Peace Breaks Out In Iraq
THE movement of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, alleged to have played a role in the anti-Sunni violence over the last few days, publicly made peace with political and religious Sunni leaders overnight.
Four sheikhs from the Sadr movement made a “pact of honour” with the conservative Sunni Muslim Scholars Association, and called for an end to attacks on places of worship, the shedding of blood and condemning any act leading to sedition.
The agreement was made in the particularly symbolic setting of Baghdad’s premier Sunni mosque Abu Hanifa where the Shiite sheikhs prayed under the guidance of Sunni imam Abdel Salam al-Qubaissi.
The meeting was broadcast on television and the religious leaders all “condemned the blowing up of the Shiite mausoleum of Samarra as much as the acts of sabotage against the houses of God as well as the assassinations and terrorisation of Muslims”.
The statement made reference to the key concerns of both communities with the violent aftermath to the attack on the Samarra mausoleum which saw more than 119 people die.
What has amazed me in recent days is how many people have just assumed that this Mosque attack in Iraq would inevitably lead to civil war. Granted, it is a volatile situation, but how stupid do we think the Iraqis are? Are we really supposed to believe that most Iraqis don’t get that the mosque was blown up by the foreign terrorists of al Qaeda for the express purpose of fomenting civil war?
The people in Iraq know the score on this one, and if they don’t know it they’re learning it. Ultimately this latest plot by the terrorists to undo what we have done in Iraq will fail. That the Iraqis are putting their differences aside to come together on this is heartening, and was is even more encouraging is that the vast majority of the military response to the violence which erupted after the attack on the mosque came from the Iraqis themselves.
This is a country that is learning how to manage itself.
