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| Iraq |
| Red Herring Fatwas |
| 2008-05-25 |
| An article by Nibras Kazimi, Visiting Scholar at the Hudson Institute The Associated Press put out a wire report yesterday [on May 22] hinting that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is about to declare jihad against the Americans. .... Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad. .... Al-Sistani's new edicts — which did not specifically mention Americans but refer to foreign occupiers — were in response to the question of whether it's permitted to "wage armed resistance," according to the two Shiites who received them. .... The [AP] report reaches the pinnacle of duplicity when it casually adds that: In perhaps another sign of al-Sistani's hardened position, he has opposed disarming the Mahdi Army as demanded by al-Maliki, according to Shiite officials close to the cleric. If we’ve learned anything from the recent events in Basra, Sadr City and Mosul ... it should be that the reporters and commentators who are tasked to describe Iraq to American and western audiences are at worst dishonest and duplicious, at best some string puller’s chorus of useful idiots. It is in this vein that this AP story is released; to distract from other things that could be reported in Iraq, such as how things are dramatically improving and how this war has been decisively won. Here are two other developments to mull over: al-Sadr is not a rival, not even by a long-shot, to Sistani as the AP supposes. And Sistani is no longer that relevant to politics in Iraq. So many things have changed since 2005, and many observers are still way behind the curve. ... A source close to Sistani denied that the Grand Ayotallah's about to announce jihad, saying that Sistani believes that occupation (...in a general sense) must be resisted by peaceful, not military, means under a given set of circumstances. Don't expect AP to release a retraction, though. ... |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #1 Rantburgers have already called AP on this. IERs, Improvised Explosive Rumors, shaped to project todays agenda. |
| Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** 2008-05-25 09:06 |