Yup,it's going well over there!
Allawi Claims Assassination Attempt
Sunday, December 04, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq — An angry crowd confronted Iraq's former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi at a Shiite shrine south of Baghdad on Sunday, forcing him to flee in a hail of stones and shoes. Allawi called the attack an assassination attempt.
In Baghdad, one of the five judges in the trial of Saddam Hussein stepped down because one of the co-defendants may have been involved in the execution of his brother, a court official said Sunday. Another official said police had uncovered a plot to fire rockets at the courtroom when the trial convenes Monday for a third session.
The confrontation in Najaf began when about a dozen men, some armed with clubs, tried to block Allawi from entering the Imam Ali mosque, one of the holiest Shiite shrines in Iraq. Allawi's bodyguards fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd.
Once Allawi and his entourage were inside, the crowd grew to about 60 and as the group left, they were showered with stones and shoes — a sign of contempt in Iraqi culture. Allawi and his security force knocked over barricades as they scampered to their vehicles and sped away.
Allawi later said the group was armed with pistols, knives and swords and at least seven shots were fired from the crowd.
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