Bombings across Iraq target Shia

"In total, more than 21 bombs exploded on Wednesday in Baghdad and the southern Iraqi cities of Kerbala, Balad, Haswa, which are predominantly Shi'ite areas that have been targeted before by Sunni Islamist insurgents."

Invitees of Arab Summit mostly Sunni

'The invitees are almost all Sunni, and though many nations are not sending their heads of state, the fact that all have said they will come is considered a signal of Iraq's reacceptance into the Arab fold after more than two decades of isolation. Only Syria, which was suspended from the Arab League in November because of its government's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, will not be there.

Arab states "are seeing Iraq rising again. It is showing independence," Zebari said. "And it is not an Iranian-controlled and -occupied country as they thought." '

Salafi media: Shia are "worse than Jews"

'Several Salafi channels in tightly controlled Saudi Arabia have appeared to seize on Syria to escalate their case against Iran and Shiites in general, analysts add. Salafis are ultraconservative Sunnis whose interpretations of Islam overlap with those of al Qaeda.

"There will be slaughter and killing in every Arab country if the Syrian revolution is extinguished," said a news anchor this month on the Saudi-based Safa channel, adding that "Shiites are worse than Jews." '

Many Iraqi Sunna & Shia still distrust each other

A must read in the NYT: 'In places like Al Adel, some Shiite families view the Sunni families who stayed behind as complicit partners of the violent Sunni militants who overran many mixed neighborhoods. But many Sunni families say they now feel like they are being hounded by returning Shiites who, for the first time in centuries, have the force of the government and army at their backs.

...Many Sunni families watched over houses vacated by their Shiite neighbors, but Mr. Majid believes others invited squatters and became the eyes of Sunni militants, passing along information about their Shiite neighbors."

Iraqi govt is complicit in murders

HRW: “The government has contributed to an atmosphere of fear and panic fostered by acts of violence against emos,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of claiming that the accounts are fabricated, Iraqi authorities need to set up a transparent and independent inquiry to address the crisis.”

So now Iraqi authorities are saying the accounts of murder are fabricated? How sad and embarrassing for Iraqi Shia!

Killed for wearing American jeans

There are mujrimeen among the Shia in Baghdad, and they kill in the name of Islam:

"Youngsters in Iraq are being stoned to death for having haircuts and wearing clothes that emulate the ‘emo’ style popular among western teenagers.

At least 14 youths have been killed in the capital Baghdad in the past three weeks in what appears to be a campaign by Shia militants.

Militants in Shia neighbourhoods, where the stonings have taken place, circulated lists yesterday naming more youths targeted to be killed if they do not change the way they dress.

Al-Bayaty said the killings appear to have been carried out by extremist Shia militias in mostly poor Shia neighborhoods and said she suspected 'there's complicity of the Ministry of Interior in the killings.'

Photos of the victims were released on Facebook, causing panic and fear among Iraqi students."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2112960/90-students-Iraq-stoned-death-having-Emo-hair-tight-clothes.html#ixzz1om4zZZdi

I understand now why so many people believe Iraqis lived better under Saddam.

Explosion kills 53 Shia in Basra

"The explosion hit a tent where pilgrims were being fed around 8:30 a.m., killing at least 53 people, including several police officers at a nearby checkpoint, and wounding more than 130 others, local officials said."

PS: CNN says it was a suicide bomber: "A suicide bomber disguised as a policeman targeted Shiite pilgrims Saturday outside the southern Iraqi city of Basra, killing at least 53 people and wounding 137, the Interior Ministry said."

Two Sunni soldiers killed trying to protect Shia pilgrims

'Meanwhile, top officials in Nasiriyah, worst hit by Thursday's bloodshed, held a funeral for two Sunni soldiers who, officers said, tried to prevent a suicide attack that killed 47 people in the southern city.

...Lieutenant Nazham Faleh and Private Ali Ahmed Sabah, both Sunnis from north of Baghdad, tried to wrestle the insurgent away from a crowd of Shiite pilgrims who were resting on their way to the shrine city of Karbala for Arbaeen commemorations, their commander said.

The bomber, who security officials said was carrying 35 kilograms (77 pounds) of explosives as well as nails and ball bearings, was nevertheless able to detonate his payload.

"If they did not do that, the number of casualties would have doubled because of the huge amount of explosives he was carrying, and the huge number of people around," said Colonel Sattar Jabbar al-Rizzi, commander of the Iraqi army brigade responsible for securing the area.'

Thanks Haydar for sharing.

An abundance of ignorance about Iraq

I just read this comment by a "Sven Auge Jensen" on NPR's article about today's bombings that targeted Shia in Iraq: "Let me see if I've got this right. We destroy the entire country. We remove the worlds second largest known oil reserves from the world market. People murdered and maimed. Treasure squandered. And if all that wasn't enough we hung the one guy that could keep this nation of maniacs in line."

Saddam was allowing takfiri idiots to roam Iraq throughout the 90s (there were Salafi ties to Iraq before 2003) and Saddam did not keep this "nation of maniacs in line" unless keeping the nation in line means mass murdering Iraqis who were critical of the government, plunging the nation into an 8-year war with Iran and then invading Kuwait and subjecting the nation to 40 consecutive days of intense bombing and cruel sanctions and putting down a popular uprising and killing 300,000 Iraqi Shia. And we did not remove Iraq's oil from the world market!

I can see how uneducated Sunni Arabs would believe this kind of crap. But a westerner named Sven? Sven also seems to believe America hung Saddam. No, Sven, you've got it all wrong. I see a lot of ignorance and twisting of truth on the web with respect to Iraq. It is annoying. I just wanted to vent.

Bombings kill 71 Shia in Iraq

"A string of explosions targeting Shiite Muslims that killed at least 71 people bore the hallmark of Sunni Arab insurgents who have a history of trying to capitalize on tensions among Iraqi politicians to reignite the communal violence that nearly tore the country apart."

Hashemi accuses Iraqi govt of bombing Shia neighborhoods

"Iraq's Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi has said Iraq's government was behind Thursday's series of bombings that killed nearly 70 people in Baghdad."

I think many Sunni Arabs believe this. It's either Iran or the Iraqi government, or both, according to them. I don't hear as many Arabs blaming Americans for bombings that kill civilians.

Thanks Anonymous for posting the link.

Rumors that Maliki to have Sunni VP arrested?

on charges of terrorism?

"Iraq’s political process was unraveling faster than had been anticipated Saturday, with Sunni politicians walking out of the nation’s parliament and threatening to resign from the government even before the last U.S. troops had left the country.

The crisis was triggered by reports that security forces loyal to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, are planning to arrest the country’s Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashimi, and charge him with terrorism."

Update: "An Iraqi investigative committee issued an arrest warrant Monday for the country's vice president, who is accused of orchestrating bombing attacks against government and security officials.

The committee of five judges issued the warrant for Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi under Article 4 of the country's anti-terrorism law.

The Interior Ministry, at a news conference, showed what it called confession videos from people identified as security guards for al-Hashimi, the country's Sunni vice president. In the videos, the men described various occasions in which they purportedly carried out attacks under direct orders from al-Hashimi."

Iraqi Shia and Irani relationship is complicated

Liz Sly, WP: "When a senior Iranian cleric announced last month that he was planning to move to this holy Shiite city to open an office, the furor that erupted offered a glimpse into the future of a complicated relationship.

As American troops leave Iraq, Iran certainly ranks high among the beneficiaries of their eight-year presence. As a Shiite power that suffered enormously during its own eight-year war with a Sunni-dominated Iraq in the 1980s, Iran now can generally count on closer ties with a friendly Shiite government next door.

But the biggest winners of all have been Iraqi Shiites, whose ascent to power reversed nearly 1,400 years of sometimes brutal Sunni domination. And while Iraqi Shiites broadly welcome the departure of Americans, they seem in no mood to substitute one form of foreign domination for another — and least of all, they say, from Iran."

Embarrassing to see Shia defending al Assad

It is embarrassing to see Shia defending Bashar al Assad's regime. Hasan Nasrallah defended the dictator. Iran of course is defending him. Even one of my own relatives says the footage out of Syria is fake. Fake!?? Watch Barbara Walters' interview with Bashar al Assad and tell me the video is fake, 3ammu.

We Shia should be supporting democracy in Syria, even if many Syrians did not support democracy in Iraq.

Ashura, day of sorrow

"At least 20 people — many of them women and children — were killed in three bomb blasts about 50 miles south of Baghdad, security officials and hospital officials said. Dozens more were injured.

In the capital, another three explosions in heavily Shiite neighborhoods left three people dead and nearly 20 wounded, police officials said.

The attacks came as hundreds of thousands of worshipers flocked to the holy city of Karbala to celebrate Ashura, which commemorates the death of a foundational figure in Shiite Islam more than 1,000 years ago."

Ashura has been attacked before, and not just in Iraq, but Iraqi Shia have been the primary victims of Wahhabi terrorism since 2003.

More on Ashura: "Shia Imams strongly insist that the day of Ashura should not be taken as a day of joy and festivity. According to a hadith which is reported from Ali claiming it was on that day the God forgave Adam, Noah's Ark rested on dry land, The Israelites were saved from Pharaoh's army, etc. The day of Ashura, according to Eighth Shia Imam, Ali al-Rida, must be observed as a day of inactivity, sorrow and total disregard of worldly cares."

Al Jazeera sucks (again)

Hayder al-Khoei: "Arab broadcasting has never been renowned for neutrality but the events of the past week in Saudi Arabia have revealed some interesting – if not surprising – bias.

On 20 November, 19-year-old Nasser al-Mheishi was shot dead in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. When the authorities refused to hand over his body to his family, protests ensued the next day and security forces shot another young man, Ali al-Felfel. In the demonstration that followed on Wednesday, two more protesters, Munib al-Adnan and Ali al-Qarayrees, were killed.

On Thursday, al-Jazeera Arabic did mention those two deaths but it simply echoed the Saudi authorities' claims that the security forces were fired upon and shot back in self-defence. The casualties were merely caught in the crossfire. End of story.

Even Al-Jazeera English, which does better than its Arabic sister station, did not follow up its coverage of deaths at Qatif protests"

"All American Muslim"

'For those constantly fretting about the inability of Muslims to integrate or assimilate into western culture, fret no more!

American Muslims finally have their own reality TV show – the Learning Channel's "All-American Muslim" – focusing on the lives of five American Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan, who are predominantly Lebanese and Shiite. The show's premiere gave TLC huge ratings and made the show No 2 in its time period. Mainstream critics have embraced the show citing it as "intimate and informative" and a "deeply intriguing, uncharacteristically thoughtful reality series".'

I remember a few people on Angry Arab in 2006 and 2007 who said that I could not be Iraqi and American. I wonder if they know there are hundreds of thousands of Muslims of all backgrounds living in America.

Bahrain court jails more activists

"A Bahraini security court has sentenced 26 activists to prison for their part in anti-government protests, raising to 60 the total number convicted over the past two days in stepped-up prosecutions.

Bahraini authorities on Tuesday also banned the largely Shia opposition from organising a "human chain" demonstration against the jailing of medics and activists.

The official Bahrain News Agency said Tuesday's verdicts included members of a Shia political group, Al Amal, which was banned by the Sunni monarchy after pro-reform protests began in February."

Thanks Ghassan for posting on fb.

40 killed in bombings targeting Baghdadi Shia

LAT: At least 40 Iraqis killed in blasts in Baghdad

"Bombs target two Shiite neighborhoods of the Iraqi capital, with three explosions at an outdoor market, near a Shiite mosque, and a car bombing at another market."

Also: "Stephen Everhart was brought to Iraq by the U.S. Agency for International Development to assist the University of Baghdad's business college in qualifying for international accreditation.

He was killed Thursday outside the gates of the university when a powerful bomb commonly used by Shiite Muslim militias detonated."

I find it strange and sad that while Sunni militant extremists target Shia civilians, Shia militant extremists target Americans who want to help Iraqis prosper.

Al Qaeda gets its revenge

on Iraqi Shia and Iraqi security forces, again! And it's not surprising, because it's happened so many times before! Iraqis have been the biggest victims of Al Qaeda's terrorism and assassinations in the world, I reckon.

"A suicide bomber driving an explosives-packed vehicle rammed his way into a barricaded police compound yesterday, killed 20 police officers, and wounded 40 others in the second major deadly blast in Iraq this week.

...There was no immediate claim of responsibility for this bombing or for another on Tuesday that killed nine people in a Shi’ite neighborhood in Baghdad. But the types of targets — Iraqi security forces and Shi’ite Muslims — indicate Al Qaeda in Iraq’s involvement."

Between 2003 and 2010, there were 1,759 suicide bombings in Iraq, according to this Wikipedia article.

PS: I hope Usama bin Ladin is burning in HELL now, and I hope the remainder of Al Qaeda follow him!!!