Iraq Mosque Update
Alot has happened since I last talked about the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarrah so here’s some updates on the situation:
Omar at Iraq the Model has posted about the defense minister’s press conference. Here’s some important facts from that press conference:
The defense minister in a press conference currently on Iraqi TV gave statistics to correct what he described as “exaggerated media reports” about civilian casualties and attacks on mosques since the attack on the Samarra shrine:
Mosques attacked/shot at without damage: 21 not 51
Moderately damaged: 6 not 23
Mosques destroyed totally: 1 not 3
Mosques occupied by militias: 1 not 2 (evacuated later).
Civilians killed: 119 not 183
That sounds more like Katrina reporting than anything I’ve seen since Labor Day Weekend. In fact, I’d say that doesn’t sound like reporting but rather wild-eyed speculation.
Follow the ITM link for the entire update from Iraq.
Then there’s this report:
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari reached out to Sunnis and Shiites, promising to rebuild the Shiites’ Askariya shrine in Samarra and Sunni mosques damaged in two days of reprisal attacks. The daytime curfew kept most vehicles and pedestrians off the streets of Baghdad, preventing many people from reaching mosques for the main Muslim prayer service of the week but also blunting protests and preventing attacks. People were allowed to walk to neighborhood mosques, many of which were guarded by heavily armed Iraqi police and soldiers. Preachers at several leading mosques urged their followers to maintain calm for the sake of the nation.
———-
In an overture to the Sunnis, the country’s top Shiite political leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, issued a statement expressing regret over the deaths of all Iraqis. He said those who carried out the Samarra attack “do not represent the Sunnis in Iraq,” blaming Saddam Hussein loyalists and religious extremists from al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
“This is what al-Zarqawi is working for, that is, to ignite sectarian strife in the country,” al-Hakim said in the statement broadcast by Iraqi television stations. “We call for self-restraint and not to be dragged down by the plots of the enemy.” A Sunni spokesman, Dhafer al-Ani, called al-Hakim’s statement “a step on the road of healing the wounds.” But he said his Iraqi Accordance Front was waiting for an apology for failing to protect Sunni mosques from reprisal attacks.
The Iraqis aren’t out of the woods yet but we’re seeing signs that they’re taking the first steps to getting out of those woods, which is an important first step. Let’s hope and especially pray that the transition to peace continues and that the AQ terrorists and the Saddam loyalists get their comeuppance.
Cross-post at LetFreedomRing