[Marxism] FW: [snow-news] Sunni clerics nearly unanimous in encouraging Iraqi resistance

["David McDonald" <dbmcdonald@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From Mark Jensen of United for Peace of Pierce County

-----Original Message-----
From: jensenmk [mailto:jensenmk@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2004 12:05 AM
To: tacomapjh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [snow-news] Sunni clerics nearly unanimous in encouraging Iraqi
resistance


BACKGROUND: Sunni clerics virtually unanimous in encouraging Iraqis to
resist
U.S.

[Borzou Daragahi recently made the rounds of a number of Sunni clerics to
hear
what they're thinking about the Iraq resistance, and reported on his
conversations in Thursday's *Newark Star-Ledger*.  His conclusion:  "The
landscape they reveal couldn't be bleaker for U.S.-led forces trying to
quell
an insurgency that shows no signs of abating."  --  This story examines a
cultural-religious aspect of the situation in Iraq that was utterly and
completely ignored in the address given by Iyad Allawi to the U.S. Congress.
It is one that is given scant attention in U.S. journalism, yet it is at the
center of the impassioned analysis by "Anonymous" (Michael Scheuer of the
CIA)
entitled *Imperial Hubris*
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1574888498/002-1782136-257680
6?
v=glance) that is now on U.S. best-seller lists: namely, that the teachings
of
their clerics together with the actions of the U.S. government have
convinced
many Muslims that they are now under a religious obligation to wage a
defensive jihad to defend their religion, an obligation that exists that
they
are convinced exists for them independently of the call of any particular
leader.  --  Daragahi's piece confirms UFPPC's long-held view, articulated
in
its April 8 statement,
(http://ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=409) that the U.S.
can
no longer play a constructive role in Iraq and ought to admit the error (if
not the crime) of its invasion, begin a responsible withdrawal, while
convening the international community with the aim of achieving a transition
under the auspices of the United Nations.  This course of action would be
fraught with difficulty, but at this point so is every course of action, and
this approach, because it appeals both to the good opinion of humankind,
principles of respect, morality, and international law instead of
geostrategic
Realpolitik, is an approach with at least some prospect of alleviating the
fearsome guerrilla war that is now costing far too many lives in
Iraq. --Mark]

http://ufppc.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1424

SUNNI CLERICS RAMP UP CALLS FOR ARMED OPPOSITION
By Borzou Daragahi

Newark Star-Ledger
September 23, 2004

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1095915210218890.xml
or
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/daragahi092404.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- For Sheik Mohammad Ali Mohammad al-Ghereri, a Sunni Muslim
cleric, the question is no longer whether to tell his followers to fight the
Americans, but how to assure they wage war properly.

"The holy warriors should have a clerical leader with them to advise them on
all points, such as how to properly treat the Americans they capture," he
said
in his austere mosque in the capital's Zafarenieh district.

For fellow Sunni cleric Abdul Sattar Abdul-Jabbar, the issue is no longer
whether his followers should kidnap foreigners, but which ones.

"Isn't the trucker who brings supplies for the Americans and helps the
occupation also part of the occupation?" said Abdul-Jabbar, a member of the
Association of Muslim Scholars, the country's largest Sunni religious
grouping.  "I think so."

--clip--



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