Seeker Blog

So far it appears the Shrine bombing is not working out the way Al-Qaeda planned. E.g., here is another translation by Iraqi-American Haider Ajina - this time of news published by the Iraqi Arabic newspaper Al-Raa’I on February 26th:

Many Iraqi cities witnessed large demonstrations after Friday prayers (yesterday). These demonstrations were calling for national unity, not being pulled into civil war after attacks on Sunni mosques as retaliation to the bombing of the samara Shiite shrine.

In Mousul 500 people demonstrated in Bartila (north west of the city). The demonstrations were lead by Sunni & Shiite leaders to condemn all bombings and call for a unified line and not be pulled into a sectarian war. Another demonstration started from the offices of the high council for Islamic revolution (Shiite). The demonstration was lead by Sunni and Shiite religious leaders. Banners condemned attacks on mosques, shrines and churches the banners also condemned terror also no to Saddam yes to Islam.

In Hillah over 3000 demonstrated after Friday’s united prayers (Shiite & Muslim together) at the Haytaween mosque. The united prayers were lead by Sheik Mohamed Alfateh (Sunni) and Sheik Jasim Alkalebi (Shiite). The two speakers called for Muslim unity and denounced all terror activity as unIslamic and asked for keeping unity.

In Al-Koot hundreds demonstrated after Friday prayers protesting the bombing of the samara shrine and the attacks on the Sunni mosques. Unified Friday prayers in Al-Koot were held at the large central mosque in the city. Speakers at the prayers call for rejecting sectarianism.

In Amarah over 15,000 demonstrated after Friday prayers condemning the samara bombing and attacks on Sunni mosques. Banners read, Sunnis & Shiites are like Hassan & Hussein (referring to two grand children of the profit Mohamed), banners also read that Muslim references (Shiite religious leaders) condemn terrorism in all its forms.

In Karbala Sheik Abdulmehdi Alkarblaa’i (representative of Sustain) in his Friday after prayers speech at the Hussein Shrine called for peaceful and brotherly coexistence, condemned violence and called for national unity. He added; “We know the nature of this crime and the ones before it, we also know these crimes are not of Sunni doings, but they are the deeds of the enemies of Sunnis & Shiites”.

In Basra over 10,000 demonstrated with banners asking to form the new government as quickly as possible.

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the Al-Raa’l report. Iraq the Model (from Baghdad 27 February) reports that while Baghdad is getting back to normal,

Life is coming back to normal in Baghdad and marketplaces and offices are open again after being shut for 4 days. Although there were a few security incidents today people are mostly looking at these as part of the usual daily situation and not related to the latest shrine crisis.

Mohammed believes that the initial anti-Sunni activity was a consequence of Ayatollah Sistani’s fatwa. I’ve not seen this perspective elsewhere - and have no way of knowing if it is accurate:

As a person who lives in Baghdad I’ve been following the situation from the early hours after the attack; on Wednesday morning I was on my way to work when I heard the news on the radio and I began watching closely to probe the feelings of the common people. People were at work as they always are, clerks behind their desks, grocers looking after their goods and municipal workers picking trash from the streets and I haven’t noticed any unusual feelings among the people I came in contact with. In general life was normal until noon in the Shia majority district of Baghdad and there were absolutely no signs of a crisis of any sort. But on my way home I saw the men in black take to the streets after Ayatollah Sistani issued his fatwa (I wish my Shia brothers bear with me and read to the end).

Ayatollah Sistani issued a fatwa on Wednesday that sounded peaceful and normal from the first look but if you look closer at each word you will find that the “safety valve” became the igniter this time.

Two years ago the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf was attacked and although this is the holiest shrine for Shia Muslims the incident wasn’t met with that much angry reactions instead we heard soothing statements like “these are mere stones and we can rebuild them and make them even better than before”.

This time things were different because the political situation is different; the Ayatollah called for nationwide protests (and not to attack Sunni mosques) and a week of mourning. Now let’s examine the part that said “do not attack Sunni mosques”…the sentence openly accuses the Sunni of being behind the attack or why would their mosques be mentioned in the first place?

In the government statements the term “Takfiri terrorists/Saddami Ba’athists” is the one commonly used but in the Ayatollah’s fatwa this was replaced by “Sunni”.

This fatwa which is sugar-coated with tolerance and restraint is actually pointing at the perpetrator that we-should-not-punish-because-we-are-merciful.

So…the protests were not spontaneous like clerics want us to think; in fact the only spontaneous protest was the one in Samarra itself!

I live here and I’ve seen the whole thing. The demonstrations in Baghdad began after the fatwa and I saw how shop keepers unwillingly closed their shops when the men in black with their arms and loudspeakers ordered them to do so “in the name of the Hawza” and I saw the sad look on the faces of people abandoning their only source of income for a time that could go indefinitely.

Mohammed gives high marks to the Iraqi Army, and poor marks to the Interior Ministry forces.

Although the Iraqi Army (or National Guard) is often targeted by insurgent attacks, it should be mentioned that most Iraqis tend to have higher trust in them, compared to the notorious Interior Ministry forces (Maghaweer Al-Dakhiliya). The Interior Ministry forces were formed early last year as special forces or commando units to backup regular army units. The earliest unit was the renowned Wolf Brigade, trained by US forces and comprised of elite members of the former Iraqi special forces. It operated in Sunni governorates and helped restore order in Mosul.

Zeyad of Healing Iraq offers a similar appraisal of Army/Interior Ministry, then supplies a history of the Interior Ministry forces:

Although the Iraqi Army (or National Guard) is often targeted by insurgent attacks, it should be mentioned that most Iraqis tend to have higher trust in them, compared to the notorious Interior Ministry forces (Maghaweer Al-Dakhiliya). The Interior Ministry forces were formed early last year as special forces or commando units to backup regular army units. The earliest unit was the renowned Wolf Brigade, trained by US forces and comprised of elite members of the former Iraqi special forces. It operated in Sunni governorates and helped restore order in Mosul.

Following Baqir Solagh’s (SCIRI) appointment as Interior Minister, he started forming his own units, the Scorpion Brigade, the Public Order Brigade, the Al-Karrar Brigade, and the Al-Hussein Brigade. These units were explicitly named after Shi’ite religious symbols, and are thought to be entirely composed of former members of Badr brigade (SCIRI’s armed wing). Solagh started a purge in his ministry around July, 2005, disposing of several Sunni officers -whom he labelled as ex-Ba’athists- and replaced them with high ranked officers of unkown origins. General Muntadher Al-Samarra’i, one of the purged officers, defected to Jordan and started disclosing secret documents proving the existence of death and torture squads inside the ministry. He uncovered a campaign of assassinations by the ministry against former Iraqi air force pilots, who took part in the Iraq-Iran war, as well as orders to assassinate several Iraqi academics, political and religious figures. Solagh strongly denied these allegations and pointed out that the assassinations and kidnappings were carried out by insurgents in stolen police uniforms and vehicles. When the Jadriya prison scandal was uncovered, he proposed that Ba’athist elements that had infiltrated his ministry were behind the torture and extrajudicial executions.

RTWT.