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Bomb explosion in Central Baghdad Kills Education Official
We have got benumbed hearing such news repeatedly over the last two years since we liberated Iraq. Many would ask “What sustains this kind of terror?” The answer lies not in American policy, or in American “blunders” as some like Al Jazeera would have you believe, but in deeper causes linked with the ethos in which we operate in Iraq and the broader Middle East.
 Sunni demonstrators carry a sign in support of Sunni Arab legislator Meshaan al-Jubouri to be the new speaker of the Iraqi Parliament during a rally on Saturday, April 2, 2005, Poster reads: 'Yes to Meshaan al-Jubouri. Yes, to the Sunni Arab’ Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, recently told a Shiite lawmaker, Dhari al-Faiadh, that the assembly members should select a speaker "in a democratic way," said Maithen Faisal, an official in al-Sistani's Najaf office. This indicated that Sistani was pitching for a Shite or Kurd speaker, since the Sunnis are in no position to get a speaker elected with their own vote block. Iraq is in for a period of turmoil, till the situation stabilizes, if it stablizes! ___________________________________ Islam is today being portrayed as a peaceful and tolerant religion. History proves otherwise! Though there were certainly periods of relative tranquility and tolerance, minorities and non-Muslims have always been persecuted under Islam. And as an extension, different Muslim sects have persecuted each other whenever the non-Muslims have either disappeared totally or have become insignificant minorities. The second scenario prevails in Iraq today. For many years the Sunnis (under Saddam) persecuted the Shias and Kurds. Today the situation is reversed and the Shias and Kurds together hold a majority in parliament. Now it is the turn of the Sunnis to fear Shia persecution. The current imbroglio in Iraq is a symptom of that struggle. In fact, Islamic ideology is the cause of this friction between Muslims and non-Muslim and also among the Muslims themselves. Islam generates an attitude based upon an intense hatred of the non-Muslims that gets internalized within Muslims when the non-Muslims are negligible or non-existent. For Muslims, there exist two kinds of non-Muslim enemies... kafirs (non-believers in Islam) and ahl al-kitab (People of the Book). People such as Christians, Jews, must either convert to Islam or face persecution as Dhimmis (2nd class citizens under Muslim rule). The other non-Muslims face a worse scenario of Islam or death thru genocide or emigration to non-Muslim lands. This is happening in our times in Southern Sudan, Kano in Northern Nigeria, Kashmir in India, Mindanao in the Philippines, Malaku in Indonesia, and in Darfur (the last case within the Muslim community between Arabs and African Muslims). People of the Book include Jews and Christians. These people need only submit to Muslim authority (called Shariah) to avoid forced conversion or death. Although they may keep their original faith, their status becomes Dhimmi (a "protected," yet inferior non-Muslim status). So instead of outright forced conversion or slaughter, the Christians and Jews would be allowed to remain somewhat unmolested as long as they acknowledged the superiority of the Muslim. However, as 100,000 dead Lebanese Christians and Israel's beleaguered Jewish population have discovered over the years, these guarantees have proved worthless! Islam, as a religion is militant and violent. Muslims are anti-non-Muslims and it is for the non-Muslims to listen to them and to submit to them and convert to Islam. Otherwise, there is war. This has become a global issue today. A worldwide war of civilizations seems to be staring us in the face today. This seems like a cliché and a cliché it would have been had it not been corroborated in Iraq in the bloodied sequence of terror attacks on a day-to-day basis, where today a car bomb has exploded Saturday in central Iraq. The attack killed five people, including four police officers on patrol, while gunmen killed an education official in Baghdad. A U.S. Marine was killed in Ramadi, the military said Saturday. Another car bomb in Khan Bani Saad, near the troubled city of Baqouba in central Iraq, also injured two police officers and three civilians, provincial police Col. Mudafar al-Jubori said.
In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire from a car, killing Hassib Zamil outside of the Education Ministry offices in the Sadr City neighborhood, education official Ibrahim Abid Wali said.
The Marine was killed Friday while conducting security operations in Ramadi, the U.S. military said.
In the capital Friday, insurgents fired a rocket propelled grenade and shot at an armored vehicle used to transport U.S. troops on a road leading to the dangerous airport highway, injuring two American soldiers, the U.S. military said.
As of Friday, at least 1,532 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Aginst the backdrop of these events, jostling continued for parliamentary leadership positions intensified Saturday, one day before the newly elected National Assembly holds its third meeting.
Adnan Pachachi, a senior Sunni assembly member, nominated himself for one of two vice presidential posts expected to be filled by a Sunni Arab.
Lawmakers remained divided over Sunni Arab candidates for parliamentary speaker.
In Tikrit, thousands assembled in a stadium to support Sunni Arab legislator Meshaan al-Jubouri's candidacy for speaker.
A group of Sunni leaders nominated al-Jubouri on Wednesday, but it wasn't clear if he had the backing of the entire Sunni community. Lawmakers in other coalitions also voiced their opposition to his candidacy.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq, recently told a Shiite lawmaker, Dhari al-Faiadh, that the assembly members should select a speaker "in a democratic way," said Maithen Faisal, an official in al-Sistani's Najaf office. This indicated that Sistani was pitching for a Shite or Kurd speaker, since the Sunnis are in no position to get a speaker elected with their own vote block. Iraq is in for a period of turmoil, till the situation stabilizes, if it stablizes!
Story Credit : Yahoo News
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