Ally_Kat
06-28-2004, 01:11 AM
Shi'ites denounce al-Qa'ida terror
From AFP
28jun04
KEY Iraqi anti-US leaders have expressed unease at the mounting insurgency in the country and denounced as infidels al-Qa'ida's top leaders.
The country's leading Shi'ite, Ali al-Sistani condemned the wave of attacks orchestrated by Jordanian terrorist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi that has claimed the lives of 100 Iraqis a day.
In Karbala, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Sistani on Friday denounced the terror attacks and slammed Al-Qa'ida's top leaders.
"Zarqawi, Zawahiri and bin Laden are filthy infidels who nurture malignance against Imam Ali and his sons," he said.
The militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr sought to prove it served the national interest as it laid down its weapons and backed the country's interim government in the run-up to Iraqi self-rule on Wednesday.
"There will not be a transfer of power to the Iraqi authorities," Sheikh Aws al-Khafaji said at Friday prayers in the Baghdad Shi'ite slum of Sadr City.
"But so the Americans cannot say the Mehdi Army has prevented the transfer of power, we will follow the Marjaiya's (senior Shiite cleric's) orders and see what they (the Americans) truly do."
On Sadr's behalf Sheikh Khafaji also denounced the beheading of American hostage Paul Johnson by Islamists in Saudi Arabia, saying the execution had cast a slur on Islam's reputation.
However, he also blamed the "wrong policy" of US President George W. Bush for the execution, which brought condemnation from around the world after pictures of Johnson's corpse were posted on Islamist websites.
"The beheading of an American hostage happened as a result of the wrong policy of the United States," Sheikh Khafaji said.
"As to the kidnappers, I say you were so hasty in beheading the captive. It would have been better to postpone the execution. By beheading the hostage you inflicted harm on Islam's reputation and caused troubles for Muslims living abroad.
"Anyhow, we denounce that ugly picture regardless of it being done against the Americans or those who committed the crime."
Sadr's militia waged a fierce rebellion against US-led forces for two months before agreeing to a truce in the first week of June.
linkie (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9973884%255E2703,00.html)
From AFP
28jun04
KEY Iraqi anti-US leaders have expressed unease at the mounting insurgency in the country and denounced as infidels al-Qa'ida's top leaders.
The country's leading Shi'ite, Ali al-Sistani condemned the wave of attacks orchestrated by Jordanian terrorist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi that has claimed the lives of 100 Iraqis a day.
In Karbala, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Sistani on Friday denounced the terror attacks and slammed Al-Qa'ida's top leaders.
"Zarqawi, Zawahiri and bin Laden are filthy infidels who nurture malignance against Imam Ali and his sons," he said.
The militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr sought to prove it served the national interest as it laid down its weapons and backed the country's interim government in the run-up to Iraqi self-rule on Wednesday.
"There will not be a transfer of power to the Iraqi authorities," Sheikh Aws al-Khafaji said at Friday prayers in the Baghdad Shi'ite slum of Sadr City.
"But so the Americans cannot say the Mehdi Army has prevented the transfer of power, we will follow the Marjaiya's (senior Shiite cleric's) orders and see what they (the Americans) truly do."
On Sadr's behalf Sheikh Khafaji also denounced the beheading of American hostage Paul Johnson by Islamists in Saudi Arabia, saying the execution had cast a slur on Islam's reputation.
However, he also blamed the "wrong policy" of US President George W. Bush for the execution, which brought condemnation from around the world after pictures of Johnson's corpse were posted on Islamist websites.
"The beheading of an American hostage happened as a result of the wrong policy of the United States," Sheikh Khafaji said.
"As to the kidnappers, I say you were so hasty in beheading the captive. It would have been better to postpone the execution. By beheading the hostage you inflicted harm on Islam's reputation and caused troubles for Muslims living abroad.
"Anyhow, we denounce that ugly picture regardless of it being done against the Americans or those who committed the crime."
Sadr's militia waged a fierce rebellion against US-led forces for two months before agreeing to a truce in the first week of June.
linkie (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9973884%255E2703,00.html)