Sunday, November 26, 2006
Al-Dhari calls for international community to stop supporting govt.
Politics
A prominent Sunni religious leader accused in Baghdad of inciting terrorism warned Saturday that Iraq ‘s escalating sectarian violence will spread throughout the Middle East unless the international community ends support for the Shiite-led Iraqi government.
"I call on the Arab states and the Arab League and the United Nations to stop this government and withdraw its support from it. Otherwise, the disaster will occur and the turmoil will happen in Iraq and other countries," said Sheik Harith al-Dhari, who heads the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq. Al-Dhari‘s comments in Cairo came as Iraq is being wracked by an upsurge in sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites, including a bombing onslaught Thursday that killed 215 people in Baghdad‘s biggest Shiite neighborhood.
Al-Dhari, who is an outspoken critic of al-Maliki‘s government and the presence of U.S.-led foreign troops, charged that the Shiite-dominated administration is using a curfew declared in Baghdad after the bombings as a way to carry out attacks on Sunnis. But he also urged Iraqis not to join in violence, which he said threatens to tear the country apart.
"I call on the Arab states and the Arab League and the United Nations to stop this government and withdraw its support from it. Otherwise, the disaster will occur and the turmoil will happen in Iraq and other countries," said Sheik Harith al-Dhari, who heads the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq. Al-Dhari‘s comments in Cairo came as Iraq is being wracked by an upsurge in sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites, including a bombing onslaught Thursday that killed 215 people in Baghdad‘s biggest Shiite neighborhood.
Al-Dhari, who is an outspoken critic of al-Maliki‘s government and the presence of U.S.-led foreign troops, charged that the Shiite-dominated administration is using a curfew declared in Baghdad after the bombings as a way to carry out attacks on Sunnis. But he also urged Iraqis not to join in violence, which he said threatens to tear the country apart.
