The Shi'ite ritual of Ghameh Zani performed during Ashura

While rooting out Iraqi enemy fighters in Najaf, U.S. forces took great care not to damage Shi'a Muslim shrines such as the Imam Ali Mosque, even when Iraqi fighters took refuge in the mosque and fired on Americans from there.

Then later on Friday, April 11 an angry mob of Shi'ites hacked to death with swords and knives two Mullahs right inside the Imam Ali Mosque! One was Haidar al-Refaei, the hereditary custodian of the mosque who was despised as a Saddam collaborator. The other was Sheik Abdel Majid al-Khoei, who had recently Returned from exile in Britain.

Another Shi'ite Mullah, Muqtadah al-Sadr, is suspected of being behind the killings. Sadr is only a junior cleric in his 20s. But he is the son of Grand Ayatollah, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr who was killed by Saddam's regime in 1999 and is revered by many Shi'ites as a martyr. Sadr has ordered Najaf's most senior Mullah, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to leave Najaf because he is not an Arab (he is from Mashhad, Iran). Sistani had issued a fatwa that urged his followers not to interfere with U.S. forces.

Sadr was vehemently opposed to the American invasion of Iraq and has close ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran. IR had created an Iraqi Hezbollah-like organization, the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), headed by Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. SCIRI has several thousand fighters (the al-Badr Corps) in Iran trained and armed by the Pasdaran. SCIRI fighters and agents have started infiltrating Iraqi Shi'ite cities and SCIRI demands that the US leave Iraq immediately. Hakim's brother, the military leader of the al-Badr Brigades, has already re-entered Iraq and been seen with large Crowds of supporters in Kut, Amarah and Najaf.

Sadr has sent Mullahs to Baghdad to take control of the slum of 2 million Shi'ites there. The slum has been renamed from Saddam City to Al Sadr City after his father. Sadr opened an office in Al Sadr City on Friday and installed several Mullahs to run Baghdad's hospitals, supplying them with financing to act as social service centers. Mullahs loyal to Sadr have also formed armed militias to patrol Shiite neigborhoods and shoot with impunity any people they deem threats.

When U.S. forces first occupied Baghdad large crowds of Shi'ites cheered, danced, waved and threw flowers as marines advanced through Saddam City and into the center of Saddam's seat of power. Shi'ites enthusiastically smashed Saddam statues and children handed flowers to U.S. marines.

"Leave our country! We want peace!"
"No Bush! No Saddam! Yes, yes to Islam!"
"No to America! No to secular state! Yes to Islamic state!"
"No to America! No to Saddam! Our revolution is Islam!"
"We will give the American troops a few months to leave Iraq!
If they do not, we will fight them with knives!"

Shiite Protests

Shiite Protests

Shiite Protests

Shiite Protests

What did their Mullahs tell those Shi'ite Muslims at Friday Prayers to stir them up so? Here are some quotes:

"We reject this foreign occupation, which is a new imperialism! We don't want it anymore!
We don't need the Americans! They're here to control our oil! They're Kaffirs!"
- Sheikh Kaazem al Abahadi al Nasari

"We are all against the Coalition because they are Kaffirs! We are demanding an Islamic state! We will have an Islamic state here that mainly orders good and prevents evil. Televisions are not allowed, dominoes are not allowed, women wearing makeup are not allowed, dubbed foreign films are not allowed. It will be a state whose laws are written in the Quran!"
- Sheik Abbas al-Zubaidi

"America has weapons, but the Iraqi people have principles!
If the United States lies and doesn't keep its promises, there will be a Jihad here and in all Arabic regions!"
- Sheik Assad al-Faeli

Mullah releasing Fatwa to Shiite

Indeed Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims have principles! The senior principle, as they so eloquently demonstrated in the Imam Ali Mosque is "Get in my way and I'll kill you!" The days of looting and destruction in Baghdad and other cities are testament to their other principles! Looting stores, government offices and banks and stealing food, furniture and money is one thing. Ransacking museums and hospitals and burning down libraries is quite another. As one US marine observed, "These people are wrecking their own country More than we did!"

Saddam ruled Iraq with an iron fist for over 20 years. Any Shi'ite Mullah in Iraq who dared to openly flap his gums in disrespect to Saddam was put to death. The US crushed Saddam's regime in less than a month and brought to Shi'ites and other Iraqis freedom of speech and religion such as they have not had for decades. Shi'ite Mullahs in Iraq now threaten Jihad against the US unless US troops leave Iraq. While Their factions hack rival Mullahs to death right in their holiest shrines. Imam Ali must be very proud that his worshipers are such good Shiite Muslims! Still murdering, looting, burning libraries and praying to Allah after about 1400 years!

This is Shiite Islam!