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Iraq-Jordan
Second Sunni cleric titzup shot dead in Iraq
2004-11-23
BAQOUBA, Iraq Another Sunni cleric has been gunned down in Iraq -- the second in two days. The man killed today was a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars. The influential Sunni group is urging all Iraqis to boycott the January elections. Police say he was shot dead by masked gunmen after dawn prayers at a mosque north of Baghdad. Yesterday, unknown gunmen killed another prominent Sunni cleric in Mosul. It's unclear if there's a connection between the two killings.
Magic 8 ball says ... YES
Posted by:Lux

#11  US Mercenaries...but don't tell the MOSSAD, they don't blush!
Posted by: smn   2004-11-24 12:03:49 AM  

#10  I'm sorry...the tears in my eyes for the cleric are dripping on the keyboard.
Posted by: anymouse   2004-11-23 2:07:04 PM  

#9  Drat that Omar, him all being reasonable like that, talking about the rule of law.

Phooey.
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-11-23 1:50:05 PM  

#8  From Iraq the Model:
I don't like them and I frankly I consider them as a part of the terror network that is trying to destroy Iraq but I'm against assassinations and I don't see assassinating people as a good way to solve problems.
We're looking forward to build a democracy where law and only law can rule and no one should try to make a judge of himself and throw out judgments and execution orders here and there.
Anyway, I see this assassination as a message from an unknown group to this association telling them that the violence they're encouraging and the hatred they're provoking could easily turn against them.
Posted by: Dishman   2004-11-23 1:34:34 PM  

#7  Either way, Verlaine, this is very good news. If Iraq is to have a civil war, it seems more and more likely it will be a sunni-only civil war. Surround and suffocate 'em, I say. Give the Kurds and Shi'a as much autonomy as they can handle and let the handful of sunni provinces spill their own blood until they're too exhausted to fight.

We should think of Iraq in terms of that other multi-ethnic and violence-ridden entity known as the British Isles. Kurds as Scotland (mucho sovereignty, own parliament, but still under the crown), shi'a as England and Wales, and sunni as Ireland with the Sunni Triangle as Ulster.

Re-set expectations. It's not an Iraqi problem, it's a sunni/ba'athist problem.
Posted by: lex   2004-11-23 11:10:52 AM  

#6  Someone yesterday wondered about splits within the Sunni cleric group. Anyone know if the two dispatched in the last two days might have been "softies", not hardliners? I'm prepared to be mildly encouraged by this, but I wonder why would some clerics be in danger but the leadership of the Ba'athist/criminal/jihadi alliance not be targeted? Those are the ones we need to see harvested by Iraqis. I read one article months back about a low-key Shi'ite operation that was taking out Ba'athists in B'dad -- why can't more Shi'ites find their Inner Thug and accelerate their country's progress? It would be American luck to find ourselves backing the only sub-group in the Arab world that is insufficiently brutal and aggressive towards their rivals ....
Posted by: Verlaine   2004-11-23 10:59:43 AM  

#5  good point lex, the Sunni Arabs with clues versus those without. Those who accept the reality of the new Iraq, versus those still hoping to win a civil war (perhaps with outside help)
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-11-23 10:23:30 AM  

#4  Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe strike again.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2004-11-23 9:27:18 AM  

#3  If I were an ordinary, not too religious sunni who's keen to maintain some power in the new Iraqi reality, I'd probably pop an anti-elections cleric or two meself. They and the fascist bad boyz are the biggest enemies of sunni enfranchisement now.
Posted by: lex   2004-11-23 8:08:27 AM  

#2  hmmmmm - sounds like someone's taking out the trash
Posted by: Frank G   2004-11-23 7:58:37 AM  

#1  Message from the Kurds and Shia that PDiddies "Vote or Die" is taken more seriously over there.
Posted by: Charles   2004-11-23 6:59:41 AM  

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