[Marxism] Fwd: Iraq's Sadr Calls for Calm, Foreign Troop Pullout.

[Michael Sims <mjsbpmagen-mxmail@xxxxxxxx>]

-------- Original Message --------
Al Jazeerah

http://www.aljazeerah.info/



Iraq's Sadr Calls for Calm, Foreign Troop Pullout

Sun Feb 20, 2005 3:14 PM ET

DUBAI (Reuters) -

Iraqi Shi'i cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for calm on Sunday following
suicide bombings on Shi'i Muslims and said the first priority after last
month's elections should be for occupation forces to leave.

Sadr, who led two bloody uprisings against U.S.-led troops in April and
August, also told Arab satellite television Al Jazeera that he would not
take part in Iraq's political process as long as U.S.-led forces remained.

Suicide bombings on Friday and Saturday killed at least 50 while Shi'i
Muslims were marking Ashoura, the most important day in their religious
calendar.

"I ask all parties to show patience and not to be dragged into the plots of
the West which aim to destabilize the country and justify the presence of
the occupation," Sadr said.

"Any attack on any Iraqi group is an attack on all Iraqis ... and it is
wrong for a Muslim to kill a Muslim."

The Shi'i cleric, who has repeatedly condemned the ballot being held under
occupation, said that if a new Iraqi government did not ask foreign forces
to leave or set a timetable for their pullout, elections would have been
useless.

"If elections open the door for the occupier to leave Iraq then it is a good
thing. But if that is not the case, it will not have a real effect on the
country or on Iraqis," he said.

"As long as the occupier is in Iraq, I will not take part in politics,
whether in posts or the drafting of the constitution, because the occupier
will intervene in one way or another."

But Sadr said all Iraqis should be allowed to participate in the country's
political process, including Sunni Muslims, most of whom rejected the
elections because they were conducted under US occupation.


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