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Reports From Iraq > Fri., Mar. 19, 2004
One Year of Occupation
Thousands of Sunni and Shi'ite rally in Baghdad on the
one year anniversary of the American occupation. |
BAGHDAD, IRAQ -- Friday afternoon and the mosques of Baghdad
open up. Two weeks after bomb blasts in Baghdad and Karbala
killed hundreds of Shi'ite pilgrims, thousands of Shi'ite
and Sunni men converge Aritar Square addressed by what Iraq's
clergy hope will become a united stand against the Americans.
Shi'ite Cleric Hazem al-Araji stands atop a truck with his
fellow imams -- guarded by a dozen men holding kalashnikovs.
"My brothers," he screams. "One year of the
occupation has passed. They thought we would just happy dancing
and singing. No! Today we refuse them, but in a new way --
in a brotherhood of Sunni and Shia!"
The clerics announced the formation in of a Muslim Scientists
League, or a League of Clergy. Their demands include cancellation
of the interim Constitution signed by the American-appointed
governing council and a refutation of federalism and Kurdish
autonomy. They demand free speech and free expression for
Iraqi's and call for the law of Islam to be adopted as the
law of the Iraq.
In his speech at the rally Sunni Sheik Kubaisy condemned
the Iraqi Governing Council, which was appointed by the Bush
administration. He accused the Governing Council of "going
behind the backs of the Iraqi people to make laws that allow
the occupying powers to stay longer in Iraq."
Like other imams at the rally, he pledged to fight the occupation
with force:
In their sermons before demonstrations the imams highlighted
their support of armed struggle -- not only against the Americans
but also against Iraqi collaborators.
"You have to stop them from stealing the money,"
Hassen Ahmed al-Taha preaches inside abu Hanifa Mosque. During
last year's war, the mosque was bombed twice by American war
planes. He tells his congregation the America is stealing
Iraq's oil wealth.
"You can even kill him," he teaches, "because
he stole your money. Its been witnessed in the Qu'ran."
*****
"No to America, no to Saddam, Yes, yes, to Islam,"
thousands chant in Baghdad's Aritar square. As the number
of Americans killed by the resistance continues to increase
Shi'ite Cleric Hazem al-Araji has this message:
"The young people in Iraq -- everyone of them is a bomb
controlled by an imam," he says. "And we have our
finger on the button. Yes! Yes!" He calls out. "We
won't give them a chance to sell Iraq."
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