Breaking News -- Peace Established in Iraq

[Timber Loftis]

AS IF!
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September 20, 2004
2 Senior Clerics Are Killed in Iraq; Hostage Deadline Passes
By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 20 — A prominent group of anti-American Sunni clerics said today that two senior members had been murdered in Baghdad in the previous 24 hours, raising questions about whether violence between Shiite and Sunni Arabs was on the rise.

The group, the Muslim Scholars Association, said one of the slain, Hazem Muhammad al-Zeidi, was kidnapped from the Sajjad mosque by gunmen after prayers on Sunday night. The mosque is in the middle of Sadr City, an impoverished Shiite neighborhood. Two bodyguards were also taken with Mr. Zeidi, said Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abdul-Jabbar, deputy spokesman for the association.

Mr. Zeidi's body was found near his mosque today, and his two bodyguards were released, Sheikh Abdul-Jabbar said.

The other victim, Sheikh Muhammad Jadoa al-Janabi, was shot dead today as he entered a mosque for noon prayers, the sheikh added. The mosque was in the middle of the Baya neighborhood, a mostly Shiite area.

"We're not accusing anyone, but we want to address the criminals and tell them that you will not break our unity," the sheikh said in a prepared statement. "If you have killed Hazem, you will find thousands of Hazems."

The killings came one day after a militant group, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, posted a grisly Internet video showing the beheadings of three Kurdish truck drivers. In a written statement, the group accused the leaders of the two main Kurdish parties of working for Jews and Christians and said it was teaching them a lesson.

The Muslim Scholars Association is the most organized political Sunni Arab organization in the country and has been outspoken in denouncing the American-led occupation and the interim Iraqi government. In April, during an uprising across western and southern Iraq, the group organized aid for the besieged insurgent-controlled city of Falluja and acted as a mediator to free foreign hostages kidnapped by various groups.

The association says it knows the military wing of the resistance but has no direct ties to fighters, though others contend it actually has enormous control over parts of the insurgency.

"We want to implement security procedures to safeguard mosques and clerics, but the Americans and the Iraqi government won't allow us to do that," Sheikh Abdul-Jabbar said. "They won't give us permits to carry weapons."

A deadline for the execution of three captive engineers — two Americans and one Briton — came and went today with no word of their fate. On Saturday, a group called One God and Holy War, led by a Jordanian militant named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released a video of the three blindfolded hostages and said they would be killed within 48 hours if the occupation forces did not release women held in prisons at Abu Ghraib and Um Qasr.

American military officials have said they are holding two Iraqi women suspected of working on weapons programs for Saddam Hussein, but that the two women are not at either prison.

More than 135 foreign workers have been kidnapped since the uprising in April. Most have been freed, but several have been killed. Among those murdered are Nicholas Berg, an American businessman, and Kim Sun-il, a South Korean translator, both supposedly beheaded by One God and Holy War.

The whereabouts and conditions of two Italian humanitarian workers and two French journalists, taken hostage in separate incidents and by different groups, remain unknown.

Al Jazeera reported this evening that a militant group had released 18 members of the Iraqi National Guard. The group, the Brigades of Muhammad bin Abdullah, had demanded the release by the Iraqi government of Hazem al-Aaraji, a prominent aide to the firebrand anti-American cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Aides to Mr. Sadr asked the group today to release the national guardsmen, but also warned the captive Iraqi soldiers against working with the occupation.

The American military said a soldier from the First Infantry Division was killed in an ambush near the town of Ash Sharqat while on patrol this afternoon. At least 1,033 American soldiers have died since the start of the war.

The military said today that it carried out an airstrike at 2 p.m. against "heavy construction equipment" being used by insurgents to build "fortified fighting positions" on the outskirts of Falluja. American officials did not give a casualty count, but The Associated Press quoted doctors in the city as saying two people were killed and three wounded. Those killed were municipal workers using a bulldozer, the doctors said.

Wire reports said a car bomb exploded in the northern city of Mosul, killing two people inside the car and a bystander.

[Ronn_Bman]

Stop scaring me Timber!

I was afraid the war was over.

[Djinn Raffo]

Don't you get the feeling of a dangerous game being played where the ball can roll anywhich way. Yet to some of the players it seems they care not which way that ball rolls.

[aleph_null1]

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: Don't you get the feeling of a dangerous game being played where the ball can roll anywhich way. Yet to some of the players it seems they care not which way that ball rolls.

Exactly.

The endstate is recognized by the sane people as non-achievable, but that's not really relevant. The point is to stir up both sides -- since both suck anyway -- "roll the ball" and see what happens.

Either way, something useful for The Cause.

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: Don't you get the feeling of a dangerous game being played where the ball can roll anywhich way. Yet to some of the players it seems they care not which way that ball rolls.

Quit bringing cricket discussions to the CE forum! [img]tongue.gif[/img]