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| Iraq |
| Veil the women, grow your beards |
| 2003-05-02 |
| There's a great picture of this guy at the above link. I think I saw him in a old Sinbad the Sailor movie. An Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric said at a sermon Friday in a run-down Baghdad neighborhood that bars should be closed, women should be veiled and men should grow their beards. Sheikh Jaber Khafaji told tens of thousands assembled outdoors in the area formerly known as Saddam City that Muslims and non-Muslims alike should follow those rules. "From now on, I tell you don't allow the women to go out without veils, not one bit of their hair should appear," he said. "Most ulemas (religious scholars) agree that shaving your beard is forbidden; why do you continue to do so now that you have no reason to fear" the secular regime of ousted president Saddam Hussein, he asked. Ah, because they don't want to? "Why do you obey the miscreant West and disobey your ulemas?" asked Khafaji, a cleric close to Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, the young heir of the influential al-Sadr religious family persecuted under Saddam. "Don't let the bars open; tell them to close," said Khafaji. From what I've read about Iraq, I don't think that will go over too well. "Those rules should be implemented on everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims, and the Muslims should implement them with more fervor," he said. "Cuz we're holy!" The United States has made clear it will not accept a future Iraq run by Muslim clerics although religious leaders have been invited to help form a "mosaic" interim government. Khafaji asked the population not to mix with US troops, who he accused of inciting the widespread looting that followed the collapse of the regime and of corrupting the population. "I sometimes see women and children gathering around coalition forces. The soldiers give them sweets and candies but also immoral magazines," he alleged. Khafaji urged the population to obey the directives of the theological school of the holy Shiite city Najaf known as the Hawza, which he said was "the target of the miscreant enemy and Israel." "Obey, obey, obey!!! Hey, come back!" Last week, another close aide to Sadr, Sheikh Mohammed Yacubi, spelled out the conditions for the future government and constitution in Iraq, saying the ruler should be a Muslim and the laws in line with Islam. No |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #16 Ed, i got a chunk, too, hammered out on Nov. 9th 1989, which was quite a night to behold. Don't be fooled by recent developments in German politics: Older people will always remember what America did for us. The younger... well for them this is history. They don't want to hear about it anymore. Thank you Michael for your kind words but... concentration camps, GULAG... who wants to hear the old stories again. Maybe they have all been told already. Who could top Elie Wiesel or Alexandr Solshenizyn? Hope some Iraqis will tell the world a few stories now. Re Nurenberg: Quite a few witnesses from the East disappeared later. Maybe this is a story not often told. And I can already see all the Baathist at court rolling their eyes: "Moi? I only followed orders and didn't know anything." And the KGB thugs never got tried at all. If the ICC wants work I'm happy to help out. And yes Ed, it was worth it. Thank you |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-05-02 21:44:55 |
| #15 TGA, OldSpook - what creeped me out most about Sudkaserne was the chapel. Didn't notice it at first, took me about three weeks to "get it". The black & white tiles set into the floor were arranged in an interlocking pattern of swastikas, huge ones. THAT was when I had my "epiphany".. all the movies, newsreels, and history books suddenly became REAL for me in that single instant. Germans became real people, and not cardboard cutouts, stage dressing in a play the size of a planet. Strange what it takes to open a kid's eyes... By the way, TGA.. still have a chunk of the Wall sitting on my bookcase. When I start getting depressed and thinking my life was a waste, I pick it up and know that it was worth it. Ed Becerra. |
| Posted by: Ed Becerra 2003-05-02 21:22:29 |
| #14 Thanks, TGA! Lord, that brings back memories of another time.. *sigh* Hey, OldSpook, were you 2ACR? I was, from about 1981 to 1984. And yeah, there were tunnels and cellars below the barracks. One of my buddies got into serious trouble by smuggling some SCUBA gear into the barracks and going spelunking in the flooded areas without permission. And yeah, among the units stationed there were the 614th Maintinance, to which I was attached. TGA - 1946? Damn, you're lucky to have survived. Ed. |
| Posted by: Ed Becerra 2003-05-02 21:16:25 |
| #13 TGA: Thanks for the story. You should think about doing some memoirs. I'm a composition/language teacher, and you got style. |
| Posted by: michael 2003-05-02 20:38:58 |
| #12 Invite the prostitutes, poor women and widows to join the police force. Give them training, they will be fiercely loyal to secular administration. Train the women as cops and the Mullahs will cease to exist. |
| Posted by: anon1 2003-05-02 19:18:38 |
| #11 Nurnberg... yes, most of the stuff is still around. I remember the city back in 1946, all in ruins. I went to the Zeppelinfeld to scream my anger against the man who had ruined my youth... an eerie place at that time. Then I was called as a witness at the Nurenberg Trials. I saw the (no longer so fat) Nazi bosses sitting and pretending that they just followed orders, and I remember the Russian judge encouraging me to talk and talk.... until we came to the point about what the Soviets did with Buchenwald shortly after they took over from the Americans, and I remember how his smile froze and he ordered me to shut up which I didn't. An American intelligence official gave me the advice not to return to the "Zone" after what I have said. But I went back because my family was there. And two days later, at 4 am in the morning, the Soviets banged at the door. I shouldn't have gone to Nurenberg |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-05-02 18:52:49 |
| #10 Merril Barracks? Holy Cow - I remember that place! Merril is the top 1/3 of the picture. Main barracks were the two "Sqares" at the top and the walls between them - those things are about 3-4 stories high, concrete with brick facings. Brick walls still had bullet holes from WW2 in the exterior. 2ACR HQ, 82nd Engineers, 72nd Field Artillery and 502 MI were all there (If my memory serves me right). 9ft tall concrete wall all around the whole thing. I remember the "new" SCIF they had when I visited friends there: thats the little building sitting in the top of the "H" there in the linked photo. Main gate is very top, center. Motor Pool over on the far right. Out the left a way down the road was the entrance to the UBahn. Brings back memories - the UBahn "Weisserturm" stop sticks in mind (conductors really rolled the R in the middle), and getting off one (or two?) stops later at the Hauptbahnhof to go downtown (or else to catch the train back to Munchen). And from there, barhopping at "The Wall" to get drunk on overpriced beer. Iremember one of my few sober visits I made was to the Kristkindlmarkt - beautifyl. My mom still has the stuff I bought there and sent to her. Also the huge Zepplinplatz over by Merrill Barracks (off pitcure to the right if I remember) - where Hitler gave his rallies. Last I recall it was turned into a recreation area with some football pitches put up on it. Supposedly there were "secret tunnels" leading from the Kaserene to the Zepplinplatz, plus an underground pistol range and a motorpool underground as well, from the Nazi days. Rumor had it the 2ACR kept nuke artillery ammunition cores underground there. Been years. Damn I'm getting old. Hey TGA, any of that stuff still around? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-05-02 18:09:00 |
| #9 Suedkaserne (it's as good as it gets, sorry) |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-05-02 15:01:48 |
| #8 Three cheers for TGA! He may irritate me at times, but friends are allowed to do that, and he's DEFINITELY got the right idea here! (BTW, TGA.. can you do me a favor? If you're in Germany, I could use a current photo of Sudkaserne in the Nurmberg-Furth area. I was stationed there when it was still "Merrill Barracks" for the US Army.) Ed Becerra |
| Posted by: Ed Becerra 2003-05-02 14:45:10 |
| #7 TGA--I think you just described Fox's new show, "Mr. Personality". |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-02 12:48:59 |
| #6 Veil the guys and shave the women! |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-05-02 12:29:36 |
| #5 Well, my religion demands that I set fire to the beards of annoying old bastards, bub. It's a "holy" thing, you understand. Got a match? |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-05-02 10:45:04 |
| #4 We need some Afghans to do commercials. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-05-02 10:42:35 |
| #3 Is that the best beard that guy's able to grow? Did he only reach puberty last week? Honest to gosh, that's the kind of beard normal American guys get after two weeks of camping. Now, it's possible he may be trimming his beard, but that seems very non-Shiite. Note how I'm avoiding the obvious "Benny Hill" approach, which would be to say something about covering the men and letting the women grow their beards. Lucky for you I have impeccable taste. |
| Posted by: FormerLiberal 2003-05-02 10:36:23 |
| #2 "Those rules should be implemented on everyone, Muslims and non-Muslims, and the Muslims should implement them with more fervor," Doesn't that just sum it all up? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-05-02 10:27:42 |
| #1 TGA--I think you just described Fox's new show, "Mr. Personality". |
| Posted by: Dar 5/2/2003 12:48:59 PM |
