Nasrallah: Arbaein Rituals in Iraq, Beginning of Countdown for the End of U.S. Presence
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TEHRAN -- Secretary General of the Lebanese Hizbullah, Seyed
Hassan Nasrallah, stated on Tuesday, that the unprecedented and
glorious observance of the Arbaein rituals in Karbala this year, would
click the start of a rapid downward spiral for the U.S. presence in
Iraq, as well as the rest of the Middle East.
Nasrallah who was speaking on Tuesday night in Beirut at a
commemorative service marking Arbaein, the 40th day after the
martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS), compared the passionate
observance of the Arbaein ritual in Iraq this year, with those of 1982
in Lebanon.
"In 1982, too, the Lebanese nation's wide participation in the Arbaein
rituals prompted the beginning of the strong resistance against the
racist Zionists' presence in Lebanon," said Nasrallah. Referring to the
shabby developments of the past few weeks in In Iraq, reverberating
throughout the rest of the Middle East, the Hizbullah Secretary
General emphasized, "The Bush administration had initially aimed at
turning its war in Iraq into a war between the Christian and Islamic
world. But that satanic plan failed, thanks to the wise stand adopted
by the Pope, as well as the alertness of the Islamic alims." Nasrallah
said, "Another dreadful U.S. objective in starting a war against Iraq,
was to add fuel to the flames of an internal crisis among the
country's Muslim sects." He added, "Some circles helped Bush in
achieving that goal, by over-emphasizing the mosaic and ethnic
divisions of the Iraqi population, but that plot, too, failed - thanks to the
alertness and timely moves on the part of the Iraqi Shia leaders and
nation."
Warning the regional nations that the U.S. and Israel are together
trying to imply the idea in the hearts and minds of the regional nations
that they are incapable of resisting in the face of the U.S. will,
Nasrallah said, "The Americans tell a big lie about fighting to
establish democracy and to safeguard freedoms in Iraq. "They are
actually after securing other goals there, and everyone knows it too
well to be denied by them," he said
Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims flocked to Iraq's holy city of
Karbala Wednesday for the climax of a pilgrimage.
The second and last day of the ceremony, outlawed for nearly
quarter of a century, was met with protests demanding an end to the
U.S.-led occupation.
Iraq's U.S. civil administrator, retired General Jay Garner, meanwhile
continued a tour to assess the needs of rebuilding Iraq, neglected
during 24 years of Saddam's rule and shattered in three blistering
weeks of intense U.S.-led bombing.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, many beating their heads and
chests and flogging their backs with chains, converged on the city of
karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, to mourn Imam
Hussein (AS), the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, who was
beheaded in 680 AD.
Even before the rally was due to start, chants of "No to America and
Saddam, yes to Islam" rang out around the city, from which U.S.
troops have kept their distance.
"We refuse occupation, we want an elected government that
represents the people," organizing committee member Sheikh Raed
Haidari said.
"No to An american Government, No to Chalabi," the Shias shouted,
referring to Ahmad Chalabi, the pro-U.S. leader of the Iraqi National
Congress, who has returned to Iraq after decades of exile.
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