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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Khamenei sez US, Israel behind Askariya bombing
2006-02-23
Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has announced a week of mourning following the attack Wednesday morning on one of the holiest Shiite shrines at Samarra in Iraq, and accused the Americans and Israelis of responsibility. In a statement, the Iranian leader says those behind the attack were "the occupation forces and Zionism, which seeing their plans for Iraq dissolve, have planned this atrocity to sew hate between Muslims and fuel divisions between Sunnis and Shiites". In Iran, where 90 per cent of the population is Shiite, the attack against the shrine has caused disgust and consternation.

Ayatollah Khamenei went on to appeal to Shiites to "not fall into the enemy trap by attacking mosques and sacred places of [their] Sunni brothers".

"The enemy", Khamenei concludes "wants nothing more than weakening the Islamic front, right as Muslims with a single voice have been protesting against the continual provocations of their enemies", an apparent reference to protests around the Muslim world at Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

"The attack this morning in Samarra had one aim, to divide Muslims" said the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi. “This attack shows on one hand that the aim is to cause divisions within the ummah (global Muslim community) trying to turn Shiites against their Sunni brothers. "On the other it is a clear sign that the occupying armies are incapable of guaranteeing the security of Iraq or fighting terrorism" Asefi added.

Iranian imams will be invited to dedicate their Friday sermons to the attack.

The United States called the bombers "enemies of all faiths and of all humanity" and vowed to hunt down those behind the blast.

Washington's ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the top US commander in the country, General George Casey, issued a joint statement saying the US would contribute to the shrine's reconstruction.
Posted by:Dan Darling

#9  Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
Posted by: Zenster   2006-02-23 13:49  

#8  SPOD, I agree. Already mentioned that scenariao yesterday.
Posted by: twobyfour   2006-02-23 09:49  

#7  The Iraqi president should make a statement that we now have proof that the bombers were Iranian agents. That would set the mad mullahs back on the balls of their arses, and shut them up as well.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-02-23 09:49  

#6  If everything that happens to Muslims is the fault of the Jews and US, just exactly what is it that they do? I think they've cried wolf enough.
Posted by: plainslow   2006-02-23 08:49  

#5  The Khamenei statement is a great example of the IPU (Islamic Parallel Universe).

In the IPU, moslems can not be responsible for atrocities. Thus, someone else has to be. Thus the US and Israel.

Oddly, in this case, Khamenei's conclusion, i.e., 'don't start a civil war' is the same message the US is putting out.
Posted by: mhw   2006-02-23 08:19  

#4  JPost Link
The Jooosss simply have to come into the plot in an Ayrab script. Chief rabble rousing ragheads always raise the same old blame-stupor line unfailingly.
Posted by: Duh!   2006-02-23 07:54  

#3  Sock! Are you suggesting the Mad Mullahs blew it up to derail Iraqi progress?

They wouldn't do that, would they?

Oh. Not unless they could blame the Jooos!
Posted by: Bobby   2006-02-23 07:34  

#2  You can make this stuff up as the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proves.

Guess who just moved to the top of my list of suspects after being a close second?
Posted by: Sock Puppet O' Doom   2006-02-23 02:57  

#1  The expected islamo kneejerk. What else new is there?
Posted by: Duh!   2006-02-23 02:39  

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