In Baghdad, thousands of Sunni Muslims protested on Friday against Iraq's new US-sponsored Governing Council as imams used their weekly sermons to accuse the Shiite-dominated body of planting the seeds of civil strife.
| Can't win no matter what we do, huh? |
"Shame on those who consider Baghdad's fall a national holiday," said one banner raised by the demonstrators who converged on the Um al-Qora mosque on the western fringes of Baghdad from several Sunni mosques in the capital after Friday prayers. The reference was to a decision by the Governing Council during its inaugural meeting on Sunday to declare April 9, the day US-led forces ousted Saddam Hussein, a national holiday in its first act as a ruling body. "We (Sunnis) are the silent majority, not a minority," read another banner, while a third said "no to division into Sunnis and Shiites." The 25-member council, supposed to reflect Iraq's ethnic and confessional makeup, has 13 Shiite members.
| "Just 'cuz there's more of them than us don't mean they're the majority!" |
The protesters also chanted slogans against the US occupation, vowing to "exterminate the infidel (US) army."
| Yep. Just your normal, every day peaceful Muslim country, going about its business... |
"Revolt, revolt O Baghdad, let Bremer follow Nuri," they shouted, alluding to US civil administrator Paul Bremer and Nuri as-Said, Iraq's prime minister under the monarchy who was killed by a mob when it was toppled in 1958. Friday's rally was called by Iraq's Council of Ulema, a body grouping Sunni religious scholars.
In a statement read to the protesters, a cleric said the ulema believed the Governing Council had divided the Iraqi people along sectarian lines, declaring "a certain community to be the majority ... without an accurate population census... The group that was given a majority on the council does not make up a majority ... even among Muslims."
| "Just 'cuz there's more of 'em here don't make them the majority does it?" |
Shortly before, the imam of Um al-Qora mosque, Hareth al-Dari, had lambasted the Governing Council, telling the faithful it was "rejected and unacceptable because it divides Iraq into groups and races. It is planting the seeds of hostility between the sons of this society. That is why we don't support it ... This council does not serve the interests of the people or the nation."
| Knew there hadda be a reason... |
At the Sheikh Abdul Kader al-Kilani mosque, one of the capital's major mosques, Sheikh Mahmud Khalaf al-Issawi also slammed the council as a divisive body that did not represent the Iraqi people and called on the faithful not to recognize it.
| "Recognize me, instead! I know what's best for you!" |
"One of the reasons it is not representative of the people is that it split the Iraqis along confessional and ethnic (Arab-Kurdish-Turkmen) lines, giving a certain sect an absolute majority," the prayer leader said. "The crux of the problem is that the council also gave those who came from outside the country, and who are ignorant of our problems, concerns and suffering, seats on the body even though they were enjoying themselves in the West" during the Saddam era, Issawi said in a reference to former exiles named to the council. "The council ignored the people who lived in the country and resisted the deposed regime, giving no role to speak of to the figures who struggled " over the years, the imam added.
| "I never liked him, I never joined the party..." |
Issawi also echoed widespread criticism among ordinary Iraqis of the US-led coalition's failure to restore basic services, "and above all, security," 100 days after it toppled Saddam. "The law of the jungle now prevails" in Iraq, he said. "At a time when we were hoping for a quick solution, another problem — indeed the mother of problems — sprang, which was the emergence of the transitional Governing Council," he said.
| They bitched and moaned because they didn't have an Iraqi government. Now they bitch and moan because they don't like it. |
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