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Lebanese Shiites mourn Iraq Shrine attack
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-24 10:36
Tens of thousands of Lebanese Shiites beat their chests in mourning and
shouted anti-American slogans in a rally Thursday to protest the bombing of a
Muslim shrine in Iraq.
A Lebanese Shiite
Muslim child shouts slogans while wearing a military uniform and holding a
toy machine gun, in front of the Lebanese flag, during a protest against
the bombing of one of the Shiite sacred shrines in Iraq, in Beirut,
Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Shiite
Muslims, many of them denouncing the United States, rallied Thursday to
protest the bombing of one of their sacred shrines in Iraq, beating their
chests in traditional mourning. [AP] | The bomb
attack on the Shiite shrine Wednesday and bloody reprisals by Shiites that
ensued underlined the rising tensions between Shiites and Sunnis across the
Mideast. Leaders of both communities have called for calm and tried to shift
attention — and blame — to the United States.
"Let's not blame each other. We shouldn't give them that opportunity,"
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told tens of thousands in south Beirut,
a stronghold of the Shiite militant organization. He said Shiites should limit
their accusations to "the American occupation" in Iraq and Sunni extremists.
Nasrallah ridiculed an offer by President Bush to rebuild the shrine's Golden
Dome.
"I tell him: don't destroy our sanctities and don't rebuild them. You are
destroying our sanctities. Who are you fooling?"
The bombing devastated the golden dome of the Askariya shrine and sparked
outrage among Iraqi Shiites and violent reprisals against Sunnis. More than 100
people have been killed in Iraq in two days of violence linked to sectarian
tensions unleashed by the attack.
The hard-line president of Iran — a predominantly Shiite nation — accused the
United States and Israel of carrying out the bombing to divide Muslims.
"They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice,"
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech in southwest Iran, referring to
the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq.
Ahmadinejad offered Iran's help in rebuilding the shrine in Samarra, about 60
miles north of Baghdad.
A worsening of sectarian strife could exacerbate already strained relations
between Shiites and Sunnis across the region over the conflict in Iraq.
The majority of the Middle East is Sunni, and some have been dismayed by the
growing power of Iraq's Shiite majority. Sympathy for the country's Sunni
minority has led some to support the Sunni-led insurgency.
At the same time, some Arab leaders — particularly in Saudi Arabia and the
Persian Gulf — have worried about increased activism among Shiite minorities in
their countries, inspired by their new domination in Iraq.
In Kuwait, hundreds of members of the Shiite minority rallied Thursday to
protest the attack on the shrine, and the Sunni-led government was quick to
condemn the bombing.
Kuwait's Parliament Speaker Jassem al-Kharafi said the perpetrators were "the
same ones who carried out the chain of attacks that followed on Sunni mosques —
because their target is to create a devastating sectarian war in Iraq."
Egyptian cleric Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi warned the attack aimed to "ignite
sedition that will destroy everything."
"Here we see the angry reaction of the Shiite street ... and the blood of the
innocent Sunni people still being shed without mercy," he said. "We fear that
the Sunni street will react in the same way."
In Cairo, representatives to the Arab League condemned the bombings and the
reprisals against Sunni mosques that followed. They called on Iraqi religious
and political leaders "to show self-restraint ... and foil all plots aimed at
striking Iraq's unity, security and stability."
In Lebanon — where Shiites form the largest community but are in a delicate
sectarian balance with Sunnis and Christians — leaders from both Muslim
communities met in Beirut to condemn the attack.
Grand Mufti Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, spiritual leader of Lebanon's
Sunnis, laid the blame squarely on the United States. "It is being accused,
whether it directly carried out this act or instigated it," he said.
Hezbollah leaders led the crowds that packed a Beirut soccer stadium in
chants of "America, America is the enemy of Muslims" and "Muslims, unite,
unite."
Shiites beat their chests in a traditional gesture of mourning and chanted
"America, America, you are the Great Satan," borrowing the slogans of
Hezbollah's patrons in Iran. Organizers said tens of thousands took part in the
rally, where shouts of "Israel, Israel is the enemy of Muslims" also rang out.
Nasrallah spoke of a Western campaign to undermine Islam, linking the shrine
bombings with cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that offended Muslims and sparked
widespread protests.
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