Sharon’s Iraqi Intifada

In the spirit of credit where credit is due, I think laying a large chunk of the blame for the violence in Iraq on The Man Of Peacetm, Ariel Sharon, for his assassination of Sheik Yassin in Gaza is perfectly justified.

My case:

Faiza, writing in A Family in Baghdad, April 6:

When did all of this tension start?
Maybe two week ago…
After the assassination of Sheikh Yassin of Hamas.
I think that was the spark that started everything…
People went out in the streets protesting and demonstrating againd Israel and The United States.
Some days after that, Muqtada AsSadr declared that he is the attacking arm of Hamas and Hizb Allah, and that he can take this responsibility.
And people applauded and clapped!
Then the American forces closed his journal, and surrounded his office.
There I think the crisis started.
The Iraqi street was boiling like a volcano, feeling sad and angry of what is happening in Palestine, and it just needed a small spark, to turn the fire of hell…
Before that, the Falluja events happened, that I didn’t met a single Iraqi that felt comfortable with it to happen.
People here were against what happened in Falluja, but the American Administration considered what happened as an excuse to start punishing people there…
Yesterday’s night witnessed the fighting of Falluja, and the fighting with Sadr Army.
Our neighbour rang us in the late night, be careful and don’t go out, he said.
“They are holding RPGs in the nearby Husainyya (Shia mosque) and waiting for Americans to come, they want to burn them”
I couldn’t sleep yesterday’s night… feeling nervous and waiting for explosions…
At the morning we went to ask the neighbour what happened, he said that other neighbours went and convinced the soldiers to calm down.
It is really a mess… chaos is the master…

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CONTINUED…..

Iraqi Shiites burn, trample Israel flags to protest Yassin killing
Fri Mar 26, 7:31 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Hundreds of followers of firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr demonstrated after Friday prayers, burning Israeli flags to protest this week’s killing of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Worshipers at Baghdad’s al-Kazimiyah mosque marched out of the shrine, carrying a symbolic coffin for Yassin, wrapped with a Palestinian flag, an AFP correspondent said.

“No, no to Israel. No, no to occupation,” shouted the protestors, many carrying portraits of Yassin and Sadr.

When they reached Sadr’s nearby offices, a group of youngsters burned two Israeli flags before trampling them.

In the southern Shiite city of Najaf, hundreds of worshipers held a similar street protest after Friday prayers at the Imam Ali mosque, following a call for the demonstration by imam Sheikh Sadreddine al-Qobbanji.

Qobbanji, representative of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (news – web sites) (SCIRI) political party in Najaf, asked worshipers to hold the march to honor the “martyrdom” of the Islamic leader.

“Death to Israel, death to America,” they chanted.

“Your blood, Sheikh Yassin, will liberate Palestine,” they shouted.

Protests have been held in Iraq on a near-daily basis to denounce Israel’s assassination of the Palestinian Islamic leader Monday.

Members of Iraq’s US-appointed interim Governing Council had expressed fears that the killing of Yassin, who was respected around the Arab world, would fuel violence in their own war-torn country.

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baghdadyassin_protest.jpg

A Palestinian flag flies over thousands of Iraqi Shiite Muslims carrying a mock coffin of Hamas’ spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, killed by Israel earlier this week in Gaza, during a demonstration after the Friday prayers in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Kazemiya.(AFP/Karim Sahib)

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Juan Cole, March 27:

As I argued on Tuesday, Sharon’s murder of Shaikh Yassin has stirred up Islamist forces against the US in Iraq in a wholly unnecessary way. The fighting in Fallujah that took so many lives Friday appears to have begun with Sunni insurgents doing operations in memory of Yassin. It is incredible to me that Bush is still willing to meet with Sharon in Washington on April 15, and has protected Sharon from a UNSC condemnation.

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Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, the Shi’ite cleric who has emerged as the most influential voice in the debate over the country’s political future, yesterday issued a stinging condemnation of Israel.
“We call upon the core of the Arab and Islamic nations to close ranks, unite and work hard for the liberation of the usurped land,” the ayatollah said in a statement. He called the Yassin killing “an ugly crime against the Palestinian people.”
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In the northern city of Mosul, a student demonstration initially meant to denounce the US-led occupation of Iraq turned into a public expression of anger against Israel after news of Yassin’s assassination outside a Gaza City mosque.

“Jews beware, the army of (prophet) Mohammed will be back,” shouted hundreds of students.

A group of youth torched the Israeli and American flags while the crowd shouted: “Do not worry Palestine. Iraq will avenge the assassination of Sheikh Yassin.”

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sadr.jpg

From here I announce my solidarity with the genuine unity announced by Hezbollah general secretary Hassan Nasrallah with the mujahideen movement Hamas. Let them consider me their striking hand in Iraq whenever the need arises. As the martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said, Iraq and Palestine have the same destiny.

Speaking on Al-Manar TV, 2 Apr 04

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Al-Hawza’s editor, Ali Yasseri, told Reuters the US soldiers padlocked the office and threatened to arrest those who did not leave the premises.

A letter in Arabic handed out by the troops said the paper “misleads readers” and “constitutes a real threat of violence against coalition forces and Iraqis who work with the coalition”.

A spokesman for Mr Sadr said the paper was against the US occupation of Iraq, but denied the charge that it incited violence.

Sheikh Mahmud Sudani said Al-Hawza had attracted censure because it strongly criticised the killing of Palestinian preacher, Sheikh Yassin, by Israeli forces in Gaza last week.

The US is certainly lucky Sharon is an ally. If he were an enemy, he could hardly have more American blood on his hands. Possibly the Iraqi Intifada was only a matter of time, possibly the Americans could have forestalled it. With Sharon in the picture, it was guaranteed to happen.