Posted on 04/26/2003 6:02:45 PM PDT by miltonim
Cleric: Reject tyrant U.S.
A senior Sunni Muslim cleric urged Iraqis yesterday to reject the U.S. presence in their country and likened it to the "tyranny" of Saddam Hussain.
Sheikh Moayyad Ibrahim Al Aadhami also told scores of worshippers at the Abi Hanifah Nouman mosque in Baghdad that Sunnis and Shiites should shun sectarian divisions and live in harmony.
Although Sheikh Al Aadhami's sermon was milder than the fiery, anti-U.S. rhetoric of some previous homilies, his words reflected the anger many Iraqis feel at what they regard as the U.S. occupation of their country.
"Let's say no to America, no to the occupation. We won't replace one tyrant with another," Sheikh Al Aadhami said in a sermon marking Friday prayers.
"We want a people that enjoys security...We want a Muslim people, that has equal rights and duties, that groups Arabs, Kurds, and other minorities. We want a people not split by sectarianism, with Sunnis and Shiites standing hand in hand."
Thousand of Iraqis - Sunnis and Shiites alike - have staged anti-U.S. protests since the U.S.-led invasion, expressing the hope that the Americans will not force their will on the country.
A Reuters reporter said there was no sign of any major protests after the sermon but anti-American sentiment was still running high among many Iraqis at the Abi Hanifah mosque.
"We don't want America. We don't want its agents. Those were dogs barking from outside the border," said Abdel Jabar Khalaf, referring to the members of U.S.-backed Iraqi opposition groups who are now seeking a role in government.
"We all want to choose our own leaders democratically and through elections," said Khalid Jamil, another worshipper.
Outside the mosque, which was bombed during the war, Baghdad, residents of the capital's Aadhamiya area had strung up banners reading: "Pull out the tanks, don't provoke the people."
Many Iraqis are bitter at the United States for failing to prevent the anarchy and looting that followed the bombing of Baghdad, where armed gangs still roam free and essential services remain patchy.
Like many Iraqis, Baghdadi Sabe'i Abdel Rahim was sceptical of the U.S. promises. He also gave the Americans a stern warning of what to expect if they overstayed their welcome.
"The people of Baghdad did not fight. We can rule ourselves. We don't need the United States. If America stays here too long it will see how the real Iraqi people fight," he said.
Meanwhile, a member of Shiite clergy yesterday spelled out conditions for the future government and constitution of Iraq, saying the ruler should be a Muslim and the laws in line with Islam.
The conditions came in the sermon read at the Baghdad's largest Shiite mosque, in Qazimiya.
The speaker, Sheikh Moham-med Yacubi, said Iraq's most influential Shiite seminary in the holy city of Najaf, known as the Hawza, has agreed on those principles and will lobby for them in talks to form an interim government.
Major Shiite groups have thus far boycotted U.S.-led meetings to lay the groundwork for the future Iraqi government, saying they refused to participate in any U.S. occupation of the country. Another meeting is set for Monday.
Yacubi called for a demonstration in central Baghdad on the same day to support the Hawza as the legal representative of the Shiite community, which makes up a clear majority in Iraq.
"What's required is that the ruler should be a just Muslim, whether he is a member of the Hawza or not," Yacubi told a crowd of more than 10,000 worshippers in the courtyard of the mosque.
"And he should not take any decision that contradicts holy law. "The formation of a national, free and independent interim government should be accelerated. It should be agreed upon by a conference in which all the religious and ethnic groups are represented," he added.
He did not say when and where that conference will be held but said "the Hawza will dispatch a delegation made up of academics specialised in public administration" to voice its views.
The interim cabinet "will be tasked with restoring normal life, drafting a constitution that guarantees freedom, independence and human rights, and organising free elections to form a government and a parliament," he said.
To guarantee that the constitution is in line with Islam, "a committee of theologians of both the Sunnis and Shiites will supervise the drafting and reject any chapter that contradicts Islamic law," he said.
Wanna bet?
I'm sure the countless Iraqis who were terrorized, tortured and had friends and family members murdered by Saddam and his sick sons...will really consider the Americans who liberated them like the "tyranny" of Saddam Hussain.
Some of these Muslim clerics need their heads examined.
Well, you sure needed us to free you from Saddam, you ungrateful SOB!
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