By Aws Al-Sharqi, IOL Correspondent EFL
As the US military offensive on Fallujah entered its fourth day Friday, November 12, Shiite leaders came under heavy fire for a "dubious" silence over the aggression on the Sunni city.
Stop right there. The Marines in Falluja are coming under heavy fire.
The policemen in Mosul are coming under heavy fire.
The indolent Shi'a clerics are coming under heavy criticism from equally indolent Sunni clerics. Cry me a river. |
"The silence of Shiite leaders over the US military campaign on the Sunni city of Fallujah is dubious and weird," Sheikh Mahdi El-Bedeiri, a Shiite scholar, told IslamOnline.net. El-Bedeiri suspected that Shiite scholars stopped short of condemning the strikes against the 300,000-populated Fallujah because of political reasons. "Do some of them consider taking part in the rule of the country or winning elections at the expense of the skulls of other Iraqis?," he said. | I'll take "Yes" for $500, Alex |
El-Bedeiri called on Iraqi parties and organizations to stage demonstrations and sit-ins in protest at the "massacres and massive destruction in Fallujah" after the strikes. Still, the opposition of the Shiites to the military aggression on Fallujah took a gradual divisive shape.
Anti-US firebrand Al-Sadr vehemently condemned the strikes as "a brazen aggression" on Iraqis regardless of their sect or religion." Abdel-Hadi Al-Daraji, Sadr's aide, has also called on the Iraqi government to "stem the bloodshed" in Fallujah. Renowned Shiite scholar Mohamed Gawwad Al-Khalsi also slammed the assault and called for helping families that have fled Fallujah. "The aggressions on Fallujans are a demonstration of the government's failure to move all the way to peaceful solutions to the crisis," Al-Khalsi said in a statement. He warned that the offensive would have a negative impact on the political process in the country and on the elections, due in January 2005. |