Gunmen Kill Two Aides to Iraq's Ayatollah Sistani

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050113/ts_nm/iraq_sistani_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed two aides to Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq (news - web sites)'s highest Shi'ite authority and a key supporter of the Jan. 30 elections, a senior official working with him said on Thursday.



Cleric Mahmoud al-Madaen was killed on Wednesday in Salman Pak, south of Baghdad, along with his son and four guards. Another aide working on legal issues in Sistani's office in the holy city of Najaf was also found dead.


Iraqi officials have accused Sunni Islamist militants of trying to provoke a civil war by killing prominent Shi'ites. Sistani has appealed for restraint by Shi'ites, saying acts of revenge would destroy the country.

just a couple of weeks after we read about plans for a shift over to paid El Salvador type death squads.

Reading the story, blame is already assigned. Of course it must be the Sunnis (who know so well about power in numbers, and the harsh reality of occupation after their former glory days).

Great time to jump start a civil war. How will the Shi-ite community react?

This is not good.


BTW, Go Pats!

there's been an increase in violence in the southern Shiite areas. In Basra recently, the US and British consulates were attacked, a car bomb hit a police station and the Interior Ministry was attacked. The Japanese base in southern Iraq was attacked and other car bombings have occurred in Najaf and Karbala. All is not well in the area of Iraq the US declares is a "model" for the "new Iraq". I think lots of Shiites are getting tired of Sistani's virtual collaboration with American and its puppet regime.

robert fisk writes ..

So, "full ahead both" for the dreaded 30 January elections and democracy. The American generals--with a unique mixture of mendacity and hope amid the insurgency--are now saying that only four of Iraq's 18 provinces may not be able to "fully" participate in the elections.

Good news. Until you sit down with the population statistics and realise--as the generals all know--that those four provinces contain more than half of the population of Iraq.

http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk01122005.html

more signs of the glorious success of the illegal invasion and occupation!

It seems clear somebody feels he is a collaborator.