The Ruins of the Samarra Golden Mosque; the Repercussions Continue to Impact the Region. (above).
Who Will Extinguish The Fires Of This War?
By Amjad al-Smarrai
February 27, 2006
Original
Article (English) 
Since Baghdad
fell to U.S. troops on April 9, 2003, a new kind of war has begun in our
country which is more barbaric, more vicious and more evil than any ever seen
in the modern world.
Instead
of planting democracy, tolerance, human rights and reconciliation, the U.S.
occupation has bred sectarian and ethnic strife, and an atmosphere of
insecurity in which human life has become worthless.
A Man After Identifying
the Corpse of His
Relative, Tuesday.
--------------------------
Sectarian
tensions, which were non-existent before, began to surface under the banner of the
multi-party system and pluralism.
The
occupation may not be directly responsible for the current divisions in the
society, but it has encouraged and paved the way for them to take root, and
they have become almost impossible to wipe out.
The
sectarian ditch was dug by Iraqi hands, but the occupation helped in the
digging, filling these ditches with fuel and setting them on fire.
It is simply
naive to blame the current upheaval on the bombing of the shrine of the holy
imams in Samarra. Sectarian tensions were already simmering, and the bombing
was only meant to add more fuel to the already raging sectarian fire.
Iraqis
have gone through many wars and much suffering, and the hardest of all was the
13-year U.N. sanctions, which impoverished Iraqi society, emaciated its women
and children and almost ruined the infrastructure.
It is
good to try and contain the turmoil in the aftermath of the shrine bombing, but
the people in charge must remember that civil strife will persist until the issues
that created it are addressed.
Some
factions seem to be pleased to see the country in such turmoil. They believe
that immersing people in their sectarian schemes and shedding of streams of
innocent blood serves their vicious intentions.
But filling
Iraq's streets with tanks, armored personnel carriers and troops will not solve
the problem. Iraqi leaders need to seize this embarrassing moment and agree
upon a national program to save the country.
We are in
need of a broad national government that reinforces national unity, dissolves
armed militias, puts an end to kidnapping and killing and reinstates law and
order.
VIDEO FROM QATAR: MUQTADA SADR WARNS AMERICANS AND ARABS
Al Jazeera TV, Qatar: excerpts from an interview by Iraqi Shiite Leader Muqtada Sadr, Feb. 18, 00:04:29, Via MEMRI
"All the talk and all the rumors that if the American forces leave - or even if they don't leave - Islamic or Arab forces will enter - they, too, will be occupiers."
Iraqi Shiite Leader Muqtada Sadr
[LATEST NEWS PHOTOS: Iraq].
