Iraqi Shiite make assurances to the Sunni: we will not revenge. Saddam's atrocity was on all
Iraq, Politics, 7/3/2003

It seems that the Iraqi Shiites are seeking to assure the fears of the Sunnis to that they have no intention to revenge the sufferings they lived under during Saddam Hussein's regime during the past decades.

The spokesman for the Shiite clergy Muqtada al-Sader, Adnan al-Shahmani, said in al-Najaf "we are the majority in Iraq, should we violate the norms set by God we will eliminate ( the Sunni), but we have our religion which makes it imperative not to be oppressors, because of this case."

It is known for al-Sader his extremist stances. He is the son of Muhammad Sadeq al-Sader, the most honored Shiite clergy who was assassinated by the Baathists with two of his children in 1999. But al-Shahamani stressed that the Baathist regime distributed its repression "fairly" amongst all Iraqis during 35 years of the rule. He said "there is something common among all members of the Iraqi people, being Shiites or Sunnis, to that there were all exposed to repression, besides there are Shiites who repressed us." Al-Shahamani continued that the essence of repression was interests, and not whether the oppressor was a Shiite or Sunni.

This is, however, the same position expressed by the "igher council for the Islamic revolution in Iraq" which called by its spokesman Hamid al-Bayati "since the fall of Saddam and the absence of any form of the government, no revenge incidents took place, therefore I do not think there will be any problems between the Shiites and the Sunnis."

On the other hand and in a toughest criticism for the USA, Hamid al-Bayati said the Iraqis feel that were betrayed by the Americans who violated their promises concerning the restoration of freedom to Iraq after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.

He said "they promised us that the Iraqis will rule their country after the change of the regime but this did not happen and it seems to be far from that."

He added that the personal envoy for the American President "to the Liberal Iraqis Zalmai Khalil Zada, promised during preparations for the war that the rule will be handed over to the Iraqis after the end of the war but they swallowed all their promises and from now on we have to ask them for written commitment because they always go back on their promises."

Previous Stories:
  Talibani in Damascus: occupation prevents fighting   (7/2/2003)
  Al-Khaleij: Al-Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein to visit Syria   (7/1/2003)
  Wafiq al-Samaree searched for Saddam Hussein; Sunday Times: al-Rawi is hiding in the desert   (6/30/2003)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search