Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi pledged on Friday there would be no attack on Najaf's Imam Ali Mosque and urged Moqtada al-Sadr and his militia at the shrine to grasp an "olive branch" for peace. "We are not going to attack the mosque, we are not going to attack Moqtadr al-Sadr in the mosque," Allawi told BBC World Service radio at about 4 a.m. EDT.
I hope he's not the single honest man in the Middle East.
"The olive branch is still extended... We are not a warring people. On the contrary, we want a peaceful solution," he added. Allawi's plea came just before a Sadr spokesman indicated the radical cleric was preparing to hand control of the holy site at the heart of a Shi'ite uprising in Iraq. Allawi urged Sadr to seek a political path for his grievances against the government and U.S.-led occupiers. "He can join the political process and he is welcome to do so. We don't have any objections," Allawi said. "If he has any political problems with the government, with the multinational force, then he can be chosen as the leader of Iraq when the elections start in two or three months' time. Then he can do whatever he likes, with nobody trying to quash him."
Allawi accused Sadr's militia of wiring up the shrine with explosives. "The militias have been really on the rampage for the last week or so," he said. "There are militia who are entrenched and embedded in the holy shrine. Some of them are ex-criminals. They have wired up the holy shrine to blow it up." Allawi described the most recent assaults by U.S. and Iraqi forces on Sadr's militia as "clearing operations," taking place away from the shrines and intended to make Najaf safe for residents. "The Iraqi police and military have successfully cleared most of the town of Najaf. The shrines are left," he said. |