300,000 Iraqis Sign Petition Condemning Iran For Insurgent Campaign To Seize S. Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than 300,000 Iraqis including 600 Shi’ite tribal leaders have signed a petition accusing Iran of sowing “disorder” in southern Iraq, a group of sheikhs involved in the campaign said.
The sheikhs showed Reuters two thick bundles of notes which contained original signatures. The sheikhs said more than 300,000 people had signed the pages.
Such a public and organized display of animosity toward neighboring Shi’ite Iran is rare in Iraq. Iranian influence has grown steadily, especially in the predominantly Shi’ite south, since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
“More than 300,000 people from the southern provinces condemned the interference of the Iranian regime in Iraq and especially in spreading security disorder in the provinces,” the sheikhs said in a statement.
They did not elaborate, but Washington and the U.S. military accuse Iran of arming, training and funding Shi’ite militias in Iraq. Iran denies the charge and blames the violence in Iraq on the U.S. invasion.
The sheikhs declined to be identified for fear of retribution. They said various groups had been collecting the signatures for six months across southern Iraq. It was not immediately clear what they planned to do with the petition.
With Shi’ite Muslims in power in Baghdad after the ouster of Saddam, a Sunni Arab who was an enemy of Tehran, ties have strengthened between the two oil-producing states.
But some Iraqis chafe at the influence of Iran’s more conservative brand of religion in the south.
Shi’ites comprise around 60 percent of Iraq’s population, generally put at 26-27 million before the 2003 invasion.
“The most poisonous dagger stabbed in us, the Iraqi Shi’ites, is the (Iranian) regime shamefully exploiting the Shi’ite sect to implement its evil goals,” the statement said.
“They have targeted our national interests and began planning to divide Iraq and to separate the southern provinces from Iraq.”
Iran routinely pledges its support for a stable Iraq, and political leaders from Baghdad regularly visit Tehran.
STRICT ISLAMIC RULES
The statement said that besides 600 Shi’ite tribal leaders, the petition was signed by a number of lawyers, engineers, doctors and university professors.
The group of sheikhs is the same one that told Reuters last month that Shi’ite Islamist political parties were imposing strict Islamic rules in southern Iraq and using their armed wings to create a state of fear.
Such fears are not unfounded — two provincial governors were blown up by roadside bombs in August, apparent victims of infighting between the Shi’ite parties for political dominance in the region, source of most of Iraq’s oil wealth.
Aides to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the reclusive religious leader of Iraq’s Shi’ites, have also been killed.
The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and the movement of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are the dominant political forces in the Shi’ite provinces. Both have links to neighbouring Iran and believe Iraq should be governed according to Islamic principles.
SIIC and the Sadrists saw their rise to power cemented by the December 2005 elections which brought the Islamist Shi’ite Alliance to power. The Sadrists have since pulled out of the Alliance and the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, leader of the smaller Islamist Dawa party.
The growing strength of the Shi’ite parties in the south has weakened some secular tribal leaders and excluded them from power structures, a source of patronage and revenues.
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very cool news! free speech in action =)
November 21st, 2007 at 9:27 pmGee, I thought the U.S. was just making it up that Iran was waging war in Iraq, just to provide a fake excuse to attack it….for whatever nefarious reason that no one has been able to define yet. But, oops, the average Iraq is saying the same thing. And this is heavy, they’re actually trying to get the southern provinces to secede so they can control them. Damn. These guys don’t shy from any ambition, do they?
November 21st, 2007 at 9:36 pmA little of the Old Rivalry between these two couldn’t hurt at all… And the benefit would far outweigh any negatives in this situation!
Here’s a question: “If the U.S. told Iraq we were leaving tomorrow; do you think they would ask us to stay”?
November 21st, 2007 at 11:56 pmJust a quick question here… Is that one of our guys on fire coming out of the turret? I can’t id the vehicle. If it is one of our guys I hope he is alright.
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:25 amIt’s a British SNCO getting out of a Warrior IFV after a petrol bomb landed on the turret. It happened during an operation in Basra to free 2x SAS who had been “arrested” by rogue Iraqi Police who planned to hand them over to insurgents.
After he put himself out he got back into the turret and carried on with the operation. He was burnt but not too badly. His gunner was also on fire but managed to put himself out inside the turret.
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:09 amThat list of names would be death warrants if it falls into the wrong hands…like the UN. I see no need for the plea to come to this US administration but it would be on Hilary’s, maybe, desk for what good that would do.
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 am