SECTARIAN NERVES ON EDGE AFTER SAMARRA SHRINE

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FOLLOWING BAGHDAD 00563 DTD 221739Z FEB 06 SENT ACTION
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2016
TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV IZ
SUBJECT: SECTARIAN NERVES ON EDGE AFTER SAMARRA SHRINE
EXPLOSION


Classified By: POL COUNS ROBERT S. FORD, FOR
REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: There are many rumors of attacks on
Sunni religious sites and anti-Sunni demonstrations
in the wake of the February 22 bombing of the Shia
holy mosque in Samarra, but there appears to be much
less occurring on the ground. Sunni Arab Iraqi
Islamic Party Deputy Secretary-General Ala Makki
told PolOff February 22 that there have been
"retaliatory" attacks on 29 Sunni Arab mosques in
Baghdad and other cities. So far, we can confirm
only three - one in Baghdad and two in Basrah. The
party's headquarters in Basrah also was attacked.
Evening television showed large Shia marches in
several districts of Baghdad. Both Sunni and Shia
groups condemned the attack on Samarra mosque.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Ja'afari announced a 3-day
period of mourning and released government employees
early from work, the first such early shutdown of
the government in the past two years. National
Security Advisor Al-Rubaie told Al-Arabiya
television that Iraqi security forces have detained
ten people linked to the Samara explosion. Our
sense is that while events here are not spiraling
out of control, sectarian tensions have grown
substantially in recent months and the reaction to
the Samarra mosque attack is only the latest
manifestation. END SUMMARY

OUTCRY IN BAGHDAD
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2. (C) A member of the Baghdad Provincial Council
claimed to PolOff during the early afternoon of
February 22 that 26 Sunni mosques have been
attacked, including the Al Mustapha mosque in Karkh,
the Al Hamza mosque in Ghazaliya and the Firdos
Square mosque. Sheikh Hassam Kajem Abd Allah, the
Chairman of the Al Adhamyah District Council
reported at 1545 hrs that the Al Farouk mosque on
Palestine Street is burning and is still under
attack, with worshippers trapped inside. Abd Allah
also reported that a Sunni Sheikh was killed in the
Istiqlal District, and that his body was dumped in
front of the local police station. Nasaif Jassim,
of the Sadr City District Advisory Council (DAC)
General Information Center told PolOff that the Al-
Sha'ab district Jaysh al-Mahdi is occupying four
Sunni Arab mosques. The Iraqi Islamic Party issued
a statement counting 29 Sunni Arab mosques it
claimed had been assaulted. Hussain Mohammed Ali Al
Tahan, Governor of the Baghdad Provincial Council
asked PolOff to request U.S. forces impose martial
law in order to help restore order.


3. (C) The Iraqi government announced that
government employees were being released at 14:00
local, a couple hours early. (Comment: This is the
first such instance we can recall during the past
several years of such a step and shows the
seriousness with which the government views the
situation. End Comment.) The Embassy let its local
staff leave early too. An Embassy FSN who lives
near Sadr City reported to us on his way home that
he was seeing armed Jaysh al-Mahdi convoys on the
streets. There were some demonstrations in Baghdad,
and markets closed early. Evening news broadcasts
showed thousands demonstrating in the Baghdad

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districts of Kathimiya, Sadr City, Kerrada and
Shuala.


BASRAH
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4. (C) According to Ala Makki, Deputy Secretary
General of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP),the IIP
branch office in Basrah was attacked by Jaysh al-
Mahdi forces around 1300 hours. British contacts
confirm that the Sadrist Jaysh al-Mahdi had
surrounded the building and were reportedly
detaining IIP staff. IIP leader Tariq al-Hashimi
told Arab TV stations in the late afternoon that the
Iraqi police had colluded in the attack on the
Basrah headquarters and warned if its staff were
harmed there would be retaliation. PolOff told an
aide to al-Hashimi late afternoon that the IIP
should avoid inflammatory rhetoric in the media and
work with authorities and us to address specific


incidents. Additionally, the Basrah Regional
Reconstruction Operations Centre reported attacks on
two Sunni mosques during the day - one attacked with
RPGs and another vandalized by a mob.

DEMONSTRATIONS ELSEWHERE
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5. (C) REO Hillah is reporting small demonstrations
of 500-1000 people. Press reports indicate that
afternoon demonstrations were scheduled for Karbala,
Babil, and Diwaniya.

SUNNI AND SHIA JOINTLY CONDEMN ATTACK
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6. (U) Both Sunni Arab and Shia groups condemned the
attack on Samarra mosque. Prime Minister Jafari on
the morning of February 22 told Iraqiya TV that the
nation should avoid sectarian strife and hold to
national unity. Minister of Interior Bayan Jabr
announced that the government is forming an
investigative committee composed of different sects
to look into the crime, and called the incident an
attack on all Iraqis. National Security Advisor
Mowafaq Al-Rubaie told Al-Arabiya television that
Iraqi security forces have detained ten people
linked to the Samara explosion.


7. (U) According to media sources, the top Shia
clerics in Najaf held a meeting this morning to
discuss their community's response to the bombing.
Pro-Shia al-Furat television reported that Grand
Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani later issued a fatwa
forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques and religious
"symbols". Al-Furat also reported that Ayatollah
Mohammed Said al-Hakim, often viewed as the second
most influential cleric in Najaf, bluntly told the
government that since it could not protect Shia holy
sites, it should let the public do it. Shia
political party SCIRI went into a special huddle
meeting midday. Later, its leader, Abdulaziz Al-
Hakim, issued a televised statement denouncing the
attack. He blamed Ambassador Khalilzad's public
remarks February 20 about avoiding sectarianism in
the security ministries as encouraging Sunni Arab
extremists to attack Shia. Muqtada Sadr was on
Arabiya TV at 19:00 local blaming the Iraqi
Government and Coalition Forces. He urged
demonstrations be peaceful and urged his followers
not to attack Sunni mosques. BBC Arabic quoted Sadr
extremist Abd al-Hadi ad-Darraji saying that the
Shia would not just condemn but respond vigorously
to the attackers.


8. (U) The Iraqi Islamic Party denounced the
attack, but it claimed that there appeared to be a
hidden hand involved since the mosque had not been
attacked before despite the security problems in
Samarra. The usually outspoken Sunni Arab hard-
liner Salih Mutlak issued a TV statement condemning
the attack as well. All these speakers warned
Iraqis against sliding into civil war. Consistent
with the conspiratorial nature of Iraqi politics, an
Allawi list contact told Poloffs that the Samarra
explosion was a ploy by Jafari and the Sadrists to
"unite" the Shia and prevent the Alliance from
splitting and potentially depriving him of the
premiership.


COMMENT

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9. (C) Despite the many rumors, the number of
confirmed attacks against Sunni sites in the wake of
the Samarra bombing so far appears significantly
lower. The number could easily rise in the days
ahead; the Prime Minister worried about this with us
midday February 22 (septel). Sistani's statement
was especially important in terms of containing Shia
emotions. Although retaliatory attacks so far
appear relatively limited, sectarian tensions have
grown substantially in recent months; the reaction
to this mosque attack is only the latest
manifestation. Public remarks from Shia leaders
like al-Hakim about the public taking security into
its own hands are worrisome as well. (Deputy
President Abd al-Mahdi repeated this call with us
privately - septel.) We can expect the Sadrists to


take special advantage of this anger and fear, as
they apparently did in Basrah. Most notably, in
public and private our contacts are speaking with
genuine concern about the possibility of civil war,
something we did not hear much about two years ago.


KHALILZAD UNQUOTE RICE