So a lot of people have said that Iraq is really a civil war, well its all but official now. With the recent attack on the golden dome, and the reprisal on dozens of rival holy sites, you can pretty much assume that the shit has hit the fan. These are not the kind of people that take the destruction of their holy sites laying down, you blow up mine, I blow up yours, then you blow up another one of mine because I blew up yours, so you blow up two of mine and one of my politicians…and on and on and on.
This is not good, we have our hands in the hornets nest, and we are going to continue to get stung until we do something about it. Are young men and women are going to continue to be killed unless we do something soon, and this means we need new leaders. New leaders that have the skills and brains to figure out the problems of this new world, the old “blow it up, steal all the money, hide it all” technique is not going to work.
The day after a bomb on a Baghdad street killed 23 people, another bomb in the mainly Sunni city of Samarra destroyed the golden dome of one of the Al Askari Mosque, one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Iraq. The Associated Press reports that although no one was killed in the blast, the destruction of the mosque’s dome sparked demonstrations and calls for revenge.
“This criminal act aims at igniting civil strife,” said Mahmoud al-Samarie, a 28-year-old builder. “We demand an investigation so that the criminals who did this be punished. If the government fails to do so, then we will take arm and chase the people behind this attack.”
Tens of thousands of furious protesters have staged demonstrations across Iraq after a bomb explosion badly damaged one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam.
Dozens of Sunni mosques are reported to have been targeted and six Sunnis killed in revenge attacks after a gang blew up the famous al-Askari shrine in Samarra during a dawn raid Wednesday — destroying the shrine’s famous golden dome.
It was the third major attack against Shiite targets this week and is certain to enflame tensions between the majority Shiite and minority Sunni populations in the war-torn country.
Iraqi national security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told Al-Arabiya television the attack was an attempt “to pull Iraq toward civil war.”
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the spiritual leader of Iraq’s Shiite Muslims, appealed for calm and called for a week of mourning.
Meanwhile, angry protests erupted in Shiite parts of Baghdad and in cities throughout the Shiite heartland to the south.
Residents of the holy city of Najaf closed their shops and gathered in the city’s 1920 Revolution Square to vent their anger.
The shrine is one of two tombs in Samarra, just north of Baghdad, for revered Shiite imams and attracts pilgrims from around the world.
Suspicion
No group claimed responsibility for the shrine attack, but suspicion has fallen on Sunni extremist groups such as al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraqi television said several people had been arrested in connection with the bombing.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari urged all Iraqis to condemn the attack and urged both Muslim and Christian leaders abroad “to redouble their efforts to help the Iraqi government stop these saboteurs.”
The bombing came a day after at least 22 people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a market in a Shiite neighbourhood of southern Baghdad.
The day before, 12 died in a suicide attack on a bus in the capital’s heavily Shiite district of Kazimiyah.
The al-Askari shrine is one of Shia Islam’s holiest sites. A mausoleum contains the remains of the 10th and 11th imams — reputed to be direct descendants of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Imam Ali al-Hadi died in 868 AD and his son, Hassan al-Askari, died in 874 AD.
The shrine’s famous golden dome was completed in 1905.
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