Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HILLAH28
2006-02-24 17:59:00
UNCLASSIFIED
REO Hillah
Cable title:  

NAJAF, KARBALA MOSQUES PREACH UNITY AND CALM; BLAME

Tags:  PGOV PREL KISL PINR IZ 
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VZCZCXRO8311
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHIHL #0028/01 0551759
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241759Z FEB 06
FM REO HILLAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0553
INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0538
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHIHL/REO HILLAH 0600
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000028 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NAJAF, KARBALA MOSQUES PREACH UNITY AND CALM; BLAME
SADDAMISTS AND TAKFIRIS

REF: HILLAH 0026

HILLAH 00000028 001.2 OF 002


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000028

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NAJAF, KARBALA MOSQUES PREACH UNITY AND CALM; BLAME
SADDAMISTS AND TAKFIRIS

REF: HILLAH 0026

HILLAH 00000028 001.2 OF 002


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION


1. (U) Summary: Friday Mosque sermons delivered amidst heavy
security in Najaf and Karbala generally appealed for calm and
unity, and were followed by peaceful demonstrations. Despite
some Sadrist provocations, the two Shi'a holy cities were
reportedly quiet, with shops and offices closed and black
mourning curtains draped around shrines and religious offices.
Rumors and some reports circulated in Najaf and Karbala of
Sadrists mobilizing to travel to Samarra. End summary.

NAJAF MOSQUES PREACH MOURNING, UNITY, CALM
--------------


2. (SBU) Sadrist statements on February 23 stoked tensions but
the mood reportedly cooled in the wake of conciliatory sermons
and calls for unity and non-violence at major Najaf mosques
during Friday prayers February 24. Sayid Mohammed Al-Tabtabae, a
leading Sadrist cleric in Kufa, issued a statement to a crowd of
about 800 outside the Kufa Mosque on February 23. The cleric was
guarded by black-clad Mahdi Militia members. Many in the crowd
carried weapons and images of Moqtada Al-Sadr. The crowd also
contained tribal leaders.


3. (SBU) Al-Tabtabae's statement said, "This attack was carried
out by the Saddamists and the 'invasion forces,' and it was not
carried out by the Sunni. This is a war against Islam that is
made by the infidels against our sacred places. We demand
immediate action from the national government. We shall not just
protest and leave. We shall stay until our demands have been
met, and we demand that the U.S. forces withdraw." On Friday, a
statement attributed to Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, leader of the
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),
appeared on Elaph, a Jordanian website generally up-to-date on
Iraqi news and Iraqi Al-Furat TV, a SCIRI outlet. In the
statement, Al-Hakim blames the followers of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi
and Saddam Hussein for the Al-Askariyah bombing. It urges the
people to be calm and cautious in the face of attempts to incite
a civil war, which Al-Hakim says has been the goal of the
terrorists for three years.


4. (SBU) Security remained tight in Najaf through February 24.

Large numbers of armored cars parked in the vicinity of Grand
Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani's house on February 24 after Friday
prayers sparked rumors that a high-level visitor, possibly SCIRI
Leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, had arrived to visit Sistani. Najaf
local staff reported that the main entrance to Najaf's Old City
was closed by Iraqi Police (IP). Other entrances were partially
open but many checkpoints were in place. The Imam Ali Shrine was
guarded by Iraqi Army units and vehicles, the doors to the
shrine were closed, and security forces were on high alert. The
shrine remained closed and heavily guarded through Friday, and
there were no Friday prayers there for security reasons. Cars
were barred from the vicinity of the shrine, even for residents
of the neighborhood immediately surrounding it.


5. (SBU) The Najaf SCIRI office, adjacent to the Fatimiya
Mosque, remained open February 23, local REO staff reported.
Security was provided by Badr Organization members, and the
fence around the office was covered in black sheets signifying
mourning. Most stores in the city remained closed through
Friday, February 24. Many had flags and banners of mourning on
their doors. Large numbers of people gathered in the city in
places traditionally designated for mourning during the Ashura
commemoration, and many pictures of Moqtada Al-Sadr hung in
these places. Large numbers of Sadrists surrounded the Sadr
offices near the Imam Ali Shrine. Crowds also massed around
Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani's house nearby.


6. (SBU) Sadr Al-Deen Al-Qubanji, the Najaf SCIRI head and the
Imam of the Fatimiya Mosque in Najaf, led the regular Friday
prayer service at the Fatimiya Mosque. About 1,000 worshippers
attended the prayers, local staff reported, and many more
gathered outside. Badr Organization members provided security.
The sermon began with a condemnation of the bombing. Al-Qubanji
blamed the Baathists and "Wahabbis," and held the national
government partially responsible for not doing more to protect
the shrine. Then Al-Qubanji called for the unity of the country.
He said that the "forces of the believers" should be mobilized
to protect the holy shrines and protect the Marja'iya. He called
for a full investigation of the bombing, a group trial of the
criminals, and their immediate execution. Al-Qubanji also
demanded that local, national and foreign officials make clear
their position either for or against the bombing. Al-Qubanji
announced a demonstration immediately after the Friday prayers,
traveling to the Imam Ali Shrine and from there to the nearby
house of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. By late Friday
afternoon, a peaceful demonstration estimated to contain
protestors "in the hundreds, not thousands," was underway.


HILLAH 00000028 002.2 OF 002



7. (SBU) At the Kufa Mosque, a Sadrist stronghold, about 1,500
worshippers attended, many dressed in black and armed. Shaykh
Falah Al-Obeidi and an assistant preached a sermon calling for
Muslim unity and tranquility. He said that Shi'a cities must
close for three days and the mourning period would last for
seven days. He urged the worshippers to cover all homes,
shrines, and religious schools with black drapes. He said that
violence against Sunnis and their shrines was prohibited, and
that the Mahdi Militia will protect them. Shaykh Falah called
upon the Iraqi Government to boycott the U.S. government. Late
Friday afternoon, a crowd of about 200 unarmed Sadrists were
seen marching through Najaf toward the Sadr offices in the Old
City, chanting anti-American slogans.



KARBALA SERMON BLAMES SADDAMISTS, TAKFIRIS; ORDERS CALM
-------------- --------------


8. (U) Thursday, February 23 passed quietly with no reported
major demonstrations or acts of violence. Local staff reported
that mid-morning on February 24, six buses, each loaded with
about 40 to 50 men, left Karbala heading north to Samarra.


9. (SBU) At the Imam Hussein Shrine, Shaykh Abed Al-Mahdi
Al-Karbala'e, a Sistani representative, led Friday prayers
before an audience of about 8,000. At the beginning of the
sermon, Shaykh Abed informed the worshippers of a silent
demonstration for women and a general demonstration after the
service from the Hussein Shrine to the nearby Imam Abbas Shrine.
Shaykh Abed told of phone calls he received from the offices of
Sistani and senior Najaf cleric Sayid Mohammad Saeed Al-Hakim
giving them instructions, which he then described. He related
that the offices of the clerics said that the Al-Askariyah
bombing was carried out not by Sunnis but by Saddamists,
takfiris and terrorists who do not want democracy to flourish in
Iraq. The purpose of these groups was to foment a sectarian war.
The clerics called on the Iraqi Government to stand firm against
terrorism and to protect sacred places, and admonished that if
the Government proved unable to do so, the "faithful" would.
Shaykh Abed reminded the worshippers that Sistani had prohibited
attacking Sunni shrines and property.


10. (SBU) Shaykh Abed then addressed what he said were
accusations from the Sunni, who he said blamed the Hawza for
instigating demonstrations against the Sunni and causing attacks
against them and their shrines. He said that the Hawza had asked
the people to demonstrate in order to confront the terrorists,
to channel the anguish of the people peacefully rather than
"irrationally," and to refrain from responding to the terrorists
in the same "cowardly" way as they had acted.


11. (SBU) Television crews from Al-Furat, Al-Hurra, Al-Manar
(Lebanon),Al-Iraqiya, Al-Anwar (UAE) and Karbala TV covered the
service. Afterwards, worshippers left the shrine to cover the
short distance, approximately 120 meters, to the Imam Abbas
Shrine. As they marched, they carried banners reading, "No, no
U.S.A.," "No, no Israel," "No, no Denmark," "No, no Terrorists,"
and "Yes, yes Ali Al-Hadi" and "Yes, yes to peace." The
National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) reported Friday 24 that
thousands of protesters marched through Karbala carrying Iraqi
flags and banners calling for the dismissal of U.S. Ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad. One banner reportedly read, "No to Zad [sic],
no to Takfiris." The protestors chanted: "No to Israel, no to
America, yes to unity, yes to Islam".
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