- BAGHDAD -- Surrounded by
upturned chairs and an abandoned turban, Sabah Al-Kaisey surveyed his ransacked
office yesterday.
-
- The American troops who burst into his mosque on Thursday
morning had smashed down the front gate, broken the air conditioners and
ripped up the carpets. They had also thrown several Korans on the floor
and allegedly punched the man giving the call to prayer in the face.
-
- "They even took our nuts," said Mr Kaisey yesterday,
opening the door of the mosque's empty fridge.
-
- The troops who raided the Ibn Taymiyah mosque, used by
Baghdad's Sunnis, appear to have been looking for weapons used by Iraq's
resistance. They recovered a couple of AK-47s, hand grenades and an anti-aircraft
missile, US military officials said.
-
- Abdul Sattar, the mosque's imam, said the weapons were
used by its guards. "They were there to protect ourselves," he
told the Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera, which showed images of the damaged
Korans.
-
- The raid has served to increase the anger and frustration
of Iraq's Sunnis, who feel marginalised and discriminated against in post-Saddam
Iraq.
-
- Yesterday, hundreds of worshippers demonstrated against
the raid and US occupation.
-
- "This is not the behaviour of liberators but occupiers,"
Mr Kaisey said, pointing to the metal collection box which had been smashed
open by US troops.
-
- They had taken the money which was supposed to go to
the poor and also the mosque's computers, used to produce a bi-weekly newsletter,
he said.
-
- "Americans might have the latest technology, but
they make little effort to understand people's souls," he said.
-
- Since the fall of Baghdad nine months ago, Shias, who
make up 60% of Iraq's population, have organised themselves into well-defined
political and religious parties.
-
- They have a leading presence on the governing council,
the US-picked body which is to take power from the coalition in July.
-
- But the Sunnis, who have traditionally formed Iraq's
ruling elite, have been divided. Last week Sunni elders from across the
country announced they were setting up a leadership council or shura to
increase their influence on Iraq's political process. The council includes
representatives from all major Sunni religious groups, the Salafis, the
Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jama'a al Islamia, as well as Kurds and Turkomans.
-
- The challenge for the coalition is to ensure that the
Sunnis feel part of the process, a point made by Tony Blair in a recent
speech.
-
- So far the results are not encouraging. During Thursday's
raid US troops arrested 34 people, including several leading members of
the shura, before a meeting of the body in Baghdad today.
-
- US military officials said several of those arrested
were suspected foreign militants, a claim which the mosque disputed.
-
- "They blindfolded all the worshippers and took them
away. You don't see Muslims attacking the holy places of other people,"
Abu Hassan, a worshipper at the mosque, said.
-
- Mr Kaisey acknowledged that most of the resistance was
being directed by disgruntled Sunnis but pointed out that Shias were involved
as well.The coalition also failed to appreciate that Sunnis had suffered
under Saddam, he said.
-
- "All of us on the shura council have spent time
in prison," he said. "We suffered under Saddam. But at the end
of the day this is our country.
-
- "If someone invaded Britain what would you do? You
would probably go and fight."
-
- * The US military said that an observation helicopter
which crashed in central Iraq yesterday had been shot down by guerrillas.
One pilot was killed and another injured.
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- - Email: luke.harding@guardian.co.uk
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1115334,00.html
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