Gunmen in Iraq kill top Shiite cleric's aide

[Gunit_Sangh]

More progress towards peace in Iraq


Second al-Sistani aide slain this week

Thursday, May 19, 2005 Posted: 9:14 AM EDT (1314 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An aide to Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric was shot to death Thursday in Baghdad, police said, the second of his aides killed this week.

The attack is part of an upsurge in violence since the largely Shiite transitional government came to power. Many of the targets have been Shiites and Kurds. Authorities believe the insurgents are mainly Sunni Arabs.

The aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose name is Sayid Mohammed al-Allaf, was shot to death in Sadr City, a largely Shiite neighborhood of northeast Baghdad, Iraqi police said.

The other al-Sistani aide shot this week was Sheikh Qasin al-Ghiri. He and his nephew were killed in a drive-by shooting early Sunday in eastern Baghdad, where there is a large Shiite presence.


Rest of story
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/19/iraq.main/index.html

[bemildred]

1. So we are spose to believe Sunni terrorists are running around in

East Baghdad and killing Shiite big-shots, and getting away clean?

[Kipling]

3. Yes.

It's a war, remember.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Teaser]

10. Well I know at least one shi'ah

cleric who doesn't like Sistani much. In fact, I suspect he wouldn't mind seeing a civil war started which wound up killing a good fraction of the senior shi'ah clerocracy.

[bemildred]

11. That is one of the things I've speculated about.

Whether al Sistani's sucking up to the occupation has fragmented
Shiia unity, but it's hard to get much of a reading on that. It
does seem clear that Iran's influence is waxing under the current
dispensation, but what attitudes are like in man-in-the-street
Shiia about all this is unclear.

It would be interesting if it turned out that these guys were offed
by pissed-off nationalist Shiia, but to be clear, I have no reason
to think that, and there are plenty of other options.

[Bridget Burke]

9. Yes, & we must take up the White Man's Burden

These savages are not fit to govern themselves & the Empire must never fail.

(Although the real Kipling saw a somewhat bigger picture.)

[havocmom]

2. Why no outcry from US Evangelical preachers about religious leaders

being persecuted and killed in Iraq? Why aren't Robertson & Falwell out protesting this treatment of their colleagues in other lands? :sarcasm:

[chlamor]

4. Gunmen in Iraq Kill Top Shiite Cleric's Aide

Gunmen in Iraq kill top Shiite cleric's aide

Second al-Sistani aide slain this week

Thursday, May 19, 2005 Posted: 9:14 AM EDT (1314 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An aide to Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric was shot to death Thursday in Baghdad, police said, the second of his aides killed this week.

The attack is part of an upsurge in violence since the largely Shiite transitional government came to power. Many of the targets have been Shiites and Kurds. Authorities believe the insurgents are mainly Sunni Arabs.

The aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose name is Sayid Mohammed al-Allaf, was shot to death in Sadr City, a largely Shiite neighborhood of northeast Baghdad, Iraqi police said.

The other al-Sistani aide shot this week was Sheikh Qasin al-Ghiri. He and his nephew were killed in a drive-by shooting early Sunday in eastern Baghdad, where there is a large Shiite presence.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/19/iraq.main/index.html

[Roland99]

5. al-Sadr's been getting more vocal lately

Or, a hit by member of one of the puppet government's parties?

[Oreo]

6. When the civil war starts

I really hope we get our troops out ASAP. It's gonna get a lot uglier quick.

[geek tragedy]

7. Civil war is on the way.

If, God forbid, Sistani gets assassinated, the Shiites will go medieval on the Sunnis. Total bloodbath.