Iraqi Religious Leaders Press Occupation Forces For Exit Date

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Iraqi Religious Leaders Press Occupation Forces For Exit Date

Washington's old nemisis, Muqtada Al-Sadr, is calling for a million-person march to demand an end to the occupation, while other Imams call for the imposition of Sharia law, a release of insurgents from Iraq's prisons, and an end to nepotism.

March 26, 2005

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Sheikh Sadruddin al-Kubbanji, a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, welcomed the Sunni to partnership and to political life.

Al-Kubbanji said on Saturday that the fall of ousted President Saddam Hussein's regime, on April 9, 2003, was a great day in Iraqi history, and a perfect reason to begin the political work of ending the occupation.

Young Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr called for a demonstration of a million people to demand that the occupiers [U.S.-led coalition forces] exit the country, and demanded that Islamic law [Sharia] be the source of all legislation.

Speaking about the second anniversary of the war, al-Kubbanji said during his Friday sermon in Najaf that Iraqis consider April 9 to be a day of liberation, and a day that saw the fall, and then the resurrection, of Baghdad.

al-Kubbanji added that the operation to free Iraq has two faces: one of liberation, and one of occupation. He said that Iraqis feel hatred toward Saddam Hussein's regime, because it was responsible for bringing the occupation, foreign domination, war and mass graves.

The sheikh said that the way to end the occupation is political; "To show our ability to master the administration and security of the country."

After the serman, thousands of Muqtada Al-Sadr's followers attended prayer in Kufah and then traveled to Karbala on foot to celebrate the anniversary of Imam Al-Hussein's 40th birthday.

At the Kufah Mosque, Imam Sheikh Nasser Al Saadi, said that he had supported the elections because they brought the end of the occupation closer, and that most people who voted had no idea who it was they were voting for.

Al Saadi also demanded the adherence to Sharia as the source of law for all crimes other than treason, and he supported Muqtada Al-Sadr's call to hold a demonstration to ask the occupiers to schedule their exit.

From his side, the Sunni Imam, Sheikh Taha Ahmed Al Sameraie, asked American forces to release all Iraqi prisoners, arguing that those in prison now are not criminals, because defending rights and sovereignty is not a crime. During his Friday sermon, in front of hundreds of adherents, he estimated the number of prisoners at almost 200,000.

Al Sameraie said that describing these people as terrorists and heaping guilt upon them is an injustice, and he asked Iraqis not use the word terrorist to describe them, because they defended their country and their
homeland.

Sheikh Abdul Ghafour Al Sameraie, another Sunni imam, said at the Al-Qura Mosque, that people should be nominated for government ministerial positions on the basis of qualification, not sectarianism.

He appealed to Allah that these positions and jobs be filled according to efficiency, not nepotism, kinship, or race, so that the "suitable man will be in the suitable place."

And he addressed members of the National Assembly by saying, "It is your responsibility to deal honestly and mercifully on behalf of the people, or Allah will not have mercy on you. And you must press the occupier, so that it hopefully will leave."