Shiite clerics joined Sunni preachers in a march of thousands of mostly black-clad men Wednesday, trying to keep sectarian passions in check after a horrific attack on Shiite pilgrims that raised fears of civil war. U.S. and Iraqi officials disagreed over how many people died in Tuesday's bombings in Baghdad and Karbala - the deadliest here since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi Governing Council said 271 people were killed. U.S. officials put the toll at 117.
"I think this arm goes with this leg."
"Nope, don't think so, they look different to me."
"Fine, keep the count your way, I'll keep it mine." |
No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks. However, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, said Wednesday the United States has evidence that al-Qaida-linked Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was behind the bombings. In what appeared to be a nod to criticism from Iraq's top Shiite cleric, U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer said the coalition would help strengthen border security, saying it was "increasingly apparent" that "a large part of terrorism" comes from outside Iraq. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani and other Shiite leaders accused the coalition of failing to provide adequate security for the worshippers and of not doing enough to prevent extremists from crossing Iraq's porous borders. "There are 8,000 border police on duty today and more are on the way," Bremer said. "We are adding hundreds of vehicles and doubling border police staffing in selected areas. The United States has committed $60 million to support border security."
In an attempt to play down sectarian divisions, Shiite Muslim clerics and Sunni preachers led thousands in a march from a Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad to the Kazimiya district where the bombings in the capital took place. "We and our Sunni countrymen are, have been and always will be, brothers," said Shiite preacher Amer al-Hussein, a senior aide to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, an outspoken opponent of the U.S.-led occupation.
| "Only now our Sunni brothers will be the little brothers!" |
Members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council also stressed the need for unity between Shiites and Sunnis. "It was a crime directed not only against Shiites, or Islam, but against humanity," said Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a prominent Shiite council member. "Anyone who kills a Sunni is against the spirit of Shiism. And anyone who kills a Shiite is against the spirit of Sunnism," he said. Governing Council members also sought to discourage speculation that the attacks would trigger a wave of reprisal killings that would spiral toward civil war. "We are nowhere near civil war," said Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a Shiite member. "It will never happen in this country."
In Baghdad, the current Governing Council president, Shiite cleric Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum, and other council members spoke graphically of the devastation of the attacks, apparently hoping to stir revulsion among Iraqis of all factions, ethnic groups and creeds. In the streets of this teeming capital, many Shiites echoed the need for unity. "What happened yesterday is indescribable," Salah Abu Mahdi said as he served Iranian pilgrims at his grocery story in Kazimiya. "We and the Sunnis have always lived in peace." |