Latest

Lobby

Search

Options

Help

Login

Iraq's Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani tells US to stay out of Najaf-sources

Printer-friendly format

Email this thread to a friend

Bookmark this thread

This topic is archived.

Home » Discuss » Latest Breaking News

NNN0LHI

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:17 AM
Original message

Iraq's Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani tells US to stay out of Najaf-sources

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/OWE552013.htm

BAGHDAD, April 15 (Reuters) - Iraq's leading Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has warned the United States against entering the holy city of Najaf in pursuit of Moqtada al-Sadr, Shi'ite religious and political sources said on Thursday.

"The Ayatollah has told the Shi'ite Iraqi Governing Council members to inform the Americans that Najaf is a red line," a senior source told Reuters.

Sistani, a political rival of rebel cleric Sadr, has issued statements in the past urging respect for law and order and the sanctity of Iraq's holy places, but he has refrained from commenting directly on the Shi'ite uprising by Sadr's militiamen.

Another senior source in Najaf said Sistani did not want to compromise his religious authority by appearing to engage in temporal details, such how to deal with Sadr, but that he had privately made clear his strong opposition to U.S. troops in Najaf.

more

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

AussieInCA

(510 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:19 AM
Response to Original message

1. how dare he draw the line!!!!!! bring in the MOAB

<sorry had a freeper out of body experience for a moment there> lol

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

markses

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:21 AM
Response to Original message

2. Moqtadr al-Sadr played this perfectly

He turned his agency over to Sistani, knowing, of course, that Sistani could not sit by and say nothing as the US threatens to enter the Shi'a learning center and holy site.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

gulfcoastliberal

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:24 AM
Response to Reply #2

3. If That's True We're Done For

Supposedly the neo-cons have been courting Sistani and grooming him for something to stay on his good side. Once he calls for the infidels to be cast out, it's over.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

daa

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:31 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. Don't worry - God told shrub to do it nt

Edited on Thu Apr-15-04 10:31 AM by daa

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

NNN0LHI

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:39 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. This guy remembers what consorting with the neo-cons got Saddam

Edited on Thu Apr-15-04 10:46 AM by NNN0LHI

He is never going to fall for that. Wonder how Bush explains how we have thousands of casualties, blew hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, lost the oil, and he is going to have to turn Iraq over to an Iraqi Ayatollah? They are going to have to really do some heavy duty spinning on that one. Man, oh man.

Don

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

saigon68

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:43 AM
Response to Reply #5

6. So Right Don--- Another Ayatollah

Tell the Gold Star Mothers their children died so Shrub could install another Ayatollah. It is inevitable.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Dhalgren

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:52 AM
Response to Reply #6

8. The basic demographics told anyone willing to look

Edited on Thu Apr-15-04 10:55 AM by Dhalgren

that the Shi'ites were going to control post-Saddam Iraq. The idea that the neocons didn't "get" that is staggering.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

saigon68

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 12:24 PM
Response to Reply #8

16. I agree--- but they don't intend to allow democratic elections

That talk is meant for a few rubes hiding under rocks

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

sidpleasant

(376 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:49 AM
Response to Reply #5

7. Not "an Iraqi Ayatollah"

Sistani's an Iranian, a fact that Sadr occaisonally points out. That nationality will play even worse with Shrub's base.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

0007

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 11:29 AM
Response to Reply #7

13. The Requiem is just begininning - per George Frideric Handel

"Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani has swiftly become one of Iraq's most important figures with his opposition to the U.S. blueprint for transferring power to the Iraqis by July 1. He has drawn tens of thousands of supporters out to protest the American plans, and they obey just as quickly when he asks that they stay home.

"The silver-bearded al-Sistani, 75, disapproves of Iranian-style clerical rule. He left Iran to come to Najaf as a young seminary student more than 50 years ago and rose to prominence in post-Saddam Iraq when he issued a religious edict in June demanding that only delegates chosen in an election be allowed to draft a new Iraqi constitution.

snip....

http://home.cogeco.ca/~kurdistan1/1-2-04-sistani-iranian-citizenship.htm

General Kermit Frog Demwitt, just said `Oh Shit!!

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

AussieInCA

(510 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 10:56 AM
Response to Reply #3

9. Sadr May go into temporary exile in Iran

"Muqtada Agrees to Dissolve Militia, May go into temporary exile in Iran"

from www.juancole.com

az-Zaman reports that Muqtada al-Sadr has accepted a solution of the problems between him and the Coalition on the basis of a deal. It would provide for the senior ayatollahs to issue a ruling or fatwa dissolving the Army of the Mahdi, Muqtada's militia. Muqtada surrender to the grand ayatollahs and agree to have Abdul Karim al-Unzi (an official of the Da`wa Party) negotiate for him with the Americans, in the name of the top religious leaders. Muqtada would accept the outcome of those negotiations without condition. Iran would offer him temporary asylum, until June 30 and the formation of a sovereign Iraqi government, at which time he could report to Najaf for his trial. In return, the US would withdraw its forces from the environs of Najaf

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

mmm

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 11:12 AM
Response to Reply #9

12. that is an interesting development

I wonder if it is too late.
At any rate, Bush ain't pulling out and when nothing
changes for the better after June 30, look for Jihad
at a theatre near you.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

progressivebydesign

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #12

15. June 30th is a re-election timed date.. nothing more.

1) Just in time for that rat-bastard Bush to use it as a July 4th photo op, re-election them.
2) Gives him a few weeks before he heads off to Crawford for his month-long vacation, without looking like he's abandoning things.

The whole June 30th thing is so insidious! Think about it.. nothing will change, our troops are still there, it's like the hideous "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" photo op gone awry. He wants to wash his hands of it, now that all hell is breaking loose. Their thinking is that once we hand it off, even though all our troops are still there, fighting and dying, that the media will not be reporting it so heavily.. because we've declared the war to be over (again). It's like ending the war and keeping an occuppying force there. Vietnam, really.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bpilgrim

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 11:01 AM
Response to Reply #2

10. seems like the neoCONs and bin laden had the same plan after all

destabelize the ME.

this must be making lots of rulers nervous in the ME... bush probably thinks he will get another 'libya' or 2 after we shows how resolute he is in bombing INNOCENTS and and houses of worship.

his buddies the saudis must be ringing his pop constantly saying WTF is up?

peace

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Devils Advocate NZ

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 12:10 PM
Response to Reply #10

14. When have the neoCONs and Bin Ladin NOT had the same plan?

If you look at everything Al Qaeda has done, it has ALWAYS been advantageous to the Bush Cabal, even back in Clinton's day.

We all know where "Al Qaeda" came from, and which organisation created and supported it (their HQ is called The George Bush Center for Intelligence). We even know that when Hussein invaded Kuwait, Bin Ladin offered to set "Al Qaeda" on him, but then he changed his mind just in time for the US to get involved.

I tell you, Bin Ladin's "Al Qaeda" has been one of the BEST CIA assets EVER.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bpilgrim

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 12:34 PM
Response to Reply #14

17. good point...

no one can deny that this shadowy villian "Al Qaeda" is of our own creation why should we suprised it has the same goals and knows how to exploit them.

:hi:

peace

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

mmm

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 11:07 AM
Response to Reply #2

11. I think Sistani has been hoping the US would come around

He is a wise and learned man, no doubt of that.
He has advocated a just peace and counseled for restraint, time and again.
He is a great and caring leader who has offered a fair and reasonable
ultimatum: the lynch pin, perhaps the final opportunity to
turn this ship around. I wonder what will happen when he is forced into declaring righteous Jihad.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

bpilgrim

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Apr-15-04 12:37 PM
Response to Reply #11

18. if that happens

all hell will break loose and a great manf folks will die and it probably wont be contained to the ME for long.

peace

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Tue Apr 30th 2024, 11:49 AM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Home » Discuss » Latest Breaking News

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home | Discussion Forums | Journals | Store | Donate

About DU | Contact Us | Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC