Anti-Saudi tide rises in Iraq

[babylonsister]

Anti-Saudi tide rises in Iraq
Iraq's leaders use a Shiite holiday to shift attention from Iran to its Sunni neighbors.
By Sam Dagher | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 9, 2007 edition


Baghdad - Shiite Iraqis began arriving here this week for a mass pilgrimage Thursday to a revered imam's shrine. Much of the city is now locked down, closed off to protect the nearly 1 million faithful expected to pay tribute in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya.

But not only is this march to honor Imam Musa al-Kadhim in a Shiite Muslim rite, it has become a show of newfound power and defiance in the face of hard-line Sunni suicide bombers who continue to wreak havoc in their communities.

This year's pilgrimage also comes amid an unprecedented wave of anger toward Saudi Arabia. Government and religious leaders here charge that the neighboring kingdom is doing little to stem the flow of its nationals to Iraq to wage "holy war" on Shiites.

The Saudi backlash is being fueled by Iraqi media reports and Shiite leaders' condemnations of apparent fatwas, religious rulings by Saudi muftis calling for the destruction of Shiite shrines in Iraq.

But some Saudi Arabian analysts say this is a way for Baghdad's pro-Iranian leaders to steer attention away from Tehran's involvement in Iraq and toward its Sunni neighbors. In spite of questions about their authenticity, the fatwas are stirring up much of the Shiite community and is indeed coloring this year's pilgrimage.

more...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0809/p01s05-wome.html

[Cooley Hurd]

1. "But SOME Saudi Arabian analysts say..."

:eyes: