(IRBIL, Iraq — The stage was set Friday for a major sectarian confrontation in Iraq after the government and the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric implored civilians to take up arms against Sunni militants — a move that would partially plug the ranks of the decimated security forces with religiously motivated volunteers.
Those developments appeared directly at odds with the approach urged by President Obama in Washington, who appealed to the Iraqi government to find way...s to bridge the country’s sectarian divisions.
After an offensive this week by the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) triggered a massive retreat by security forces in the north, the government turned to its citizenry for help, issuing a call for volunteers to join the battle. On Friday, that call was echoed in a message from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, delivered at prayers in the southern city of Karbala, a Shiite holy city.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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The Grand Ayatollah Alial-Sistani has called for an Islamist Sunni caliphate of Iraq.
I am not a Muslim; and to have a religious leader call for a violent caliphate (whatever caliphate means) is grotesque.
Even in the Caltholic Church, the presiding Pope is generally ignored on faith issues that are antiquated and silly.
If the Pope, with over a billion Church followers, were to call for a violent crusade against various Christian sects, he would be laughed out of the Vatican.
The blind following of a call by a Muslim Ayatollah for violence is stupid. The majority of Shiites and Sunnis have only a shadow knowledge of why they oppose each other. Ask them, and most of the those fighting would throw up their hands, and say the divide happened centuries ago, and all we really are sure of is that Muslim females must wear the vials and remain in the house.
The Iraqi PM Maliki (sp.?) is a Shiite and is a non-democratic autocrat. His Shiite sect religious leaders are also forcing him to exclude Sunnis from real power in Baghdad.
Saddam Hussein was a bad guy; a ruthless dictator who kept the lid on the sectarian divisions.
Bush 2, Cheney, Rummy , William Kristol, and the neo-con coterie in Bush 2's circle were all wrong when they invaded Iraq. The current turmoil in Iraq is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.
Those developments appeared directly at odds with the approach urged by President Obama in Washington, who appealed to the Iraqi government to find way...s to bridge the country’s sectarian divisions.
After an offensive this week by the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) triggered a massive retreat by security forces in the north, the government turned to its citizenry for help, issuing a call for volunteers to join the battle. On Friday, that call was echoed in a message from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, delivered at prayers in the southern city of Karbala, a Shiite holy city.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
=================
The Grand Ayatollah Alial-Sistani has called for an Islamist Sunni caliphate of Iraq.
I am not a Muslim; and to have a religious leader call for a violent caliphate (whatever caliphate means) is grotesque.
Even in the Caltholic Church, the presiding Pope is generally ignored on faith issues that are antiquated and silly.
If the Pope, with over a billion Church followers, were to call for a violent crusade against various Christian sects, he would be laughed out of the Vatican.
The blind following of a call by a Muslim Ayatollah for violence is stupid. The majority of Shiites and Sunnis have only a shadow knowledge of why they oppose each other. Ask them, and most of the those fighting would throw up their hands, and say the divide happened centuries ago, and all we really are sure of is that Muslim females must wear the vials and remain in the house.
The Iraqi PM Maliki (sp.?) is a Shiite and is a non-democratic autocrat. His Shiite sect religious leaders are also forcing him to exclude Sunnis from real power in Baghdad.
Saddam Hussein was a bad guy; a ruthless dictator who kept the lid on the sectarian divisions.
Bush 2, Cheney, Rummy , William Kristol, and the neo-con coterie in Bush 2's circle were all wrong when they invaded Iraq. The current turmoil in Iraq is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.
The blame game will be strong, with the Congressional GOP blaming Obama
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