Iraqis use sacred shrine as bunker

Post-9/11 Era Forum

I guess they're doing this for the glory of Islam and Arabia. How more obvious could it be that the Iraqi regime could not care less about both.

Quite disgusting and its funny that the coalition has shown thousands time more respect for the culture and sites than the regime itself. Wake up Arabia and Muslims to the evil that this regime represents!!!

Fred Hooper







Iraqis use sacred shrine as bunker
April 03, 2003

IRAQI forces have taken up positions inside the Ali Mosque in Najaf, one of the world's most important Shi'ite shrines, and are firing on coalition troops, US Central Command said today.

Coalition forces have refused to return fire.

US-led forces operating south of Baghdad are trying to find Iraqi fighters in the holy Muslim Shi'ite cities of Najaf and Karbala without damaging their gold-domed shrines.

The coalition has declared the holy sites as "no targets" zones only to be fired upon in self-defence, and troops chose not to return fire today, said Brigadier General Vincent Brooks.

Calling the Iraqi fighters' use of the mosque "a detestable example of putting historical sites in danger," Brooks said coalition troops would try to avoid harming the shrine.

"This regime is firing from within a mosque, something that has no military value, and should be protected by them, but instead it is being protected by us," Brooks said during a briefing at Central Command headquarters in Qatar.

"We don't have to go to that mosque and we certainly want to keep it as protected as possible," he said.

"It's something we know to be sacred, and something obviously the people of the town know to be sacred."

There have been concerns that Saddam Hussein's Sunni Muslim regime would try to provoke US-led forces to attack such holy sites, thereby alienating the country's majority Shi'ite population, whose support the coalition has been trying to rally. Damage to the shrines could inflame Shi'ite feelings against the United States worldwide, particularly in Iran.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said today there was evidence that Iraq itself may be planning to damage the shrines, and then blame the coalition.

"We are doing everything we can to protect those holy sites and shrines," Blair said.

In Baghdad, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said his Government was also concerned about possible damage to historical and cultural sites.

For the world's nearly 120 million Muslim Shi'ites, Najaf is the third holiest city, behind Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Najaf, whose name in Arabic means "a high land," is the burial place of Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law and the Shi'ites' most revered saint. It is about 160 km south of Baghdad on a high desert plateau overlooking the world's largest cemetery, where Shi'ites aspire to bury their dead.

Ali's shrine in the city centre, with its silver-covered tomb, ceramic ornamented walls and resplendent golden dome and minarets, is considered one of the landmarks of Islamic art.

Najaf is also the seat of the Shi'ites' spiritual leaders, known as ayatollahs, and the centre for scientific, literary and theological studies for the Islamic world.

Karbala, about 64 km to the north, is the burial place of Imam Hussein, Ali's son, who was killed in a battle with the army of the Muslim Sunni Omayad Kaliph Yazid in 680.

Hussein's tragic death is memorialised by Shi'ites for its historical importance and its symbolic significance - as a struggle between justice and injustice.

The city, which is surrounded by date palm groves, overlooks a sandy expanse next to the Euphrates River.

The holy shrines in both cities are believed to have been built by Persian kings who filled them with priceless objects and gifts.

They suffered heavy damage in during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but Saddam has since restored them.

Agence France-Presse

As much as i hate Saddam Hussein its a great idea...
Instead of thinking to yourself "NOT LIKE ME...HATE, HATE, HATE"
think rationally and tactically. His troops hide in a Shia Mosque and start shooting at Americans (Remember not all Muslims are the same....) Americans are ordered not to shoot back... So the Iraqis fire away until their heart is content...

More likely scenario is American forces will blow up the mosque (Probably blamed on an Iraqi SAM missile like Baghdad) Iranians go crazy, Shia's in the south go crazy, Hezbollah go crazy, George W Bush goes cra..... ok too late for that one but you see where im going here...

Iraqis get to take freebie shots at the US forces or US blows it up sending repercutions round the world... (The Mosque of Ali is like the Vatican to Shia's by the way)

I think the Iraqi's are thinking like Guerillas... How unfair and unsportsmanlike not to stand in the middle of the desert so we can shoot them properly...

Marc

Man, its just anouther propaganda explanation why the americans damaged so muth historic buildings in this campagne. Have you ever flown above iraq with a plane? You will notice the terrain looks like the moon. So mutch caters. Its verry chlilling to see. In 20 years of US bombardenents thousands of importend religieus and archeological sites have been damaged or destroyed.

Guess some people have different morals here in this world which I find quite disgusting, even if they are ones to begin with.

Fred Hooper

Do you guys believe these lies. Americans would shoot iraqis even if they hid inside mecca itself. Plus if these were shia iraqi muslims they're talking about, then I'm 100% sure it's a lie. Shia muslims will not hide inside the mosque of ali even those who follow a sick regime like saddam's. America never respected anybody's beliefs or sites. and if mr. brooks was telling the truth, americans won't shoot at this mosque because they know this would inflame the people of iran and iraqi shia muslims, and many countries in the gulf against them. Not because they give a sh*t about islamic holy cites.

Yea and I HOPE THEY DO. If the Iraqi's think they are being slick hiding in stuff like that, then that's what they get. They can explain to God after we blow them up exactly what the heck they were doing in there in the first place when they knew what was going to happen. Stop acting like EVERYTHING is a lie. You are so stupid. I would not put it past those sick bastards to hide somewhere like that.

I'm not acting as if everything is a lie. All what we have heard since this war has started IS a lie, wether from the iraqis, or the invading forces. I'm just saying what i know very well, shia muslims will not let a fly get close to the mosque of ali, rather than allowing the invading forces to shoot at it. So it's obviously a lie.


PS I'm not stupid. Your mama is