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Shiites refuse to be baited -- for now
BAGHDAD - Shiite mosques, politicians and civilians willing to work for the government have been the target of repeated attacks by the Sunni-based insurgents. So far, at least, the Shiite parties have not sent their gunmen to retaliate."Basically those who are behind these attacks are trying to pull the Shiites into civil war. This is the aim of these operations. Consequently, responding to these attacks will be a victory for these forces," said Haidar Musawi, a spokesman for Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. There are no official figures available, but an Associated Press count found that 234 people were killed and 429 people were injured in at least 55 attacks from Jan. 1 until election day on Jan. 30. The death toll increased in February, which saw at least 38 incidents resulting in at least 311 deaths and 433 injuries. But the Shiites have so far refused to be baited, biding their time until they can deal with the insurgency in a more institutional way when they lead the government. "Shiite leaders have made it clear and have repeatedly and categorically refused retaliation," Musawi said. They have more than enough firepower to fight back, with disbanded militias capable of fielding thousands of men - enough to deal the insurgency a serious blow. Alliance leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim recently hinted that the Shiites were waiting to take power before dealing with the insurgency. He indicated that a first step would be to identify and purge the security services of any insurgency sympathizers.
It is those Iraqi security forces - already thought to be dominated by Shiites -that have become another favored target of the insurgency, so much so that attacks against their traditional foe - the US military - seem to have dropped off. Posted by: Steve White 2005-03-01 |
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