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Sadr lashes out at Zarqawi?
Iraqi Shi'ite leaders urged Sunnis on Sunday to take a tough stand against radical militants in the face of al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's declaration of a war against Shi'ites.Popular Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr led the calls for resistance to Zarqawi's militant Sunni networks, which have carried out the most spectacular suicide bombings in Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Sadr spokesman Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji said the influential Sunni Muslim Clerics Association should take more decisive action against those he said were trying to trigger civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunnis. "We want them to issue a fatwa (religious edict) forbidding Muslims from joining these groups that deem others infidels," he said. "This will be crucial in ending terrorism." Zarqawi said his declaration of war on Shi'ites was in response to an offensive mounted by U.S. and Iraqi forces against insurgents in the town of Tal Afar near the Syrian border, according to an Internet audio tape on Wednesday. "Al Qaeda Organisation in Iraq ... has declared war against Shi'ites in all of Iraq," said the voice on the audio tape, sounding like that on previous recordings attributed to Zarqawi. No immediate verification was available. The calls for moderation by Sadr, who has gained support from Sunnis by staging two uprisings against U.S. occupation troops, could provide some relief for the government, which has watched the firebrand cleric forge ties with Sunni groups. "The Sunni position is not clear. Why do they please him? People have to fear God alone and not Zarqawi. The resistance they talk about has died!," said Mahmoud al-Sudani, a Sadr aide. "How many Americans have they killed and how many Iraqis? It's all about the seat of power, it is now apparent it has nothing to do with occupation," said al-Sudani. Sheikh Mu'ayyad al-Aadhami, a member of the Muslim Clerics Association, said "we are not with Zarqawi" and the group issued a statement urging the al Qaeda leader in Iraq to retract his statement. But Shi'ite leaders said they should take a harder line against the militant leader with a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head. "As for the government, servants of the crusaders headed by (Iraqi Prime Minister) Ibrahim Jaafari, they have declared a war on Sunnis in Tal Afar. You have begun and started the attacks and you won't see mercy from us," the Zarqawi tape said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-09-19 |
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