on Faux (see WMD's)

[momwarnedme]

15. What a crock of crap coming out of aljazeera

Yea right. Real peaceful protesters and we just opened fire on them and the reporters. Do you really buy this crap from AJ?

[Aidoneus]

16. Yes

I apologize for them not running it by CENTCOM first.

[bemildred]

17. No, but it is nice to see a free, uncensored press in action.

Something I can't find stateside.

[momwarnedme]

20. uncensored vs instigating a holy war

Just like yelling fire is to free speech starting holy wars is to censorship. With paper and ink comes responsibility when you can fire up jihadists with lies. And this crap from AJ is a lie and could get someone killed.

[bemildred]

22. Thrashing around and showing your ignorance will not help, Sir.

Perhaps if you read AJ more you would lose some of your prejudices.

[momwarnedme]

28. This latest crap they just put out was lies and nothing more

Their lies/truth ratio is not worth reading.

[Jacobin]

34. Ya mean they dispute the flowery and glowing reports of Faux?

Yes. They must be censored. They cannot be allowed to report the news. Only good news of the Bush regime must be reported.

/sarcasm

[bemildred]

35. I find they are much better than most US news sources.

They report all sides of an issue (I know that is annoying,
but I like it) and most of the time they avoid loaded language,
slurs, and racist insults in their stories.

[Aidoneus]

36. They point out the world around them

I'm sorry that the product is not something that is comfortable to the way you see things. Could you elaborate?

[Eureka]

38. How do you know?

You seem pretty sure about their lies. How do you know? Who told you? What evidence do you have?

Media all over the world are pushing their own barrows, so why not the 'non-white' media outlets too?

What do you have that suggest these guys are any more worthy of attention than, say, Faux?

[ithacan]

27. Bush is the one who started a holy war

by invading Iraq in the first place. He was warned. Anyone who knew anything about this region warned him against this. But he went ahead anyway.

Of course his backers in the Religious Right are ecstatic. They WANT and need a holy war. Armageddon and all.

[alcuno]

18. Who knows? I'd rather hear they were 15,000 protestors than 15,000

insurgents. If they have that easily mustered 15,000 insurgents we are toast.

[momwarnedme]

21. When armed "protesters" storm a military post

they become something other than "protesters". I call them suicidal and the troops sound like they held back if only a dozen or two were killed.

[bemildred]

24. You are delusional, it is the Iraqis that have been holding back. nt

[Fatima]

23. And your point is, what?

If it's not news from 'Murika, it's crap?

Yeah, frankly, I DO believe US troops can and have fired on peaceful protesters- because they themselves have often enough said so. The testimonies coming from returning troops are pretty shocking. War has this way of turning nice guys into animals, ya know?

I guess you are more into Fox crap, yourself.

[momwarnedme]

29. My point is this story from AJ is all lies.

You guess wrong about me. I guess you are into news fiction, yourself.

[Robin Hood]

40. Considering that cable news has shown its self,

to be nothing but a talking points memo parrott for the Bush Administration as evidenced by the recent showdown between Letterman and CNN. At this point the only detailed news out of Iraq is from Al Jazzera, not CNN, FOX, MSRNC.

Unless you had both feet on the ground in iraq today, I would like to ask you how exactly you know that Al Jazeera is lying?

[sweetheart]

19. What is *YOUR* jihad

We all fight our own private religious crusade for justice... some
just write on DU. Some teach; some care for the elderly; some run
for political office and some surrender their egos to self awareness.

Their jihad is obvious by the big army with guns pointed at them that
begs to be disposed-of to achieve justice. Our private jihad is
quite different indeed.

Mine is to give up caring about what my mind thinks, and rather to
accept, as i will in death, that we are cut from the same cloth...
that all of us seek justice... and in our experience of life,
undertake the revolution of justice against darkness, supidity and
incompetence.

We are the american jihadi's, the ones who oppose evil, lies and
murder... and they are iraqi jihadi's fighting an evil occupying
army.

[welshTerrier2]

25. impressive

nice words, sweetheart ... i enjoyed reading your post and the insight it contained ...

you have a bit of the poet in you ...

[momwarnedme]

33. Iraqi jihad's fighting an evil occupying army

Is that why the jihad have been blowing up their own people and mosques in Iraq?

[sweetheart]

37. Guerilla warfare is not black and white

They are doing *WHATEVER* it takes to destroy the US empire. In
this case, it is to bog us down in a civil war.

You mention tactics. The opposition to empire is a coherent tactic
of the guerillas. You are being simplistic to pick an event out of
context and paint it as "bad bad" and unthinkable.

Were America occupied by a foreign army, and a church in your local
town working with the "enemy" towards setting up a foreign occupied
government for the US, methinks you might target the church as well
in your war of liberation.

However, given your low post count, and "virginia", it may be that
you are a militarist and are looking for reasons to rally behind
the flag. Be simplistic with a simpleton.

Welcome to DU. Good to hear you. :party:

[FreeSpeechCrusader]

47. Well...our gov't likes to say that we are

liberating a people...do you call killing 10,000+ Iraqis liberating them???

[Junkdrawer]

26. Ayatollah so. 1978 Iran all over again. Wait until hundeds of thousands...

start marching up to US HQ.

[momwarnedme]

31. It would be suicide if they try to storm a US outpost

I see they picked on the Spanish instead. Have you see what just one chain gun can do with just one belt of ammo. There is enough firepower to take out 100,000+ marchers in about 30 seconds.

Now *that* would be a massacre. Let's hope they are not stupid enough to try storming the Americans.

[Robin Hood]

42. WOW!!

You actually think that the U.S. would massacre 100,000 marching Iraqi's? IF that does happen then we have become Saddam himself, and what excuse will Bush have for going into Iraq then?

[Junkdrawer]

43. Faced with that choice, soldiers usually disobey orders - especially...

if the mob is unarmed.

[dpibel]

44. We bad

Yessirreee. They better not be stoopit enuff to fuck with the AMERICANS! We'll pacify their heathen asses right straight to hell. 100K would be good for starters. Then we can really get down to bidness.

The may outsmart us, though. So far they've been clever enough just to attack those weenie Spainiards.

Hey! Keep us posted on the serious world of hurt they gonna be walkin' into. I can hear your chest thumpin' from here.

[Jacobin]

45. Um, look what happened when the British did that in India

Or have you read much Gandhi?

The people of India had absolutly no chance against the British war machine. And yes, a couple of times the British "showed their strength" by mowing down unarmed civilians.

It blew back in their face and they were forced out.

Good luck with your massive firepower theory.

[momwarnedme]

46. Gandhi was not calling for terror attacks on Americans

To compare this fanatic to a good man like Candi is absurd.

[xultar]

30. I'M CONFUSED, I THOUGHT MISSION WAS ACCOMPLISHED....WhAAAAAAA

:cry: WhAAAAAAAAAAA! :cry: WhAAAAAAAAAAAAA! :cry:

[robertpaulsen]

32. Thanks aneerkoinos, I put this in Late Breaking News

because the call to jihad is an important development. Al-Sadr does not have the following that a cleric like al-Sistani does, but I know al-Sistani has warned of a possible intifada if the U.S. delays the June 30 transfer. That delay is certainly a possibility if you think Dick Lugar has any pull. It will be interesting to see what al-Sistani's response to the call for jihad is.

[FDRrocks]

39. OH NO!

You mean the country we invaded while bombing the largest city of... is called to revolt? OH NO.

Religioun sucks. War sucks. Fiction taken as reality sucks. And above all, politicians suck/