Iraq govt says top cleric Sistani backs crackdown

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR049314.htm

Iraq govt says top cleric Sistani backs crackdown

NAJAF, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Iraq's national security adviser said on Wednesday the country's most senior Shi'ite cleric had given his blessing to government efforts to disarm militants as it prepares to implement a major new security plan for Baghdad.

U.S. commanders and Iraq's once dominant Sunni minority have made clear they want any crackdown to include not just Sunni rebels but militias loyal to powerful Shi'ite Islamists.

...

"His eminence Sistani recommended an emphasis on the implementation of the law without any discrimination based on identity or background," Rubaie told reporters.

"He also asserted the need for weapons to be in the hands only of the state, and to disarm those holding weapons illegally," said Rubaie, who is himself a Shi'ite.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Benhurst]

2. Crack up or crack down, he can count on Bush to like it, too. NT

[ohio2007]

3. "Show me the Fatwa"

then I'll believe Sistani actually told Shia followers ( al Sadr )to 'submit' to the new govt. demand for peace,not revenge.

[SOS]

4. "without any discrimination based on identity" Rubaie told reporters...

"The New York Times on Wednesday reported that al-Faroon told the newspaper "one of two men he had seen holding a cell phone camera aloft to make a video of Mr. Hussein's last moments up to and past the point where he fell through the trapdoor was Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Mr. Maliki's national security adviser."

So one day he's gleefully filming a hanging while his pals shout "Long Live Muqtada al-Sadr!" and the next he's against discrimination based on identity?

[sabra]

5. meet the new Baghdad Bob same as the old Baghdad Bob

[The2ndWheel]

6. Church and State agree...alright!

No state would ever exist without mass killing to bring order, so, let the fun begin.