Emerging Islamic army takes root in Iraq

[IndianaGreen]

Army against the infidels
Emerging Islamic army takes root in Iraq

Richard Engel
NBC NEWS

NAJAF, Iraq, July 21 — A hundred miles south of Baghdad, hundreds of impassioned Shiia Muslims lined up Monday to enlist in an army — their own Islamic army. With the Quran on the table before them, they added their names to a list, vowing to defend Iraq’s Islamic traditions.

OUTSIDE, FOR THE THIRD straight day, Shiia Muslims denounced the U.S. and its appointed Iraqi governing council, even though it has a Shiia majority. “America and the council are infidels,” they chant.

These Shiia are part of an emerging group of young, hard-line Shiia clerics trying to carve out an independent powerbase. “We want as Islamic state in Iraq,” says one of the organizers of the Islamic army. “It’s our right because we are a Muslim people.”

THE MOOD IN NAJAF

The heart of this movement is here in Najaf, one of the holiest Shiia cities in the world. People here are happy the Americans liberated them from Saddam, but now want to manage their own affairs, and make sure they are never suppressed again.

But, this is problematic for the American administration because many of the Shiite leaders here have close ties to Iran, and critics says the U.S. military got rid of Saddam only open the door to the ayatollahs.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/942151.asp?0cv=CA01

[bahrbearian]

1. Prove's Iraq ties to Terriorist

[Cha]

2. Oh, that freakin' Pandora's Box they opened!

[Frances]

3. The more I read,

the more I am beginning to understand that Iraq really is 3 separate entities.

If I am wrong, I hope someone will correct me

(1)In the north there are the Kurds, who the U.S. has betrayed in the past and may be planning to betray again (in order to get Turkey to send in 10,000 troops).

(2) In the middle are the Sunnis who were the most favored group under Saddam. This is the area that has given the U.S. the most trouble.

(3) In the south are the Shiites who were an oppressed minority under Saddam. Up to now, they have been pretty accepting of the U.S. government. However, many of these people want an Islamic government.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Iraq was put together from 3 provinces of the Ottoman Empire

Britain Tried First. Iraq Was No Picnic Then.
By John Kifner
The New York Times
Sunday, July 20, 2003 Posted: 6:09 AM EDT (1009 GMT)

When World War I began in 1914, most Arab lands were under the decaying Ottoman Empire, whose ruler, the caliph, was also Islam's supreme authority. The Ottomans were Germany's allies, and Britain saw a chance to seize the Middle East; its interests were to command the trade routes to India and, as it would develop, to control the emerging resource of oil. Lord Kitchener, the war minister, wanted to set up his own caliph — an Arab — as Britain's ally among the Muslims. Attention focused on Hussein ibn Ali, who as sherif of Mecca was the guardian of Islam's holiest sites.

Enter the Arab Bureau, a special intelligence unit set up in Cairo. It had little expertise, and its early efforts to inspire an Arab revolt failed. Then Lawrence, a young captain at the time, volunteered to take a look on his vacation time. He recruited Hussein's second son, Feisal, as the charismatic leader of what became known as the Great Arab Revolt. His raiders crossed the desert to capture the port of Aqaba from the rear, repeatedly blew up the Turks' railroad tracks and harassed their troops, and finally entered Damascus in triumph (although this had to be staged because the Australian cavalry got there first).

The British had promised Feisal that he would be king of the Arabs in Damascus and he arrived at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference as the chief Arab spokesman. But Britain and France had secretly agreed to divide up the Middle East, and Feisal's reign in Damascus lasted just months — until the French came over the mountains from Lebanon.

Meanwhile, things were not going well for the British in Mesopotamia. Bell was arbitrarily drawing lines on the map to make a new country out of three former Ottoman provinces — Mosul in the north, Baghdad in the center and Basra in the south. The districts were composed, respectively, of Kurds, Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims, all of whom hated each other — and the British even more. For one thing, the British were more efficient than the Turks in collecting taxes.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/07/20/nyt.kifner/index.html

[madrchsod]

5. you`re right

the only thing holding it together was a strong leader.saddam`s tribe ruled till they got thrown out now the iraqi`s will elect a new tribal leader. this new leader will be someone who will rule an islamic government and the sunnis`s will be put to the sword..ya, bush was going to give them freedom...freedom for one tribe to conquer another...