So Moqtada al-Sadr is back from Iran and is now saying he organizing a march to Samarra on the birthday of Fatima az-Zahra, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and wife of Imam Ali. This is a stupid idea.
Samarra is of course where the Askariya shrine is, resting place of Imam Ali al-Hadi and Imam Hassan al-Askari. Even though it has a holy site for the Shi’a most people in Samarra and near the city are Sunnis. There was before another march and this reminds me of summer in 2004 when all of Iraq was looking at Najaf because Moqtada and his Mahdi Army went to Najaf and fought the Americans and decided make the shrine of Imam Ali as their military base. Sayyid Sistani came back and called for march to Najaf and no attack on the holy site of Imam Ali. I think Moqtada should remember that Sayyid Sistani called for a march to prevent the mistakes of Moqtada from bringing more destruction to the holy city and holy shrine. Actually I do remember that entire week and I was watching television and being confused and scared as the holy city was a battle site and I was also scared that the shrine would be attacked. Because of a strong and brave man Sayyid Sistani it did not happen, because he left his hospital room to save the shrine and help the people. Also you maybe remember that Sayyid Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim also supported the march, which was the call of Sayyid Sistani.
Now Moqtada is calling for a different march, which will have people go to Samarra. Samarra and also the places near it north from Baghdad. Even though Moqtada says all people should go, I think we know that mostly Shi’a will go. So many innocent Shi’a who do care about the holy shrine of the two Imams in Samarra will be in very dangerous places walking, and open to attacks. Also, it is said that the march will be protected by Moqtada men. Of course, no one wants the Mahdi Army men of Moqtada to come to their area and the Sunni people north from Baghdad will not want them and they will know that last time after the Samarra attack in last year (February) these men killed many innocent Sunnis. The Sunnis are going to be angry about this march. Samarra is dangerous and even visitors from Iran who come to Iraq to visit shrines in Najaf and Karbala are ordered not to make visits to Samarra. I know that before one bus with Iranians came to visit Samarra and they disappeared.
So we have differences – Sayyid Sistani’s march to save people and holy sites and try to end mistakes of Moqtada, and now Moqtada’s march which is a bad idea. I do want peace for all Iraqis and also the holy shrines need to be protected. Marching innocent people into dangerous areas is not help. Instead special protection force of honest good people, I hope they can find some, who want to protect the holy sites of the Imams should be trained and helped a lot to do this. I hope that the terrorists will be stopped and then everyone can visit all of the sites if they are Shi’ite or Sunni or visitor from Iran or anywhere, but now this is not how it is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
++
perhaps they will shock us, and people from all over &
sects will join in, numb Mook's intended perception &
create their own.. one of "unity"..
alas, i can dream too..
however & albeit there's a ways to go, both Sunni & Shia
have been building bridges, mending fences, or however
one cares to depict it.. :)
==
Hi Shaqawa,
This is 'anon' from your "keeping My Award" post. I figured I'd post under this nick so as to avoid any potential future ambiguities.
I agree with your assertion that it's not a good idea for Moqtada to go ahead with such a move. The problem is that there has been no meaningful counter-effort by the Iraqi government and/or moderate Shia entities (e.g., SIIC, Dawa) to capture the "hearts and minds" of many of Moqtada's followers in the hopes of diluting his base. From my understanding, many Shia have turned to the Sadr movement out of desperation from poverty, armed attacks, etc... and of course the Sadr movement seems more than happy to exploit the current circumstances for the sake of gaining radicalized followers.
As such, if we are working on the presumption that significant number of Sadr's "followers" turned to him out of desperation, then it's very likely that a concentrated effort by moderate Shia entities to reach out to such people (through social services and what not) may have an effect on reducing Sadr's current influence. I suppose only time will tell.
In any case, I too have heard many reports of Iranian and Iraqi Shia pilgrims not finding a welcome atmosphere in Samarra, and in the long term, there has to be some sort of concentrated effort by the Iraqi government (after they kick out all the terrorists within the Sunni Arab political blocs operating within the confines of the government) to cleanse such areas from terrorists. But of course you'll have the tension with Iran coupled with the lobbying of the Sunni Arab states (which, more often than not, centers on the "threat" of "Iranians" in Iraq [e.g., Shia] ) which is holding the Bush administration back from completely endorsing a Shia/Kurdish led Iraqi government (out of fears of Iranian influence), among other factors.
In any case my fellow Fursi Majusi Safawi Sahyuni Yahoodi Rafidhi Shroogi etc.. (I will update this list as our Sunni Arab brethren become more creative in their descriptions) friend, it's nice to read your posts when they come in. Keep up the good work!
P.S. How do you think Abdul Aziz al Hakim sizes up to Moqtada in terms of street influence/popularity within Iraq?
Muqtada Atari is an opportunist. Sistani is the real deal.
Hello BG,
It did not happen, I am not surprised.
Hello Justice,
Well the stupid march did not happen and Moqtada is an idiot. I remember before he said he established an Islamic government in Iraq and named ministers and he looked very stupid. I am glad you like to read my posts. I think that the Iraqi government can be better without the terrorists from the Sunni Arab sides and also the idiots who will do the orders of Moqtada. Moqtada is a young and idiot kid and I do not know why to follow him, and I do not know how older men who are politicians can follow this young idiot. Moqtada has much money from Iran but he cannot control everything well and his fighters are not trained well like the Badr Brigade (which some people say is not existing now).
Hello Iraqi Mojo,
You cannot compare Sayyid Sistani to Moqtada. But Moqtada talks a lot and remember a smart man thinks before talking but a fool does not, just talks. I remember this is from a saying of Imam Ali.
Thank you to everyone for your visit.
++
Shaqawa said...
Hello BG,
It did not happen, I am not surprised.
hi Shaqawa..
Mooqs parade fizzled??
that's great news!! :+:
thank you for repsonding.. :)
==
Hello BG,
As you know, I always try to respond to my friends who write comments.
Thank you again for your visit.
I wonder when he cancelled it. Maybe after he did a head count and realized he'd be lucky to get 103 marchers, 83 of them cousins?
I see Petraeus is not letting up or compromising anywhere with the attacks on the Sadrists and Mahdi Army. Mookie must be realizing about now that he's between a rock, and a rock, and a rock, and a rock, and a hard place. With one or two bottomless pits scattered about.
Hello BrianFH,
I think it is good for many people to go to a holy place like the shrine in Samarra, but this march is a bad idea because it would be dangerous and make people angry. I do not feel bad for Moqtada, he has done enough bad things since 2003 until now. Iraqis are suffering from idiots and criminals.
Thank you for your visit.
Post a Comment