Iraqi Shi'ite leaders urge calm after bomb attacks

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/OWE946535.htm

BAGHDAD, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite leaders called on their people to show restraint saying twin bomb attacks against sacred centres of their religion on Sunday were intended to spark civil war.

The attacks in Najaf and Kerbala killed and wounded scores of people six weeks before the Jan. 30 elections which should give the upper hand to the 60-percent Shi'ite majority for the first time in the history of modern Iraq.

Shi'ite religious leaders and politicians accused Sunni Muslim militants, known as Salafists or Wahabis, and former ruling Baath Party members of stepping up attacks against Shi'ites to lure them into violence and disrupt the elections.

"They are trying to ignite a sectarian civil war and prevent elections from going ahead on time. They have failed before and they will fail again," said Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum, one of Iraq's most respected Shi'ite clerics.

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I think in Iraq the rough translation for "Iraqi Shi'ite leaders urge calm" is "the civil war is on"?

[bemildred]

1. I wonder what al Sadr is up to these days? nt

[Robbien]

2. Bull. This is propaganda. Juan Cole reports different

So does Dahr Jamail, the unembedded reporter in Iraq.

Sunni and Shiites get along just fine. Both groups say it is the US which is trying to drive a wedge between them and fire up fury for civil unrest.

[Igel]

3. Historically, it's been the case.

Surely we're not going to let a few massacres of Shi'a in Najaf by fighters based in Fallujah influence our views. And the Sunnization of Samarra was a minor aberration.

They get along fine. They've always gotten along fine. Move along, nothing to see.

/sarcasm