jlanni
06-11-2004, 02:57 PM
Mideast - AFP
Sunni cleric urges Iraqi military officers to join insurgency
Fri Jun 11,11:42 AM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo!
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A Sunni Muslim cleric urged veterans of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s military to join the battle against the Americans, in an openly confrontational Friday sermon at one of Baghdad's largest mosques.
AFP/File Photo
"Where are the military? They have indisputable experience and their silence means they keep their knowledge to themselves," Sheikh Ahmed Hassan al-Taha al-Samarai told worshippers Friday at Abu Hanifa mosque in the Sunni stronghold of Adhamiyah.
"The absence of combat experts from the battlefield is treason, in all senses of the word. It's treason againt God, the prophet and the nation the experts belong to," he said.
"Where are they? Those members of the community who enjoyed many privileges, none of the others enjoyed," during the reign of Saddam Hussein's now-banned Baath party, he said.
"Where are they when they watch those performing courageous acts who are not skilled. Why do they keep their knowledge to themselves, why do they not give their advice and do not tell the fighters how to carry out their missions successfully," he asked.
Abu Hanifa mosque, in a neighbourhood with strong sympathies for Saddam's toppled pro-Sunni regime, was badly damaged during the fighting in April 2003 when Baghdad fell.
Samarai's words contradicted the analysis of the US military that many of the fighters in the year-old insurgency are veterans of Saddam's ruthless security and intelligence services.
He depicted the movement as being made up of unskilled, amateur fighters motivated by nationalism and fear of the new order in Iraq (news - web sites) and not military professionals.
why arent these guys getting arrested?
Sunni cleric urges Iraqi military officers to join insurgency
Fri Jun 11,11:42 AM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo!
BAGHDAD (AFP) - A Sunni Muslim cleric urged veterans of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s military to join the battle against the Americans, in an openly confrontational Friday sermon at one of Baghdad's largest mosques.
AFP/File Photo
"Where are the military? They have indisputable experience and their silence means they keep their knowledge to themselves," Sheikh Ahmed Hassan al-Taha al-Samarai told worshippers Friday at Abu Hanifa mosque in the Sunni stronghold of Adhamiyah.
"The absence of combat experts from the battlefield is treason, in all senses of the word. It's treason againt God, the prophet and the nation the experts belong to," he said.
"Where are they? Those members of the community who enjoyed many privileges, none of the others enjoyed," during the reign of Saddam Hussein's now-banned Baath party, he said.
"Where are they when they watch those performing courageous acts who are not skilled. Why do they keep their knowledge to themselves, why do they not give their advice and do not tell the fighters how to carry out their missions successfully," he asked.
Abu Hanifa mosque, in a neighbourhood with strong sympathies for Saddam's toppled pro-Sunni regime, was badly damaged during the fighting in April 2003 when Baghdad fell.
Samarai's words contradicted the analysis of the US military that many of the fighters in the year-old insurgency are veterans of Saddam's ruthless security and intelligence services.
He depicted the movement as being made up of unskilled, amateur fighters motivated by nationalism and fear of the new order in Iraq (news - web sites) and not military professionals.
why arent these guys getting arrested?