Iraqi Civil War Escalates after Shi’ite Shrine Bombed

The neo-con artists who have misguided American policy in Iraq for the last five years have been fairly successful in convincing the press and public to avoid calling the violence in Iraq a civil war. This journal first used the term “civil war” with regard to Iraq in September 2003. Perhaps that was premature, but after the 130 deaths that followed the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, no one can deny that Iraq has a civil war on its hands.

The Golden Mosque is one of the holiest sites in Shi’ite Islam, and even non-Shi’ites revere the spot. Also called the al-Askari Mosque, Imam Ali al-Naqi (10th Imam) and his son Imam Hasan al-Askari (11th Imam) are buried under its golden dome. In the early hours of Wednesday, a bomb inflicted significant damage to the building – even “infidels” can see sacrilege in this act, which authorities are blaming on Al Qaeda. Regardless of who did it, it was a crime against everyone, Muslim or not.

The provocation worked, as enraged Shi’ites attacked dozens of Sunni mosques. The body count is inexact, but a partial list shows that 47 factory workers were found dead in Baghdad, three al Arabiya journalists were shot to death, 16 people were blown up in Baquba, and six corpses turned up in Dora believed to be Sunni. The Sunni Muslim Clerics Association accused Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shi’ite in Iraq, of fomenting the violence.

The Grand Ayatollah, unlike his previously calm and measured self, said, “The Iraqi government is asked today to fulfill its responsibility to prevent attacks against holy shrines. If its security forces are not able to secure these sites, then the believers are capable to do so with the help of Allah.” In other words, if the government can’t deal with this, the government is out of office on his say-so.

This has complicated negotiations to create a unity government [Editor’s Note: Surely, there must be an opposition in any democracy. Why not in Iraq?]. The Sunni party Accord Front won 44 of the 275 seats in the new parliament, and it has withdrawn from talks about forming a government with the Shi’ite and Kurdish parties. Now, curfew runs from 8 pm to 6 am rather than 11 pm to 5 am, and all leave for Iraqi military and police personnel has been canceled. Unfortunately, they are too few to fix things.

The Danish flag appears here as a protest against the violence being done to the free press of that country and elsewhere by those offended by some cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed, peace be unto him. A perceived insult is not an excuse for intimidation and violence, even in the name of the Creator. One cannot insult God, only small-minded men who falsely claim to speak for Him. © Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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