Zarqawi: Fanning the flames of civil strife
Photo courtesy of The Washington Times
CAIRO -- The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq railed against Shi'ite Muslims in a four-hour audiotape posted on the Internet yesterday, saying their militias are raping women and killing Sunnis and the community must fight back.
The tape by Abu Musab Zarqawi appeared aimed at sabotaging the Iraqi government's efforts to name a unity government -- but was also intended to further enflame Shi'ite-Sunni tension across the Arab world.
"There's a civil war going on in Iraq, but it will not become truly fierce until it's exported outside Iraq. This tape is trying to do just that," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi political commentator. Zarqawi prods Sunnis to fight Shi'ite 'snakes'
Mark Alexander
2 comments:
Mark,
As you know, the media are giving lots of air time to the many alleged atrocities committed by U.S Forces. I've seen similar stories about the Iraqi militias, though not as many. And of course Zarqawi is going to exploit those stories and summon the ummah to defend Islam, particularly the Sunni sect.
I've also seen a lot of discussion as to whether or not Iraq is currently embroiled in a civil war. But how does one discern civil war from tribal war? That last has a long tradition in Islam.
BTW, when I clicked on the story at the Washington Times, I saw a prominent advertisement for the movie you mentioned in a previous posting. I tried to leave a comment at that posting, but Blogger was having glitches here yesterday, so my comment disappeared into the ether. The movie is scheduled for some showing here in the D.C. area. I hope to see that movie!
Beak,
I agree! What I can't stand is the media's feeding frenzy--they'll broadcast all the wrongs committed by our forces, but gloss over the beheadings done by the sons of allah.
I find it hard to believe that an entire group of Marines went off and committed egregious acts. And what you said sounds right to me: No doubt the ultimate cause is terrorist hiding amongst civilians.
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