al Qaida assassinates Shi'ite Ayatollah

[Ned]

I'm surprised there is no thread on this yet. But it appears that al Qaida is behind the assassination of the Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. Al Qaida is an organization composed of extremist Wahhabi's, enemies of Shi'ites.

I wonder what the Shi'ites will do in response?

I wonder what we will do?

"NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - Police have arrested 19 men - many of them foreigners and all with admitted links to al-Qaida - in the car bombing of the Imam Ali shrine in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, a senior Iraqi investigator told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Two Iraqis and two Saudis grabbed shortly after the Friday attack gave information leading to the arrest of the others, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. They include two Kuwaitis and six Palestinians with Jordanian passports with the remainder Iraqis and Saudis, the official said, without giving a breakdown.

Initial information shows the foreigners entered Iraq from Kuwait, Syria and Jordan, the official said, adding that they belong to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam."

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030831/D7T8MHHO0.html

[BeBMan]

Was this the guy GePap made a thread about?

[BeBMan]

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=95762

[Ned]

Bebro, yeak it is the same guy. However, the massive al Qaida and Wahhabi connection is new. I haven't heard how the Shi'ites are responding to the news that their old enemy has attacked them. I can imagine the response - war - war against Saudi Arabia. Something that some of us predicted before we invaded Iraq.

[BeBMan]

I doubt that the US is going into a new war soon, since you still have to do with the consequences of the Iraq thingie.

[:) Smiley]

Saudi Arabia's grace period with the USA is ending though... when Iraq becomes a reliable US gas station in about ten years or so, there will be no reason for the USA to prop up Saudi Arabia.

What are the major ideological differences between Sunni and Shiite Islam? Is it somewhat like the different branches of Christianity?

[Ned]

To the Shi'ites of Iraq and probably the world, this attack is as serious as the attack on the US on 9/11. Both attacks were by al Qaida. One would think that the Shi'ites would eagerly join with us in the world's war on al Qaida. But will they? How does this fit with the Iranians view, for example, that the US is the Great Satan? How can they now switch sides and join with us to battle Osama bin Laden and al Qaida?

Further, how is the Sunni Arab Media going to handle this? They have been particularly pro al Qaida. Will they now change their tune?

The next few days are going to be very interesting.

[germanos]

I get the feeling al-Qaeda is being used to find a scapegoat: nothing works better to rally people behind a single goal/nation/leader than a foreign enemy.

There is no doubt that Iraq is a patchwork of ethnicities, tribes, clans, religious factions, factions within factions etc.

I recently read an interesting article one week ago (in Dutch ) that the shia community in Iraq, and indeed worldwide, is not a single entity, to say the least, and there was bound to be a powerstruggle taking place, as it was allready brewing underneath the surface.


One should be very carefull not to put blame on al-Qaeda at an instant, since it may well obscure ones view on the situation.

Al-Qaeda being the culprit here sounds way to convenient. The fact that some Saudi's and /or Palestinians being arrested sounds more like Xenophobia.

[Dinner]

Four people were caught right after the bomb blast. Two of them were ex-members of Saddam's regime and two of them were from Saudi Arabia. The two from Saudi Arabia confessed to being in Al Qaeda and spouted off a bunch of pro-OBL slogans.

Check the BBC and CNN they both are carrying this story.

[HershOstropoler]

"the shia community in Iraq, and indeed worldwide, is not a single entity, to say the least,"

Yes, they're as much a single entity as American Protestants are.

[Dinner]

Heck, why do you have to include the world American? The same is true for all Protestant groups world wide. There is no reason to single out the US.

[Chemical Ollie]

Being arrested is not the same thing as being guilty. So far, they are just suspects.

[Dinner]

Suspects who have confessed to the crime though.

[HershOstropoler]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Heck, why do you have to include the world American? The same is true for all Protestant groups world wide. There is no reason to single out the US.

My are we touchy. How is this a negative? I don't like centralised creeds like the catholic one.

American Portestants are extremely fractured, are they not? I don't think the same is true to this extent for say Britain, not to mention Scandinavia.

[Dinner]

Yes, there are many different Protestant groups in the US, but places like Canada, Australia or even Germany also have alot of Protestants which are also fractured.