A top Shiite cleric warned the United States yesterday that it risked violent confrontations with Iraqi citizens unless it improved its understanding of how Iraqi society works.
| And vice versa. Maybe Iraqis should learn how American society works, too... |
The Americans lack knowledge of the people whose country they will be occupying for some years, Sayyed Fateh Kashef Al-Ghata, the representative of the top Shiite theology college (Al Hawza) in Baghdad, said in an interview. "If they continue to misunderstand our reality, the result will be bad for America first and bad for my people second," Kashef Al Ghatta said.
| So maybe you should get on it... |
He said Iraqis had hailed the U.S.-led invasion to end Saddam Hussain's autocratic rule, but were angered by the United Nations resolution that gave Washington and London — not the Iraqis — the mandate to run Iraq and control its wealth.
| Iraq was running itself and controlling its wealth. That's how it got into this mess... |
"America wants to control Iraq and seeks to make it America's regional policeman," said Kashef Al Ghata, a renowned cleric who belongs to one of the most important families in the holy city of Najaf. "In 2003, we have no choice yet but to confront the occupation through peaceful means... But I am saying yet, because we are waiting to see how the occupation will behave. I really hope the occupying powers will not force the Iraqi people to resort to violence, and that could be achieved through understanding and respecting the Iraqi political, social, religious and economic reality."
| They tried violence twice. That's what happened to the elite Republican Guard. |
Kashef Al Ghata did not say what the U.S.-led administration was doing wrong, but noted the importance of finding a balance between Iraq's different ethnic and religious groups. Kashef Al Ghata said the United States should not be worried about the possibility that the Shiites would try to transform the secular country into an Iran-style state. "We do not seek an Islamic state in Iraq, and whoever says this doesn't understand politics. We would have wanted to set up an Islamic state in 1980 but not in 2003."
| "This year we want, ummm... something else." |
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