Thousands Across Mideast Protest, Urging Holy War Against Allies (pic - Man bites American Flag )

New York Times ^ | March 28th, 2003 | Neil MacFarquahr

[Sabertooth]

THE ARAB STREET

Thousands Across Mideast Protest, Urging Holy War Against Allies

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Denis Doyle/Associated Press

Protesters against the war in Iraq ripped an American flag after Friday Prayers outside the mosque of Al Azhar University in Cairo.

AMASCUS, Syria, March 28 — Protesters took to the streets by the thousands across the Middle East today after Friday Prayers, with calls for a holy war against the American and British forces in Iraq ringing out from minarets throughout the region.

One of the most remarkable demonstrations was in the Iranian capital, Tehran, where tens of thousands of marchers turned out in a government-organized rally to denounce the war against Iraq even though President Saddam Hussein is still reviled in Iran for starting the 1980-88 war between the two countries.

Demonstrators in Tehran chanted both "Death to Saddam" and "Death to America." They also shattered windows in the British Embassy, pelting the building with stones while shouting for its closing.

"Will bombs and the use of force bring democracy and freedom?" asked Ayatollah Muhammad Yazdi, delivering the Friday sermon broadcast on Iranian television. "It will definitely not."

The Iranian government, which with Iraq and North Korea is on President Bush's "axis of evil" list, is nervous about the prospect of having American troops to the west in Iraq and to the east in Afghanistan.

Marches throughout the Arab world were largely peaceful, especially compared with the first violent outbursts that erupted last Friday right after the start of the war.

Still, some protests in Jordan and Egypt included unusually blatant chanting against their rulers, a development bound to worry both governments as they try to balance their close ties to Washington and the anger of their citizens.

"Abdullah, listen, listen! Iraq will never surrender!" chanted hundreds of protesters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, referring to King Abdullah.

The crowd also shouted, "Egypt, where are you? King Fahd, where are you? You sold Al Aksa for dollars! Now, you sell Mosul for dollars!" King Fahd is the Saudi ruler; Al Aksa Mosque, in Jerusalem, is the third holiest shrine in Islam; and Mosul is a city in northern Iraq.

In Cairo, a march by some 6,000 demonstrators outside the mosque of Al Azhar University, passed peacefully. Many of the marchers were from the National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak, who on Thursday tried to defuse some of the tension by saying his government shared public sympathies on Iraq.

Some of the marchers from the dissident Muslim Brotherhood, which usually the government barely tolerates, carried banners reading, "Open the Doors for Holy War," while others held open the Koran to the page describing the conditions for such a battle.

Sheik Muhammad Sayed Tantawi, the government-appointed head of Al Azhar and one of Egypt's leading clerics, told worshipers that "the aggression against the Iraqi people is unjust, and the people who are unjust must be resisted." He called on God to give victory to the Iraqis, as well as to the Palestinians.

State-appointed clerics in Saudi Arabia made similar appeals.

"This war must be stopped immediately, and this aggression must end," said Imam Saleh bin Hamid, the prayer leader at the main mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

Even Kuwait, which Iraq invaded in 1990 and which the allies have used as a jumping-off point for the war, heard harsh criticism of the Americans in some mosques.

"America does not want freedom for the Iraqi people," said Saleh Jawhar, a Shiite cleric who also called Americans evil. "It wants to install its puppets and subdue Muslims until we become a voice for America." He conceded, though, that Iraq would obliterate Kuwait if American forces withdrew.

[Sabertooth]

Perhaps the next humanitarian shipment should include more fiber?

[Sabertooth]

((((((growl)))))

[chance33_98]

[chance33_98]

"Daddy, what are we gonna do after prayers for peace?" "Go out and call for a jihad to kill all Americans!"

[judicial meanz]

Reference the picture:

Its hard to bite a flag with two working teeth. He needs to consult his dentist.

[Beck_isright]

I've got something he can bite; a round of .223 from an AR-15.

V

[angkor]

Drooling rabid barbaric Muslim slobber.

"I'm so angry I could eat your flag."

[Cold Heat]

Could have been worse!

He might have hit it with his shoe!LOL!

[Rummyfan]

I guess they are really worried in Syria that they are next!

[Cold Heat]

They are!

[RLK]

Nottice: We have no friends over there. Go in. Knock off Hussein and his henchmen. Destroy any war machinery that can be found. Then get the hell out as fast as possible. Otherwise we will be decimated.

[Salman]

Wht is he biting the American flag? Does he think it's a dog?

[ppaul]

RELIGION OF PEACE BUMP

[TREGEN]

let me break down the name of that city, Damaskus.
Kinda sounds like "Dumb Asses"

[panaxanax]

World War III started last week.

[MeekOneGOP]

I definitely believe that a picture is worth a thousand words (Islam: "Religion of Peace?") . . .

Denis Doyle/Associated Press
Protesters against the war in Iraq
ripped an American flag after Friday
Prayers outside the mosque of Al Azhar
University in Cairo.


Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Brian Allen]

More fibre?

Sure.

Send hemp.

Ropes.

Nooses.

[DannyTN]

We should be overriding the signals of the entire mid-east and getting a fairer picture presented than that of AlJazeer. Even the major network coverage announcing that we have already lost would be better.

Or wait maybe that's the answer, our news networks aren't treasonous, they have been overridden by Iraqi signals!!!

[Scott from the Left Coast]

From the looks on those faces we should start calling Islam "the religion of insanity".

[cadillac cowboy]

It looks to me like he's biting off his thumb.

[cherry_bomb88]

let me break down the name of that city, Damaskus. Kinda sounds like "Dumb Asses"

Didn't you know that "Damaskus" is Syrian for "Dumbasses"????

Let's send over their "favorite" food in the humanitarian efforts.........

[cherry_bomb88]

Perhaps...but we will still win it.

[Sparky760]

My only response to that idiot is ...........bite me

[FITZ]

Where were these protestors after 9-11? Weren't they the same guys who were out in the streets celebrating the death of thousands of Americans?

[FITZ]

Tell the Muslims we make our flags with hairs from pigs.

[My back yard]

It reminds me of a 'Man Bites Dog' concept.

[MeekOneGOP]

. . . Islam "the religion of insanity".

That's about right !

[MeekOneGOP]

LOL ! It does look like that.

[Sabertooth]

It reminds me of a 'Man Bites Dog' concept.

I think they finished the dog last night.

[MarineDad]

"America does not want freedom for the Iraqi people," said Saleh Jawhar, a Shiite cleric who also called Americans evil. "It wants to install its puppets and subdue Muslims until we become a voice for America." He conceded, though, that Iraq would obliterate Kuwait if American forces withdrew.

Demonstrators in Tehran chanted both "Death to Saddam" and "Death to America." They also shattered windows in the British Embassy, pelting the building with stones while shouting for its closing.

Some of the marchers from the dissident Muslim Brotherhood, which usually the government barely tolerates, carried banners reading, "Open the Doors for Holy War," while others held open the Koran to the page describing the conditions for such a battle.

Ah, the power of the Koran at work in the hearts and minds of the rabble. Such a lovely sight. Such a wonderful "religion." (puke)

[cherry_bomb88]

nooooooooooooooo.....let them eat them and THEN tell them that!!! :oP

[cubreporter]

The photo of that guy biting the flag is the "Epitomy of Stupidity!"

[Linda]

I agree. But will never happen. We have bitten off far more than we can chew, as the old saying goes. I am convinced we have made a terrible miscalculation.

[Im Your Huckleberry]

This is going to become a full scale conflict with the Muslim world. As sure as I'm sittin' here typing.

It's not even a question. We may, in fact, be on the precipice of a world war.

But it has to come. It has to. So when it does, we should just get it over with.

I don't care what anyone says, or thinks, Islam is the enemy, and nothing is going to change that. They hate us, and they want us dead, they want to destroy our civilization, and we'd better wake the hell up to the threat.

[Mark17]

They are!

They are what? Worried or next.

[Im Your Huckleberry]

Agreed.

We'd better wake up to the threat that Islam and the Muslim world represents.

So long as we remain in denial, we are losing...

[ibme]

Yesterday, on Fox, they were reporting that in Iran, the protesters were saying: kill America - kill Saddam. I then turned to CBS and Dan Rather showed the same Iranian protesters and said that some of the protesters where saying - kill America, but he covered up the fact that they were also protesting against Saddam H.

Last Friday, the stock market close up because the war got off to a good start. The media then went into a frenzy of negative reporting. Monday, the stocks went down solely due to the negative reporting.

The media is saying that we have a logistical problem because there was such a quick thrust. If we hadn't made a quick thrust and captured the bridges, there would be a real logistical problem.

In EVERY confrontation, the enemy has been destroyed, they ran or they surrendered.

The only places where the enemy is holding any position, they are hiding behind women's skirts.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Reminds me of about a year ago where some moron was burning an American flag and set himself on fire. I think it was in Pakistan.

[Cold Heat]

They are what? Worried or next.

Next, I hope.

The SOB's need to get out of Lebanon.

[razorbak]

Protesters took to the streets by the thousands across the Middle East today after Friday Prayers, with calls for a holy war

1. So what else is new?

2. Bring it on. Meet Allah in hell early.

[RnMomof7]

LOL

[RightOnline]

Typical Arabs. All chest thumping and ranting and screaming and putting on a big show about how oh-so-fearsome and tough and pissed off they are.........waving swords, guns, whatever, yada yada yada........

Until they get engaged in a stand-up fight....with men instead of women and children.

They run like little girls. Zero respect for these scum.

[philetus]

I don't care who they are, if they are muslim, if they worship in the muslim religeon, if they believe in the Koran, then they want to convert all "infidels" to muslim and failing that, eliminate them from the face of the earth.

If they claim to be muslim, but don't want the above, their not good muslims and should stop calling themselves muslim.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Some of the marchers from the dissident Muslim Brotherhood, which usually the government barely tolerates, carried banners reading, "Open the Doors for Holy War," while others held open the Koran to the page describing the conditions for such a battle.

Sheik Muhammad Sayed Tantawi, the government-appointed head of Al Azhar and one of Egypt's leading clerics, told worshipers that "the aggression against the Iraqi people is unjust, and the people who are unjust must be resisted." He called on God to give victory to the Iraqis, as well as to the Palestinians.

Oh yes, in the Koran there is a verse for each human condition and how to deal with it. Let's not forget that all Muslims not just fanatics believe in the Koran, and that every word written in the Koran is the word of God, which is true and absolutely and unquestionably true for all times, places, and people:

Koran (59:14) "They fight not against you even together, except in fortified townships, or from behind walls. Their enmity among themselves is very great"
Koran (3:11) "And if they fight against you, they will show you their backs, and they will not be helped".

Koran (5:64) "We have put enmity and hatred amongst them till the Day of Resurrection"
Koran (59:14). "You would think they were united, but their hearts are divided". This is a great advantage for Muslims since during wars and fighting, their ranks will disunite and their assemblies will disintegrate.

Koran (9:5) "Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, capture and besiege them and prepare for them every kind of ambush."

[Sabertooth]

Koran (9:5) "Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, capture and besiege them and prepare for them every kind of ambush."

Espcially the women and children.

[Theophilus]

Check this out: Nazis For Peace! - Why am I not surprised?

Sat Mar 29, 9:31 AM ET

Skinheads take part in an antiwar rally organized by the far-right NPD party in Hanau, Germany, Saturday, March 29, 2003, to protest against the U.S.-led war on Iraq (news - web sites). The poster reads: Terror is a master from America. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop)