Iraq Cleric's Aide Urges End to Political Crisis

BAGHDAD — A top aide to Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader on Friday urged the country's fractious political blocs to solve a crisis over a key election law that threatens to delay national polls planned for January.

Sheik Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in the holy city of Karbala, told worshippers during his regular Friday sermon that failure to break the deadlock could lead to a "constitutional vacuum" that would create "great dangers for Iraq."

"I call upon all brothers in the political blocs to reach a reasonable solution so that elections can take place on time and avoid these consequences and dangers," al Karbalaie said.

Parliament is to vote Saturday on how to resolve the crisis triggered by Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi's veto of the legislation earlier this week. Al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, wants more seats allocated for Iraqis living abroad, many of whom are Sunni.

Lawmakers spent weeks wrangling over the long-delayed bill before finally passing it on Nov. 8, much to the relief of Iraqi leaders and the United States.

But the veto threw into question whether the vote can be held by the end of January, as mandated in Iraq's constitution.

While al-Sistani's words carry great weight with his fellow Shiites — most of whom support the election law — they hold no power over those who have objected to the election legislation — al-Hashemi and other Sunni Arab politicians, as well as Iraq's Kurds.

Earlier this week, Kurdish leaders threatened to boycott the elections unless the three provinces they control in northern Iraq are guaranteed more seats in the next parliament, which will expand from the current 275 seats to 323.

Lawmakers plan to vote on two options: sending the same election law back to the three-member presidency council, where it is likely to be vetoed again, or amending the law to address al-Hashemi's concerns. If the legislation is vetoed a second time, parliament can override it with a three-fifths majority.

Washington has tied the pace of a major troop drawdown to the elections. So far, U.S. military commanders say their timetable for withdrawing all combat troops by the end of August 2010 are still on track.

FoxNews

Iran's Grand Design for Iraq

By Amir Taheri

The mausoleum of Hussein Ibn Ali, the third Imam of Shiism, in Karbala will soon have a new gate. It took dozens of Iranian artisans several years to make the gate that, according to experts, is a masterpiece of Persian handicraft.

At first glance, there is nothing remarkable in that news item carried by Iranian media last week. After all, the mausoleum, like other Shiite places of pilgrimage in Iraq, was built by Iranians and maintained by their donations for centuries.

What is remarkable is that the Iran's state-owned media have chosen to present the report in the section devoted to "domestic news." The official news agency, IRNA, carried the item in its section of "news from the provinces."

Karbala, however, is located in Iraq, a country that, although a neighbor of Iran, has been an independent state for almost 90 years.

It is clear that many within Iran's ruling elite have difficulty acknowledging that fact. To them, concepts like national sovereignty have little meaning.

Official mullahs, such as Ahmad Khatami, a preacher at the Friday prayers at Tehran University, pretend to have never heard the word "Iraq." To them, Iraq is either "Bayn al-Nahrayn" (Mesopotamia) or "Atabat al-Aliyat" (The Holy shrines). Apparently, even the war that lasted eight years and left a million dead has not convinced them that Iraq is a sovereign state.

Dominating Iraq has been an ambition of Iranian elites since the Ottomans drove Persia out in 1797, after the death of Karim Khan Zand.

After the First World War and the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, the Shiite clergy tried to persuade the Qajar Shah in Tehran to annex the "holy" cities of Iraq. However, the Qajars, on their way to the graveyard of history, were in no position to dream of conquest.

Once it became clear that Iraq would become independent with British support, the clergy decided to boycott the process and kept Iraqi Shiites on the sidelines.

By the 1940s, the Iranian elite had more or less accepted independent Iraq as a fact.

In the 1950s, an attempt to link the two countries through royal marriage, however, failed, when the Shah's daughter, Princess Shahnaz, and Iraq's King Faisal failed to develop enough chemistry for the plot to proceed.

Read more,,,

Source: Asharq Alawsat

Dozens killed as Iraq says al-Qaeda boss captured

By Salam Faraj | April 23

AT least 70 people were killed in two bloody suicide bomb attacks in Iraq today as the military announced the capture of the al-Qaeda chief in Iraq.

In the deadliest strike, at least 45 people, including several Iranian pilgrims, were killed when a suicide bomber struck a restaurant in a town northeast of Baghdad, a military official said.

Another 28 people, including children, were killed in a suicide attack on a police patrol in southeastern Baghdad, defence and interior ministry officials said.

The bloodshed was unleashed as the Iraq military announced the arrest of one of the country's most wanted men, the head of the Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda which calls itself the Islamic State of Iraq.

"Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was arrested today in Baghdad," Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qasim Atta said.

"It was Iraqi forces who arrested him based on an intelligence tipoff from someone," he added.

Security has improved dramatically in Iraq over the past two years as local and US forces crack down on al-Qaeda fighters, but attacks targeting security forces are still common in some parts of the country, including the capital.

At least 45 people were killed on when a suicide bomber struck a restaurant in a town near the restive city of Baquba, a military official said.

The official said another 55 people were wounded in the attack on the restaurant, which was packed with Iranian pilgrims on their way to the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala south of Baghdad.

The attack took place in the town of Muqdadiyah northeast of Baquba, the capital of the ethnically and religiously mixed Diyala province, which still sees sporadic attacks despite security improvements elsewhere in Iraq.

In southeastern Baghdad, another 28 people were killed in the attack on a police patrol in the mixed district of Al-Riyadh, officials said.

"Iraqi police were distributing aid to displaced families when a suicide bomber blew himself up," an interior ministry official said. "At least 10 police and five children are among 28 dead."

Fifty-two people were also wounded in the blast, defence and interior ministry officials said.

A second interior ministry source said the suicide bomber was a woman but this could not immediately be confirmed.

Source: The Australian

Baghdad bomb kills 6

Sunday August 17, 2008

Bombers struck Shi'ite pilgrims on Saturday for a third straight day, killing six people in the Iraqi capital in the latest in a series of attacks apparently aimed at stoking sectarian tension. The attacks targeted pilgrims headed for the Shiite city of Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of people have gathered for festivities that culminate Sunday morning. No group has claimed responsibility, but assaults on Shiite civilians have been carried out for years by Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq. The latest attack occurred about 9 a.m. Saturday when a car bomb exploded in the north Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab as pilgrims were boarding minibuses bound for Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the south. On Friday, a passenger van packed with explosives blew up at a bus station in Balad, north of Baghdad. The Balad hospital director, Qassim Hatamal-Qaisi, said nine people were killed and 40 were wounded. A female suicide bomber killed 18 pilgrims resting by the side of a road Thursday in Latifiyah, 30 kilometres south of the capital. The attacks have heightened concern that extremists are seeking to, re-ignite the firestorm of sectarian massacres that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war two years ago before thousands of American reinforcements were rushed to the country. But the violence did little to deter the throngs of Shiite pilgrims who descended on Karbala for the festival, known as Shabaniyah, which marks the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi - known as the 'Hidden Iman' - a Shiite saint who disappeared in the ninth century.

Source: SkyNews

Muslims Against Sharia unequivocally condemn Baghdad bombing.
Our thoughts and prayers with the victims and their families.
May the perpetrators of these atrocities be caught swiftly and sent to hell, where they belong.

Female suicide bomber kills 18 Iraqi pilgrims

BAGHDAD, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- A female suicide bomber on Thursday killed at least 18 Shiite pilgrims on their way to the holy city of Karbala, an Iraqi police source said.

The attack, near the town of Iskandariya, some 60 km south of Baghdad, also wounded 75 people, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Thousands of pilgrims were traveling to the holy city of Karbala, about 110 km south of the capital, to commemorate the birth in the 9th century of the Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi, last of 12most revered Shiites Imams.

The suicide blast was the most critical after three female attackers killed more than 24 and injured over 62 on July 28 during a Shiite pilgrimage gathering in Baghdad.

Violence has dramatically dropped in Iraq, the U.S. military said, hitting a four-year low.

But sporadic suicide or car bombing attacks are still haunting the Iraqis and creating remarkable casualties.

Meanwhile, suicide explosions staged by women have increased as they are less subject to check and suspicion.

Source: www.chinaview.cn

Suicide bomber kills at least 39 in Karbala

Dozens wounded in attack near mosque as worshippers gathered at cafe

Iraqis remove some of the dead and wounded after a suicide bombing Monday in Karbala.

BAGHDAD - A female suicide bomber blew herself up Monday amid a group of Shiite worshippers near a mosque in Karbala, killing at least 39 people and wounding 54, officials said.

The worshippers were gathered at a cafe about a half mile from the Imam Hussein shrine, one of the holiest sites for Shiites.

"I was talking with a friend and eating bread a few meters away from the cafe and I suddenly heard a huge explosion and I was thrown to the floor. I saw smoke and bodies," said Mohammed Kadhem. Read more ...

Source: MSNBC

Muslims Against Sharia condemn the murderers responsible for the homicide bombing in Karbala.

Our prayers are with the victims of this atrocity. We send our condolences to their loved ones.

May the homicide bomber rot in hell for eternity. May her accomplices join her soon!