Many of nation's Shiites taking attack personally

[Barrett808]

Many of nation's Shiites taking attack personally
By Mike Dorning Tribune correspondent

At the Al-Sadiq Bakery, where the hearth is decorated with a blue-tile verse from the Koran, hot air blasted from the oven Thursday and the staff seethed.

A few hours earlier, they had heard that U.S. forces had begun an assault on followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr who have holed up at a shrine in Najaf. Bombs fell in the center of the ancient holy city, and there were reports of rising numbers of civilian casualties in Najaf and elsewhere.

U.S. military commanders said they would stop short of the Imam Ali shrine, one of Islam's holiest places. And they promised that only Iraqi security forces would enter the mosque if there is an attack on the holy site.

But the owner of this small neighborhood bakery, Haidar Abbos, was not mollified. The 39-year-old Shiite's thoughts turned back more than a decade, when Saddam Hussein attacked the mosque while suppressing another Shiite rebellion, after the first Persian Gulf war.

"Saddam made mass graves in 1991," Abbos fumed. "Now the Americans are making mass graves in 2004, filled with Shiites again."

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&ncid=2027&e=6&u=/chitribts/20040813/ts_chicagotrib/manyofnationsshiitestakingattackpersonally

[papau]

1. Out of 1.2B Muslims only 300m Shiites - and Bush will not be "sensitive"

to anyone if it means changing a decision on method of operation.

[maxsolomon]

2. sensitive = faggot

and we can't have them muslims thinkin' that. we gotta prove ours are bigger.

remember the british empire, how they had TRAINED DIPLOMATS in a CIVIL SERVICE who tried to govern their colonies with SENSITIVITY to local customs?

that was so weak!

[AspenRose]

3. "Winning Hearts and Minds!" (tm)

:puke:

[Dhalgren]

4. We are Saddam.

[benburch]

5. We made Saddam.

So we are even worse.

[The Magistrate]

6. This Should Not Surprise Anyone, Mr. Barret

Shia identity has been forged by a long history of persecution, and such solidairty is the norm. Anyone who thinks this can be approached with a species of niche-marketing, saying "We are only fighting this Shia group, not the rest of you!" is a damned fool, particularly when the backdrop image of the fighting is the central focus of that sect....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Barrett808]

7. Quite so - clearly damned fools are in charge

And stampeding us over the cliff.