Sunni Shrine Leveled In Apparent Reprisal Attack

PHOTOS: Violence Intensifies
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Sunni Shrine Leveled In Apparent Reprisal Attack Spurs Basra Curfew; U.S. Troop Buildup Completed : By John Ward AndersonWashington Post Foreign Service - Saturday, June 16, 2007; A10

BAGHDAD, June 15 -- Extremists demolished a Sunni mosque near Basra early Friday, prompting the government to impose an indefinite curfew in the southern port city. The strike was an apparent retaliation for Wednesday's attack on a Shiite shrine in Samarra.

Elsewhere in Iraq, the threat of sectarian attacks seemed to abate. The government announced that a curfew in the capital that began at 3 p.m. Wednesday would be lifted at 5 a.m. Sunday.
The U.S. military announced that a troop buildup in Iraq had been completed with the full deployment of 28,500 additional U.S. troops, most in high-profile posts around the capital. The increase, which started in February, brings the number of U.S. forces in the country to about 160,000. The strategy, based on the idea that Baghdad must be pacified first, aims to create enough calm so that Iraqi leaders can reach agreement on key political measures to achieve reconciliation among the country's Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. But Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who on Friday made an unannounced visit to Baghdad, said the United States was disappointed with the progress on the political front. Gates said he would give the Iraqi leadership "the same message that I have been delivering since December, that our troops are buying them time to pursue reconciliation, that frankly we are disappointed with the progress so far," the Reuters news service reported.
The importance of achieving political reconciliation and improving security was underscored this week by the attack on the revered Askariya shrine in Samarra, 65 miles north of Baghdad, and the subsequent retaliatory attacks on 13 Sunni mosques across Iraq. An attack on Askariya, also known as the Golden Mosque, in February 2006 sparked widespread Shiite-Sunni violence. Friday's 5:30 a.m. attack southwest of Basra occurred at the Sunni shrine of Talha bin Obeid-Allah when "14 pickups carrying unknown armed men attacked the mosque, put explosives inside of it and detonated them," said Anwar Abdul Sattar, who works nearby and witnessed the bombing.
The mosque, which was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades Thursday and blown to rubble Friday, was the largest Sunni mosque in the Basra region, which is dominated by Shiites. "All members in charge of security at the mosque have been arrested," Maj. Gen. Ali Hamadi, head of the provincial Basra emergency security committee, told Reuters. In other violence, 35 bodies were found Friday in the capital. Unidentified bodies dumped in Baghdad typically turn out to be those of Sunni men executed by Shiite death squads. Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of five soldiers. Three were killed Thursday in an explosion near their vehicle in northern Iraq, and one was killed Thursday by small-arms fire in Diyala province north of Baghdad. The fifth died Wednesday in a noncombat incident that is under investigation, according to a military statement.

Dog Fights over Iraq and Iran Border's first casulty ?

An F-16 fighter jet with one crew member crashed while "on a close-air-support mission" early Friday, the Air Force said in a statement. It did not give further information about the fate of the pilot. The jet was deployed to the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base, about 45 miles north of Baghdad, the statement said, adding that the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Iraq returns to its Persian heritage

Its newly ascendant Shiites no longer have to suppress their Persian roots, which tie them closely to Iran.By Borzou DaragahiTimes Staff WriterApril 16, 2007NAJAF, IRAQ — Persian script laces and flows across the walls of Najaf's seminaries.Shiite Muslim religious scholars in the ancient city's turquoise-tiled edifices bury their noses in Koranic texts illustrated with Persian calligraphy, in scenes that evoke Mesopotamia's rich history. For centuries, Najaf has been a key shrine city and center of worship for much of Iraq's people. But for centuries, Iraq's Ottoman and Arab rulers rarely considered Najaf part of their own history. It was always considered a troublesome outpost of the enemy: Iran.They were right, for the most part. Historically and culturally, Najaf has long been under Persia's sway. But so has much of Iraq. The reading of the Koran in this country differs from the rest of the Muslim world: The rhythm and cadence of Sunnis are unique to Iraq and the Shiites' are unique to Iran. Persian dishes such as fesenjan, a pomegranate stew, are a standard part of Mesopotamian fare. Even this nation's capital carries a Persian name, Baghdad.The sectarian nature of the war between Shiite and Sunni Arabs in Iraq reflects a centuries-old battle between Persia and the Arab world. It is a point often misunderstood by U.S. policymakers and ground commanders, who perceive the reemergence of Persian influence among Iraq's newly powerful Shiite Muslim majority as proof of meddling by the regime in Tehran.Rising Persian influence is a sign of Iraq's ascendance, not Iran's. "Iraq has been part of the Persian sphere of influence for more than 400 years," said Karar Dastour, an Iraqi Shiite intellectual who lives in southern Tehran and travels to Iraq. "But governments have always tried to crush anything that had the scent of Shiism or Iran. They were never accepted."Violent Sunni Arab rejection of Iraq's Persian roots plays out daily on the streets of the capital. In February, three bombs went off in the Shorja market in central Baghdad, killing more than 70 people. It was the fifth time the place, whose name means "salty well" in Persian, was struck in less than a year. Shiite Muslims were the intended targets, but so too was a landmark established long ago by Iranian merchants. When saboteurs blew up the Golden Mosque in Samarra last year, an attack widely viewed as the accelerant of the current civil war, they destroyed the handiwork of Iranian artisans.In their Internet postings, Sunni Arab insurgents, many of them officers during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, describe their attacks on Shiites as settling accounts with "Safavids," a reference to the 16th century dynasty that embraced Shiite Islam as the official religion of Persia. Shiite Safavids and Sunni Ottomans fought for decades in a conflict that infused sectarianism into what had been a centuries-old ethnic and political conflict between Arabs and Persians."There has always been conflict between the Arabs and Iranians, and they always tried to involve Iraq," Sheik Humam Hamoodi, an Iraqi Shiite politician and cleric who lived in Tehran during Saddam Hussein's rule, said in an interview last year. "Both have wanted to use Iraq as the trench for their battles."Ignoring the protests of many Shiites, the British forces who forged modern-day Iraq after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire placed a Sunni Arab tribal leader at the country's helm. They dismissed the quarrelsome Shiite clerics as Iranian-backed interlopers in their plans to create an Iraq dominated by Sunni Arabs. Minority ruleIraq's 20th century leaders tried to graft a Sunni-dominated Arab identity onto a country that was majority Shiite. Even during the relatively benign years before Hussein's rise in the late 1960s, Shiites visiting Sunni Arab towns such as Tikrit and Fallouja feared for their lives. Pilgrims visiting Samarra, which housed the famous Shiite shrine destroyed by Sunni insurgents last year, rushed to make it back to Baghdad by sundown. The battle over Iraq's identity accelerated under Hussein, who brutally suppressed what he saw as the non-Arab elements of his country's character. Hussein equated Persians to "flies," invaded Iran and subsequently killed tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites, dubbing them Iranian collaborators. Hussein banned ceremonies of Ashura, the annual festival-like holiday commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, revered by Shiites as a saint. He ordered the desecration of Shiite shrines and the silencing and execution of the sect's clerics, many of them of Persian descent or married into Persian families. Offices and banks were ordered to stay open on Nowruz, the Persian New Year that falls on the first day of spring and is celebrated by Iraqi Kurds as well as Iranians, Tajiks and Afghans."There was a sectarian dimension and there was an ethnic dimension to his hatred," said Musayeb Naimi, editor of Al-Wifaq, a Tehran-based Arabic-language newspaper. Hussein's downfall after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 ended the enforced separation between Iran and Iraq, much to the frustration and rage of Iraq's long-dominant Sunni Arabs. Industrially incapacitated, Iraq must import electricity, foodstuffs, appliances and automobiles from Iran and other neighboring countries such as Turkey and Syria. Persian cultural influences, long suppressed, have reemerged in the last four years. After Hussein's ouster, Iranian and Iraqi Shiites embraced during mass commemorations of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, rites once banned under Baath Party rule. Those rites have now become symbols of Shiite power. Sunni insurgents repeatedly attacked the pilgrims headed to Karbala last month, killing more than 200.Persian has become common on the streets of Najaf and Karbala, as well as in Baghdad's Convention Center, where the Iraqi parliament convenes. Colorful posters of imams Ali and Hussein, of the kind found in pious Iranian enclaves, appear more frequently in Iraqi markets and homes.Young Iraqi women have begun wearing the same Grace Kelly-style head scarves and short overcoats favored by Iranians. Motorcycles, popular among youths in Iran but banned during Hussein's rule, traverse Baghdad streets, as do the heroin and opium that have become a habit for young Iranians. Unease among SunnisTo many Sunni Arabs, all those have been disturbing signs of a Persian ascendancy.Brought up on a diet of Arab nationalist propaganda, Sunni Iraqis see their country's drift into the Persian sphere of influence as foreign. At first Sunni insurgents attacked mostly U.S. troops, whom they saw as an occupation force. But as the Shiite-dominated government took hold in early 2005, the attacks took a sharply sectarian turn. Seconds before his execution, Hussein cursed both the Americans who overthrew him and the "Persians" who shouted populist Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's name as he stood on the gallows. A bitter Jan. 2 television debate about Hussein's legacy on the satellite channel Al Jazeera underscored the ethnic underpinnings of Sunni Arab rage against Iraq's new Shiite order.The debate pitted Mishaan Jaburi, a Sunni Arab politician, against Sadeq Moussawi, a Shiite journalist and supporter of the current government.During the debate, which was posted on the Internet and rapidly became famous here, Jaburi waved sheets of white paper at Moussawi, screaming, "These are your documents! You are an Iranian citizen …. You are Persian.""Your father killed Kurds," Moussawi snapped back. "You are Iranian," Jaburi reiterated. "These documents show that [you] applied for Iraqi citizenship in May 2004."Moussawi didn't bother denying the accusation. "We will settle accounts with all of you," he said instead.Yet many of Iraq's Persian-influenced citizens are neither loyal to nor fond of the government in Tehran. Many Shiites fought on Iraq's side in the war against Iran. And most Iraqis who sought shelter in Iran during Hussein's rule experienced hardship and bigotry. But culturally and politically, they cleave toward Iran instead of Washington's preferred proxy powers — Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.Iraqi Shiites have some leaders, including the cleric Sadr, who are Arab nationalists. In the last year, however, many of them have strayed from the Arab world, angered that Arab countries have shunned Iraq's newly crystallizing Shiite identity.Persians and Shiism have become so intertwined that opposition to Tehran's policies across the region has taken on a Sunni character. Ethnic Baluchi separatists in southeastern Iran fight under the banner of a Sunni Muslim group linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist network. And in a growing number of cases, Iran's Shiite Arab separatists have converted to Sunni Islam. Even as Sunnis fight Shiites, accusing them of being Iranians, Shiites have begun to whisper about the identity of Iraq's Sunnis."The Sunnis of Iraq aren't really Arabs," one Iraqi Shiite diplomat said recently. "They're Turks."

Bahrain cracks down on Iran agents buying land

ABU DHABI , Bahrain has launched an effort to block an Iranian takeover of the Gulf Arab kingdom.
Officials have drafted a series of regulations meant to prevent Iranian agents from spreading Teheran's influence in the Gulf Cooperation Council state. They said the regulations were designed to block Iran from purchasing property through Shi'ite supporters in Bahrain.
The focus of the Bahraini effort has been the province of Muharraq. Officials said Iranian agents have been purchasing property from the minority Sunni community in a trend that has alarmed the government. Sixty percent of Bahrain's population is comprised of Shi'ites, Middle East Newsline reported. During elections in November 2006, Sunnis and other loyal to King Hamad managed to retain nominal control of parliament. Muharraq Gov. Salman Bin Hindi has ordered a halt to all land and property transfers in his province. Bin Hindi said all such transactions would require his approval. Another regulation stipulated that only families deemed indigenous would be allowed to purchase property in Muharraq, Bahrain's second largest city. Officials said the reference was mostly to Sunni families. "No one can accuse me of sectarian discrimination because I am closer to the Shi'ites in Muharraq than the Al Wefaq Society," Bin Hindi, referring to the Shi'ite opposition group, said in a statement. The Iranian embassy in Manama has denied that it was seeking to buy property in Muharraq. Shi'ite politicians said the new government policy was discriminatory. "The government has allowed non-Bahrainis to own property in Bahrain, but Bahrainis are denied such rights," Abdul Nabi Al Ekri, a prominent Shi'ite opposition member, said. "Such a policy is totally wrong and would have grave implications for national unity." Shi'ite groups said they would protest the new policy to international human rights organizations. They said the policy violated international law as well as Bahrain's constitution. "The decision violates fundamental rights and we might take up the case with the competent international human rights commissions," Bahrain Human Rights Society leader Abdullah Al Durazi said.

A warning to Iran From Wesley Clark.The democratic party`s 2008 presidential hopfull

"Good Morning. I'm Wes Clark. I'm a soldier, and I'm fighting for my country." And although he didn't quite come out and say it, Wes Clark could just as well have added, "And I want to be the next president of the United States."

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark is concerned by Iran's nuclear ambitions and cautioned the Islamic republic to take U.S. warnings "very, very seriously." the former warrior-turned-politician at the same time admitted being worried by the Bush administration's strong-arm policies in the Middle East. "I'm concerned,"and worried that the rising tension between the United States and Iran could escalate to a point of no return. As a former soldier who has seen his share of action from Vietnam to Kosovo, Mr. Clark does not scare easily.
But the Iranians, too, have reason to be concerned, says Mr. Clark. Speaking to United Press International Friday after addressing a meeting of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, Mr. Clark said that the Iranians should take "very, very seriously the prospect of air strikes and missile strikes as well as other operations directed against Iran's nuclear capacities and all other elements of their military power." When it comes to war, Mr. Clark has an advantage over other presidential candidates. He has tasted the ugliness of war; he knows firsthand what it means seeing men -- sometimes boys hardly old enough to shave -- killed in battle.

"I know what it is to plan and prepare for war and to send the cream of our youth on a mission from which they may not return," Mr. Clark told the group of assembled Democrats a short while earlier. "I know firsthand the struggles of domestic politics and international diplomacy to accomplish a difficult peace after the shooting stops." For many people who have lived through the hell called combat, war is the last resort they want to turn to. So how would Wes Clark's policies be different were he elected president? How would he stop the war in Iraq, for example? "I would use diplomacy first... I would find common ground," said the former soldier. Isn't this a tad oversimplifying an overcomplicated issue? What if the political track fails?

Mr. Clark insists the political track will not fail. "You have to force them or induce them into the political track," said Mr. Clark. "You have to use 'carrots and sticks.' " And how do you accomplish this? By including all countries in the region in accepting a "statement of principles" that would guarantee the security of each, taking into account their needs for secure borders, while promoting and opening the region to commerce, trade and tourism. Does "all countries" in the region include Syria and Iran? Would Mr. Clark, as president, establish dialogue with Damascus and Tehran? "Yes," he says. "As I look at the discussions ongoing inside Iran as best I can follow them from here, it's clear that there are different sectors of opinion in the leadership and I think the leadership needs to understand that it is seriously at risk," said Mr. Clark.
Mr. Clark also said that : "I speak to you today as the only person who will take this podium before you having actually done the things we need to do to succeed in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world.

looking at it from another angle

"Don't be fooled by the appearance of dissent or disunity inside Iran's super-sophisticated, apparently disjointed political system," cautioned Clare Lopez, a former CIA operations officer who worked briefly with the Iran Policy Committee. "Iran's democratic facade is just that, a veneer and nothing more," said Miss Lopez. "The Majlis or local and municipal councils can do or say what they like, it matters not to the Shi'ite clergy and IRGC that actually run the country. "The diplomatic track that is now the flavor of the week is just checking the box, one last-ditch effort to make this work, maybe with Sunni Arab support," says Miss Lopez. "Iran will blow that off, just like they've blown off the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the [United Nations] Security Council. These mullahs know that their window of opportunity is closing fast and that without a nuclear weapon, they cannot possibly hope to hang on to power for very much longer, much less expand throughout the region as they wish to."

Also In reply to those who say that there are two schools of thought in dealing with Iran -- diplomacy and force -- Raymond Tanter, a professor at Georgetown and an active IPC member says: "Please recall a third option. Removing the main Iranian opposition from Western terrorist lists to threaten the Iranian regime's survival and provide it an incentive to negotiate on the nuclear file, subversion of Iraq, and the destabilization of Lebanon," . By "main opposition" Mr. Tanter means the MeK, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. "Opening up a third option not only reinforces diplomacy, the third alternative also keeps the U.S. military strike option available for future contingencies," Mr. Tanter added. ( there are other anti IRI forces that the US can relay on).

Iranian Reveals Plan to Expand Role in Iraq

By JAMES GLANZ

BAGHDAD, Jan. 28 — Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad outlined an ambitious plan on Sunday to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq — including an Iranian national bank branch in the heart of the capital — just as the Bush administration has been warning the Iranians to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs. Iran’s plan, as outlined by the ambassador, carries the potential to bring Iran into further conflict here with the United States, which has detained a number of Iranian operatives in recent weeks and says it has proof of Iranian complicity in attacks on American and Iraqi forces.

The ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qumi, said Iran was prepared to offer Iraq government forces training, equipment and advisers for what he called “the security fight.” In the economic area, Mr. Qumi said, Iran was ready to assume major responsibility for Iraq reconstruction, an area of failure on the part of the United States since American-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago. Read in full by following the link.

SOME IMPORTANT NEWS

Egyptian State Paper Attacks Iranian Policies
CAIRO -- The editor of Egypt's most prestigious government newspaper said Iran was trying to spread Shi'a Islam in Arab countries that have no Shi'ites in an attempt to recreate an Iranian empire in the Middle East. more By Reuters
Saudi King Says Iran Putting Region in Danger
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia told an Iranian envoy this month that Shia power Iran was putting the Gulf region in danger, in a reference to Iran’s conflict with Washington over Iraq and nuclear policy, a newspaper said. In the interview in Kuwait’s Al Seyassah on Saturday, King Abdullah also issued a veiled warning to Iran to quit what he said were efforts to spread Shi’ism in the Sunni-dominated Arab world. more By Reuters
King Abdullah: No Alliance Against Iran
JEDDAH -- Saudi Arabia yesterday denied suggestions that it was forging an alliance against Iran. “This is completely untrue and against our policy,” Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said referring to Iranian media reports. “We don’t interfere in the affairs of others,” he said. more By Arab News