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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group

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To: michael97123 who wrote (144539)	8/31/2004 4:04:13 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) of 281500

I am trying not to think about it but you have your finger on the worst of all possible situations and one that is very likely to present itself. It could also involve the various interested Arab countries. A sunni extremist:Al-Zarqawi: Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who joined up with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and is believed to be closely linked to al-Qa'eda, is open in his hatred of Shias who he describes as "the most evil of mankind". They are more evil than any other group on Earth because it is they who would corrupt Allah's word. He tells his followers: "They are the enemy. Beware of them. Fight them." A shi'a extremist: Al-Sadr: Hujjat al-Islam Muqtada al-Sadr says that the Mahdi would soon return, in Iraq. The Mahdi has to be revealed as the savior of Islam (along with Jesus) near the end of time. This rumor, touching the core of Shi'i faith and eschatology, is being spread by Sadr's preachers. In the Shia tradition, the Mahdi is the 12th Imam, who is in occultation. Muktada al-Sadr says the Americans were aware of the impending reappearance, and that the Americans invaded Iraq to seize and kill the Mahdi. His supporters chant Sadr's name at rallies to imply that he is the "son of the Mahdi." Sadr has stated that the army "belongs to the Mahdi" as an explanation of why he cannot disband it, as has been required of other private militias. Anyone not part of this movement is against it (and God). Although the reappearance of the Mahdi is central to Shia thought, it is unusual to raise claims of the imminence of this event, and other Shiite clerics have avoided the messianic ecstasy that such claims can induce. Add to this the brutal oppression of shi'a in Iraq over the past few decades and we got us a difficult situation...

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