arh777
04-04-2005, 07:53 AM
Iraqi Sunni clerics stage an about-face Followers urged to join army and police
Apr 4 2005
A group of Sunni clerics, including some hard-line figures who fiercely oppose the American presence here, issued a statement Friday urging their fellow Sunnis to join the Iraqi Army and the police.
The edict, signed by 64 imams and religious scholars, was a striking turnaround for the clerics, who have often lashed out in sermons at the fledgling army and police and branded them collaborators. Many if not most insurgent attacks in recent months have been aimed at the police and army, which are largely composed of Shiites. The prominent cleric who announced the edict, Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai, said he believed the new directive would undercut those attacks. But Samarrai also made it clear that the edict was aimed at regaining some control over Iraq's new security forces, not saving Shiite lives.
Sunnis dominated the higher echelons of the military under Saddam Hussein, and many, enraged by the American decision to dissolve the army two years ago, joined the insurgency. The edict contained a condition, seemingly aimed at sweetening the pill for resistant Sunnis: the new police and army recruits must agree ''not to help the occupier against his compatriots.''
American and Iraqi officials welcomed the edict as a sign that Iraq's Sunnis, who largely boycotted the January elections, are taking steps toward joining the political process. ''It is a positive step,'' said Saad Jawad Qindeel, a member of the Shiite alliance that won the largest bloc of seats in Iraq's new national assembly in January. ''We are hoping the clerics will take an even more definite attitude in preventing terrorism.''
Samarrai delivered the edict Friday at the mosque in western Baghdad that houses the headquarters of the influential Muslim Scholars Association. The signatories included Ahmed Hassan al Taha, a hard-line imam at Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque. But the leader of the Muslim Scholars Association, Harith al Dari, did not sign the edict, and it was not clear whether he or the Association was offering some tacit support by hosting the announcement.
The association, like some of the scholars who signed the edict, is widely believed to have some influence over the armed resistance, but it is impossible to say how much. ** Reporting contributed by Khalid al Ansary and Zaineb Obeid.
Apr 4 2005
A group of Sunni clerics, including some hard-line figures who fiercely oppose the American presence here, issued a statement Friday urging their fellow Sunnis to join the Iraqi Army and the police.
The edict, signed by 64 imams and religious scholars, was a striking turnaround for the clerics, who have often lashed out in sermons at the fledgling army and police and branded them collaborators. Many if not most insurgent attacks in recent months have been aimed at the police and army, which are largely composed of Shiites. The prominent cleric who announced the edict, Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samarrai, said he believed the new directive would undercut those attacks. But Samarrai also made it clear that the edict was aimed at regaining some control over Iraq's new security forces, not saving Shiite lives.
Sunnis dominated the higher echelons of the military under Saddam Hussein, and many, enraged by the American decision to dissolve the army two years ago, joined the insurgency. The edict contained a condition, seemingly aimed at sweetening the pill for resistant Sunnis: the new police and army recruits must agree ''not to help the occupier against his compatriots.''
American and Iraqi officials welcomed the edict as a sign that Iraq's Sunnis, who largely boycotted the January elections, are taking steps toward joining the political process. ''It is a positive step,'' said Saad Jawad Qindeel, a member of the Shiite alliance that won the largest bloc of seats in Iraq's new national assembly in January. ''We are hoping the clerics will take an even more definite attitude in preventing terrorism.''
Samarrai delivered the edict Friday at the mosque in western Baghdad that houses the headquarters of the influential Muslim Scholars Association. The signatories included Ahmed Hassan al Taha, a hard-line imam at Baghdad's Abu Hanifa mosque. But the leader of the Muslim Scholars Association, Harith al Dari, did not sign the edict, and it was not clear whether he or the Association was offering some tacit support by hosting the announcement.
The association, like some of the scholars who signed the edict, is widely believed to have some influence over the armed resistance, but it is impossible to say how much. ** Reporting contributed by Khalid al Ansary and Zaineb Obeid.