"Message Received"-- Iraq is now a Shiite state/ Kuwait Times

[TexasLawyer]

Message Received

Monday, January 01, 2007 1:07:54 PM

Kuwait Times

In Iran, a country ruled by Shiite Muslims and in the newly Shiite controlled Iraq, the first day of the Eid Al-Adha was celebrated on December 31. Sunni Muslims celebrated the first day of the Eid Al-Adha on December 30, the same day Saddam Hussein was executed. According to Iraqi law, no executions can be carried out on religious or national holidays. By hanging Saddam on Dec 30 - which all Sunnis, including Iraqi Sunnis, considered as the first day of Eid - Iraq was sending a clear message to all its neighbouring states and to Sunnis in particular that the new Iraq was a decidedly Shiite state.

Growing Iranian influence in the region has always been a cause for concern among Gulf nations, who are predominantly Sunni. The real possibility of a nuclear Iran is one problem but the implications of Iraq's clear message with the timing of Saddam's execution is a new factor which could tip the balance of power in the region - with a nuclear Iran or without. The message also conveys to the world that Iraq is not a secular and inclusive democracy as they might wish to be perceived as, but instead they are Shiites and will make governmental decisions based on that fact - putting them in league with Iran.

Initial publicised tapes of the execution, which stopped at the noose being tightened around Saddam's neck, have now been trumped by leaked tapes of the moments before the hanging, wherein the Iraqi regime members present around the gallows shout religious Shiite chants and invoke the name of Mohammed Baqar Al-Sadr and Muqtada Al-Sadr while cursing Saddam.

Mohammed Al-Sadr was a cleric executed by Saddam and whose radical son Muqtada now leads the notorious Al-Mahdi Army. By shouting the name of Sadr and his son and invoking Shiite chants in taunting Saddam moments before his execution, the Iraqi regime is clearly compromised. Al-Mahdi Army is one of several illegal Shiite militias that have been blamed for mass kidnappings and executions, along with attacking coalition forces since the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

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http://www.kuwaittimes.net/localnews.asp?dismode=article&artid=724810782

[laststeamtrain]

1. Good find. Thanks for posting. That's what was wanted, a Shiite Iraq. Sheesh. n/t

[TexasLawyer]

3. predictable

And it's not like Bush could not see this coming before we invaded Iraq.

Hmmm... let's see... bring democracy and majority rule to a country which is 60% Shiite, which country has a next-door neighbor, Iran, which is overwhelmingly Shiite.

[Straight Shooter]

5. bush probably did *not* see it coming because he didn't even bother to look.

Remember the shock you felt when it was disclosed that bush did not know prior to the Invasion of Iraq that there is a difference between Shiite and Sunni?

=================

To bush, they are all just brown-skinned Muslims, why bother with actually identifying and understanding their religious differences and how it affects the Middle East?

:sarcasm:

[reprobate]

2. Good job, Georgie. You really created a democracy in Iraq, didn't you.

[lostnotforgotten]

4. And Since The Saudis Are Sunnis, Expect Them To Increase Funding

For the insurgency.

Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Way to go Georgie Boy.

[lastknowngood]

7. That is Iraq and a hard place

n/t

[Canuckistanian]

6. The Palestinians haven't missed this point either.

I heard a radio story about Palestinians who were outraged at the timing of the execution.

It would be like America executing it's former leader on Easter Sunday, only more so, since executions are specifically forbidden during Eid.