Sunni cleric urges Iraqi military officers to join insurgency

[Spazito]

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.


"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.

snip

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.

more

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&e=3&u=/afp/iraq_us_sunni

(Edited to remove a 5th paragraph mistakenly posted as only 4 are allowed, sorry about that)

[Dhalgren]

1. I've often wonder where these soldiers were.

It is obvious to anyone that the bulk of the resistance are not former soldiers. I realize that I will probably get flamed, but I hope that the Iraqis heed this cleric's call. If true Iraqi patriots do not stand up right now, they may lose their country forever. I am sickened by the UN's groveling to King George and his military/industrial thugs. Iraq does not need to be stablized, it needs to be liberated from the bloody hands of the US.