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Iraq
Iraq gov't seizes HQ of Learned Elders of Islam™
2007-11-14
The Iraqi government seized the west Baghdad headquarters of a powerful Sunni Muslim group Wednesday, cordoning off the building and accusing the group of supporting al-Qaida, officials said. The Association of Muslim Scholars, a hardline Sunni clerics group with links to insurgents, has its headquarters in the Um al-Qura mosque in the capital's Sunni-dominated Ghazaliyhah neighborhood.
The Muslim Scholars have been a thin veneer front for al-Qaeda since 2003 at least. The government is just now getting around to shutting them down?
Iraqi security forces dispatched by the Sunni Endowment, a government agency that cares for Sunni mosques and shrines, surrounded the mosque complex at 9 a.m. Wednesday and demanded that the building be evacuated before noon, the association said in a statement posted on its Web site. Employees were told to remove all personal belongings and even haul out furniture, that troops said would be destroyed if left behind, it said.

The head of the Sunni Endowment held a news conference at the mosque later Wednesday, accusing the clerics group of supporting al-Qaida. "The Association of Muslim Scholars has regrettably been attacking any tribal awakening, resistance or worshippers whenever they form a force to purge their neighborhoods of al-Qaida elements. The association has always justified killing and assassinations carried out by al-Qaida," Ahmed Abdul-Ghafoor al-Samarraie, the Sunni Endowment chief, told reporters. "The association no longer has a place here... These headquarters now belong to the Sunni Endowment," he said.
Posted by:Seafarious

#9  What were Muhammed's credentials as to his "prophet" claims?

Uberthug. He was worse than a phone company--he could do whatever he wanted and claim whatever he wanted. And if someone disagreed or just made a fun of him, he sent an unterthug for a hit job on the offender.

Posted by: zazz   2007-11-14 23:18  

#8  These words seem quite apropos


Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Bob Dylan
Posted by: doc   2007-11-14 22:16  

#7  so this is the reason to go after them now, the awakening has isolated AMS. OTOH, it would have more credibility if the Iraqi govt was more clearly reaching out to the awakening..

Liberalhawk, NPR reported Maliki announced he's going to appoint Cabinet Ministers from amongst the Sunni Awakening leaders, to replace those elected Sunnis who either quit or are useless. So there is government support, at least for the moment.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-11-14 19:26  

#6  Any Muslim can claim any title. There are no general credentials' committees.

What were Muhammed's credentials as to his "prophet" claims?
Posted by: Snetle tse Tung6618   2007-11-14 18:14  

#5  Gee, I guess this finally means that they are no longer the "influential" Association of Muslim Scholars, as the fawning MSM used to call them.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-11-14 16:03  

#4  "The Association of Muslim Scholars has regrettably been attacking any tribal awakening, resistance or worshippers whenever they form a force to purge their neighborhoods of al-Qaida elements."

so this is the reason to go after them now, the awakening has isolated AMS. OTOH, it would have more credibility if the Iraqi govt was more clearly reaching out to the awakening.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2007-11-14 15:03  

#3  "Employees were told to remove all personal belongings and even haul out furniture,"

thus providing excellent cover to remove any concealed arms or explosives still in the building.
Posted by: USN,Ret.   2007-11-14 13:35  

#2  EVICTION NOTICE: Employees were told to remove all personal belongings and even haul out furniture...

Posted by: GK   2007-11-14 13:33  

#1  The Iraqi government seized the west Baghdad headquarters of a powerful Sunni Muslim group

Not so powerful any more, apparently.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-11-14 13:24  

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