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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038cs_/http://gorillasguides.com/wp-content/plugins/advancedsearch/advancedsearch-lite.css" type="text/css" media="screen"/> </head> <body> <div class="container"> <div id="navigation"> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/">Home</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-6"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/gorillas-guides-for-the-perplexed/" title="Gorilla’s Guides For The Perplexed">Gorilla’s Guides For The Perplexed</a> <ul> <li class="page_item page-item-3589"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/gorillas-guides-for-the-perplexed/fatwas/" title="Fatwas A Brief Guide">Fatwas A Brief Guide</a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="page_item page-item-2066"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/cholera-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%83%d9%88%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7/" title="الكوليرا 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name="s" id="s"/> <input type="submit" id="searchsubmit" value="Search"/> </div> </form> </div> </div> <hr/> <div id="content" class="span-13 append-1"> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-13699"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/09/18/iraqi-youth-orchestra-combats-terror-with-beethoven-monsters-and-critics/#respond" title="Comment on Iraqi youth orchestra combats terror with Beethoven – Monsters and Critics">No Comments</a></span> Posted on September 18th, 2011 by Harith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/09/18/iraqi-youth-orchestra-combats-terror-with-beethoven-monsters-and-critics/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Iraqi youth orchestra combats terror with Beethoven – Monsters and Critics">Iraqi youth orchestra combats terror with Beethoven – Monsters and Critics</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians/" rel="tag">Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/culture/" rel="tag">Culture</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kurdistan-regional-government/" rel="tag">kurdistan regional government</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/militias/" rel="tag">Militias</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/monsters-and-critics/" rel="tag">monsters and critics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/music/" rel="tag">music</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/reconciliation/" rel="tag">reconciliation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/state-symphony-orchestra/" rel="tag">State Symphony Orchestra</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="text-align: left; unicode-bidi: bidi-override; direction: ltr"> <p>Erbil, Iraq – Can an Iraqi youth orchestra, bringing together different ethnic groups and religions, help to unite a divided country living in the shadow of violence and terror? </p> <p>The orchestra – created on the lines of Argentine-Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim’s Arab-Jewish West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and comprising Kurds, Arabs, Shiites, Sunnis and Christians – is ready to try. </p> <p>Car bombs, persecution of Christians and corruption are part of everyday life in Iraq, but the new orchestra wants to make a musical contribution toward forging a different kind of future. </p> <p>The orchestra, which will give its first guest performance at a Beethoven festival in the German city of Bonn on October 1, is to unite young musicians from different and usually divided ethnic and religious backgrounds. </p> <p>The founding members of the orchestra, created with British support by a young Iraqi pianist in 2009, include Tuka Saad Dschafar. </p> </p></div> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/09/18/iraqi-youth-orchestra-combats-terror-with-beethoven-monsters-and-critics/#more-13699" class="more-link">» أقرأ التفاصيل .. | Read the rest of this entry »</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-13618"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/xinhua-iraqi-public-differ-over-planned-u-s-pullout/#respond" title="Comment on Xinhua: Iraqi public differ over planned U.S. pullout">No Comments</a></span> Posted on July 4th, 2011 by Haleema Al-Azzawi</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/xinhua-iraqi-public-differ-over-planned-u-s-pullout/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Xinhua: Iraqi public differ over planned U.S. pullout">Xinhua: Iraqi public differ over planned U.S. pullout</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/america/" rel="tag">America</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/anbar/" rel="tag">Anbar</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/autonomous-region/" rel="tag">autonomous region</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad/" rel="tag">Baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/bombings/" rel="tag">Bombings</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/death-squads/" rel="tag">Death Squads</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/domestic-security/" rel="tag">domestic security</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/extremists/" rel="tag">Extremists</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/features/" rel="tag">Features</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iran/" rel="tag">Iran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kurdistan/" rel="tag">Kurdistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kuwait/" rel="tag">kuwait</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/logistics/" rel="tag">Logistics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/militia/" rel="tag">Militia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/militias/" rel="tag">Militias</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/national/" rel="tag">national</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/occupation/" rel="tag">occupation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/peshmerga/" rel="tag">Peshmerga</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/resistance/" rel="tag">Resistance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadr-city/" rel="tag">Sadr City</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saudi-arabia/" rel="tag">Saudi Arabia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/syria/" rel="tag">Syria</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkey/" rel="tag">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/violence/" rel="tag">violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/xinhua/" rel="tag">Xinhua</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/xinhua-reports/" rel="tag">xinhua reports</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="text-align: left; unicode-bidi: bidi-override; direction: ltr"> <p>Little less than six months away from a scheduled U.S. troops’ withdrawal, Iraqi public cannot wait to see the occupiers leave and their national sovereignty restored. Yet unwillingly they expect a continued U.S. presence as few believe the Americans will leave such a deeply-invested and strategically-important place. </p> <p>For Iraqis, the debate on U.S. troops’ departure is intertwined with national dignity, security uncertainty and wariness of its coveting neighbors. Some doubt Iraqi security forces have the capability to curb insurgents and defend the country on their own while others fear a residual American force could sanction continued violence by militias. </p> <p>Quite a few worry neighboring countries will swoop in and exploit the vacuum left by the U.S. whereas a considerable number think the U.S. will manipulate the fragile government behind scenes even if they draw down their troops. </p> <h3>"DON’T EVER THINK U.S. WILL LEAVE EASILY" </h3> </p></div> <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/07/04/xinhua-iraqi-public-differ-over-planned-u-s-pullout/#more-13618" class="more-link">» أقرأ التفاصيل .. | Read the rest of this entry »</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12671"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/03/07/you-only-need-a-few-fanatics-and-it-all-falls-to-pieces/#respond" title="Comment on You Only Need A Few Fanatics And It All Falls To Pieces">No Comments</a></span> Posted on March 7th, 2011 by Burhan Aydin</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/03/07/you-only-need-a-few-fanatics-and-it-all-falls-to-pieces/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to You Only Need A Few Fanatics And It All Falls To Pieces">You Only Need A Few Fanatics And It All Falls To Pieces</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/andrew-white/" rel="tag">andrew white</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/canon-andrew-white/" rel="tag">Canon Andrew White</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christian-minority/" rel="tag">christian minority</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christianity/" rel="tag">Christianity</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians/" rel="tag">Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians-persecution-of/" rel="tag">Christians - persecution of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ethnic-cleansing-of-christians/" rel="tag">Ethnic cleansing of Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/gzg-failure-to-protect-christians/" rel="tag">GZG failure to protect Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/independent-the-uk/" rel="tag">Independent -The (UK)</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/invasion/" rel="tag">invasion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/invasion-of-iraq/" rel="tag">invasion of iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-christians/" rel="tag">iraqi christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/islam/" rel="tag">Islam</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kidnapping/" rel="tag">kidnapping</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/kidnappings/" rel="tag">Kidnappings</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/korea/" rel="tag">Korea</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/minority-communities/" rel="tag">minority communities</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/niger/" rel="tag">Niger</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/pakistan/" rel="tag">Pakistan</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/palestine/" rel="tag">Palestine</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/peter-moore/" rel="tag">Peter Moore</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/photos/" rel="tag">Photos</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/press/" rel="tag">Press</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/reconciliation/" rel="tag">reconciliation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saddam-hussein/" rel="tag">Saddam Hussein</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/streets-of-baghdad/" rel="tag">streets of baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/terry-jones/" rel="tag">terry jones</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الإسلام‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86/" rel="tag">بالمسيحيين</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <div style="border-right: black 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: black 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: black 1px solid; width: 300px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: black 1px solid"> <p><font size="3"><strong>The Monday Interview:</strong> With his 30 armed guards, Andrew White, ‘Vicar of Baghdad’, lives on Christianity’s front line. Jerome Taylor meets him:</font></p> <p> <a title="20100307_canon_andrew_white_in_baghdad by Gorillas Guides, on Flickr" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gorillasguides/5506077910/" class="external" target="_blank"><font size="3"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin: 0px auto 5px" height="381" alt="20100307_canon_andrew_white_in_baghdad" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038im_/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/5506077910_55e027241d_o.jpg" width="280"/></font> </a> </div> <p>Canon Andrew White leans over his desk and – with a mischievous glint in his eye – prepares to deliver what I now suspect is a signature move when greeting new guests. Handing over a copy of one of his books, his face breaks into a wide grin as he asks: "Would you like me to sign that for you? I tell you what, I’ll use this pen. It was the same one used to sign Saddam Hussein’s death sentence." </p> <p>Such a macabre piece of historical memorabilia might appear an unusual keepsake for an Anglican priest but then Canon White – the so-called Vicar of Baghdad – is no ordinary clergyman. As pastor to St George’s, the only Anglican church in Iraq, Canon White has been on the front line of the most violent and barbaric persecution of a Christian minority in living memory. </p> <p>Cut off from the streets of Baghdad by blast-proof barriers, razor wire and round-the-clock security, St George’s is one of the few churches still able to operate weekly services for the Iraqi capital’s rapidly diminishing Christian congregation. Scores of his worshippers have been kidnapped or murdered, and militants have routinely tried to storm the complex which lies outside the comparative safety of the Green Zone. </p> <p>Canon White, 47, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has been shot at and kidnapped but still he returns, making sure to spend at least three weeks of every month with an embattled congregation that refer to him as their abouna (father). </p> <p>The 6ft 2in, bowtie-loving priest spoke on a brief visit back to his picturesque home in a quiet Hampshire village which he shares with his wife and two boys (for security reasons he asks us not to give their names or location). The stopover was part publicity tour for his new book Faith Under Fire, part a chance to catch up with the family. </p> <p>The Hampshire house is a pretty, single-storey family home in a quiet curving cul-de-sac, containing a theologian’s study filled with books and crucifixes from across the world. Work is a war zone 3,000 miles away, where Canon White is protected by 30 security guards. A place of sandbags and terror, particularly for Iraqi Christians, whose population has plummeted in the past 20 years from 1.4 million to just 300,000. </p> <p>The fountain pen, which Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki borrowed for a couple of days and used to sign Saddam’s death warrant, is a way of breaking the ice before talking about a subject that will inevitably be gruesome. We meet just days after Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet member, was gunned down in Islamabad and it is inevitable that the conversation quickly turns to violent persecution of Christians. "All over the world there are increasing threats against Christians," Canon White says. "Bhatti’s death is deeply disturbing. But when you’re living in the midst of the fire like in Baghdad, it’s really what happens there that concerns you. We have had 123 people killed in Baghdad since November." </p> <p>Last year in fact was a particularly brutal year for Iraq’s Christians and 2011 looked like it was going to be no different. But in the past few weeks the killings have stopped. </p> <p>As head of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, Canon White has built unparalleled relationships with Iraq’s senior Sunni and Shia clerics. In late January he gathered them in Copenhagen to issue a joint fatwa (religious edict) condemning any attacks on minority communities. "Until then Christians were being killed every day," he says. "After the fatwa the killings stopped. It’s crucial to remember that the vast majority of Muslims we work with, they are our friends. We can only do what we do with their help." </p> <p>When he is not administering to his flock, it is these kinds of delicate negotiations between Iraq’s religious power players that occupy much of Canon White’s time in Baghdad. He has been a key negotiator in kidnappings including that of the IT worker Peter Moore, who was released, and Ken Bigley, who was killed. He has himself been taken hostage, held in a room where freshly severed fingers and toes littered the floor, and has negotiated for the release of countless Iraqis. The violence he has seen is harrowing. Does he ever lose his faith? "Never," he says. "If anything, my faith has got stronger." It’s a reply you often hear from religious people in conflict zones – but how can religion be a force for good when it does so much harm in these situations? </p> <p>"I remind myself that if religion is a force for bad it is also a force for good," he says. "If religion is the cause of this horrific violence then it is also the cure. The only way you will be able to stop this violence is engage with Iraq’s religions in a religious way. The best thing we can do is work with the Islamic leaders as most of them are not terrorists." </p> <p>Canon White places the blame for the violence against his congregants squarely at the feet of al-Qa’ida in Iraq, the primarily foreign militant network inspired by Osama bin Laden. "Those who instigate violence are mainly from outside," he says. "There are certain people you simply can’t work with and the al-Qa’ida people fall into that category." </p> <p>But he is equally infuriated by Christian bigots and publicity seekers – such as the American pastor Terry Jones, who threatened to burn the Koran. "Pastor Terry Jones is directly responsible for the murder of some of our people," Canon White says. "They have no idea how terrible it was. Throughout the time he threatened to burn the holy Koran, they were warning us that our people would be attacked. Four of my guards were killed throughout that time. He can try and say from the safety of Florida he was trying to make an important point. But it was an important point that killed our people." </p> <p>Canon White was himself a supporter of the American-led invasion of Iraq, but after all the killing, the mutilations, the kidnappings and the mass exodus of Iraq’s Christians – does he still think it was worth it? </p> <p>It’s the first time he seems unsure of himself. "I had one day in the whole of my life when I thought to myself, why did we do this," he says. "But I remember what it was like in Iraq before the war, the fear people lived under." Yet he adds: "But at least you could walk down the street." </p> <p>I press again, was it really worth it, so much violence, so many deaths? </p> <p>"I had seen the terror of the Saddam regime and I knew there was absolutely nothing the Iraqis could do to remove that terror," he replies. "It’s been hell. So many people killed. I still say the regime had to be removed but we should have done things differently afterwards." </p> <p>Regrets are a luxury Canon White cannot afford. He has a flock in Iraq to attend to. While a semblance of peace has returned for Baghdad’s Christians thanks to the joint fatwa, Canon White knows it is temporary. "From my years and years in Palestine, Israel and Baghdad I know that the majority of people can live together," he says. "But you only need a few fanatics and it all falls to pieces." </p> <p><b>Christianity under fire</b></p> <p>IRAQ In the past 20 years, the flight of Christians has reduced the community’s population from 1.4 million to 300,000. </p> <p>EGYPT On New Year’s Day, 21 Copts were killed in a bomb in Alexandria. </p> <p>PAKISTAN Shahbaz Bhatti, the country’s only Christian cabinet member, was assassinated last week. </p> <p>NORTH KOREA Christianity is vehemently prosecuted in North Korea, where any expression of religion in the totalitarian state is viewed as open insurrection against the Communist regime. </p> <p>NIGERIA Sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians in central Nigeria has broken out with horrendous violence over the past two years in and around the city of Jos. </p> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/andrew-white-the-vast-majority-of-muslims-are-our-friends-2234252.html" class="external" target="_blank">Andrew White: ‘The vast majority of muslims are our friends’ – Profiles, People – The Independent</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12264"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/25/%d8%a8%d8%b9%d8%b6-%d8%b1%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b9%d8%b2%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%ba%d9%8a%d8%b1/#respond" title="Comment on بعض رجال الدين: عزل السياسة عن الدين غير ممكن في بلد مثل العراق">No Comments</a></span> Posted on January 25th, 2011 by Harith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/25/%d8%a8%d8%b9%d8%b6-%d8%b1%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b9%d8%b2%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a9-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%ba%d9%8a%d8%b1/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to بعض رجال الدين: عزل السياسة عن الدين غير ممكن في بلد مثل العراق">بعض رجال الدين: عزل السياسة عن الدين غير ممكن في بلد مثل العراق</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/iraq/" title="View all posts in News" rel="category tag">News</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/islam/" rel="tag">Islam</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/politics/" rel="tag">Politics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/secular-vs-religious/" rel="tag">Secular vs. Religious</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الإسلام‎</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p dir="rtl" align="right">يقف دعاة المدنية في العراق اليوم امام مرحلة تمثل تحدّ لإثبات الوجود، فما يصفونه بالمدّ الديني الحكومي ومحاولات فرض مفاهيم إسلامية تقضم الحريات وتسمح باضطهاد الآخر ستسهم بأفغنة العراق، الذي يؤمن دستوره بالتعددية. <br/>محمد حسن السلامي / ناشط / هنالك الكثير من الانتهاكات التي حصلت خلال الفترة السابقة منها ما حدث من مطالبات للخدمات في البصرة وسقوط شهيدين على اثرها وايضا اغلاق النوادي الثقافية الليلية كاتحاد الادباء هذه تثير مشكلة في المجتمع هل نحن دولة دينية ام علمانية ؟؟ سوف نقف بالضد من هذا باشكال مختلفة عبر الكتابة بالصحف والاعتصامات والتظاهرات. <br/>مفيد الجزائري: قيادي في الحزب الشيوعي <br/>/ عندنا ديمقراطية وعدنا دستور وعدنا اسس ارسيت لنظام جديد ولكن هذا بناء النظام الجديد لم يستكمل وثانيا هذا البناء يتعرض الى هجوم من هنا وهناك ومحاولات قضم وتضييق .. <br/>لكن رجال الدين .. او بعضهم على الاقل يرى ان عزل السياسة عن الدين غير ممكن في بلد مثل العراق، بينما يرى اخرون ان الحكومة الدينية لا يمكن ان تنسجم مع المعايير المدنية محذرين من تحول العراق الى افغانستان اخرى. <br/>احمد القبانجي / مفكر إسلامي / حكومة دينية لا يمكن ان تنسجم مع المجتمع المدني ولا يمكن ان تنسجم مع حكومة مدنية اذا اردنا بالاجبار ان نقيم حكومة دينية يعني حكومة طالبان او حكومة الصومال او ايران وكلها اثبتت فشلها وتحولت الى استبداد والى صراع واقتتال بين الاحزاب <br/>علي الشرع / رجل دين / لانستطيع نحن ان نعزل الدين عن السياسة الدين هو منبع السياسة الدين هو محرك السياسات كلها فلا يجوز اطلاقا وغير ممكن ان نعزل الدين عن السياسة نحن دولة اسلامية وتربيتنا اسلامية وتعاليمنا اسلامية <br/>ومع ان المرجع في حل اختلافات كهذه يفترض ان تكون مواد الدستور العراقي، إلا ان مختصين يؤكدون ان مطاطية البنود الدستورية تجعلها تتحمل أكثر من تفسير وبحسب رغبة ومصلحة الاطراف التي تتسلم السلطة. <br/>ابراهيم المشهداني / محلل سياسي / المواد التي صنع منها الدستور كانت مواد فضفاضة بحيث كانت تقبل الاجتهاد والتفسير من اي طرف الدستور الان يحتاج الى تعديلات اكو دراسات كثيرة واكو مسودة تعديلات للدستور لكن لم يتم الاتفاق عليها السبب في ذلك توجد بعض الاطراف التي تريد ان تجير الدستور لصالحها. <br/>وبينما يؤكد انصار شرعنة السياسة على ان النصوص الدينية مصممة لكي تناسب كل الازمان يشير مختصون الى ان اختلاف تفسير تلك النصوص بين المذاهب والتيارات الدينية المختلفة الى حد تكفير بعضها البعض احيانا يجعل من غير الممكن فرض نمط محدد وناجح للدولة الدينية في هذا العصر. </p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12169"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/10/occupation-of-iraq-destroys-womens-lives/#respond" title="Comment on Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives">No Comments</a></span> Posted on January 10th, 2011 by Fatima Jameel</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/10/occupation-of-iraq-destroys-womens-lives/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives">Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/human-rights/" title="View all posts in Human Rights" rel="category tag">Human Rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/women/" title="View all posts in Women and Children" rel="category tag">Women and Children</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/al-jazeera/" rel="tag">al-Jazeera</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/america/" 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sanctions/" rel="tag">Sanctions</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sectarian-violence/" rel="tag">sectarian violence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sectarianism/" rel="tag">sectarianism</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sex-trafficking/" rel="tag">sex trafficking</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sexual-abuse/" rel="tag">sexual abuse</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sexual-slavery/" rel="tag">sexual slavery</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sons-of-iraq/" rel="tag">Sons of Iraq</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/statistics/" rel="tag">statistics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/torture/" rel="tag">Torture</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unemployment/" rel="tag">unemployment</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unemployment-levels/" rel="tag">unemployment levels</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unhcr/" rel="tag">UNHCR</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/unicef/" rel="tag">UNICEF</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/war-crimes/" rel="tag">War Crimes</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/widows/" rel="tag">Widows</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wikileaks/" rel="tag">Wikileaks</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/womens/" rel="tag">women's</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/womens-rights/" rel="tag">Women's Rights</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>More than seven years after the US- and UK-led invasion of their country, Iraqis continue to endure an occupation that has systematically violated their rights to life, dignity, self-determination and economic development. The occupation has been and continues to be so destructive and so violent that one in four Iraqis are estimated to be dead or displaced. One in five Iraqis has been made a refugee or an internally displaced person (IDP). </p> <div style="border-right: black 1px solid; padding-right: 5px; border-top: black 1px solid; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-bottom: 5px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 15px; border-left: black 1px solid; width: 300px; padding-top: 5px; border-bottom: black 1px solid"> <p>Serene Assir, <i>The Electronic Intifada,</i> 10 January 2011 </p> <p><em>Serene Assir is a Lebanese independent writer and journalist based in Spain.</em></p> <p>Source: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11723.shtml" class="external" target="_blank">ei: Occupation of Iraq destroys women’s lives</a></p> </p></div> <p>In particular, the role and situation of women and girls has declined precipitously compared to prior to the invasion. From torture to rape to assassination, from forced separation for mixed couples to women and their children enduring the death of their husbands and fathers, from a loss of educational rights to expulsion from the workplace and public life, and from sexual slavery to forced flight or enforced disappearance, for the past seven years Iraqi women and girls have endured the most terrifying of fates. They are living at the mercy of an occupation that both seeks to terrorize them into submission, and to use them as objects for the terrorization of the whole of Iraqi society. </p> <h3>No security </h3> <p>Dr. Souad al-Azzawi, who authored a study on Iraqi women entitled "Deterioration of Iraq women’s rights and living conditions under occupation," published in January 2008, told The Electronic Intifada: "The most significant loss that Iraqi women have suffered is a complete and total loss of security." She explained that the loss of security entails both the loss of physical security and "the economic, social and civil securities Iraqi women were so accustomed to prior to the occupation." </p> <p>In fact, it appears that the loss of physical and other aspects of security have a Catch-22 effect on the lives of women. The lack of legal and institutional support for women by an Iraqi puppet government which is at best ineffective has meant that in the vast majority of cases the criminals, mafias, militias, death squads, US occupation forces and Iraqi police and army forces committing crimes against women are not held accountable for their actions. This has in turn encouraged the development of a situation characterized by lawlessness and criminality, in which women are prime targets. As such, many women have been forced to leave their jobs and quit their education, for fear that they may be the next victim of rape or assassination. </p> <p>According to al-Azzawi, Iraqi women have had to resort to "the relative security of their homes," often taking their children out of school too if they were the only parent able to accompany them there and back. </p> <p>Echoing al-Azzawi’s words, an Iraqi refugee speaking on condition of anonymity said that she was forced to leave Iraq precisely because of death threats issued against her by militias who had found out she was actively working as a journalist seeking to expose the injustices taking place against women. Had she stayed in Iraq, the threats likely would have been fulfilled. </p> <p>"Not only was I being targeted, but I was also without protection, given that Iraq has no government to speak of," she explained. She added that "I could have been killed at any moment, and no one would have been held accountable for it. It was for one reason alone that I fled: because I had no choice." </p> <h3>Criminal levels of poverty </h3> <p>The figures speak for themselves. According to a dossier on Iraqi women published by the BRussells Tribunal, prior to the invasion 72 percent of working women were government employees. The dismantlement of state institutions immediately after the invasion meant that these women became unemployed. Instability and ineffective institutions in Iraq render it impossible to pinpoint the total rate of unemployment today, but estimates range from 15 percent to 70 percent. The few stable jobs that exist, according to the dossier, are usually given to men, though a growing number of female-headed households means that many women need to take extraordinary risks in order to try and cater for their children ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.brussellstribunal.org/pdf/Women.pdf" class="external" target="_blank">Iraqi Women Under Occupation</a>" [PDF]). </p> <p>The same economic insecurity affects Iraqi refugee families. Aseer al-Madaien, the Protection Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – Syria, says that out of 139,000 registered Iraqis in Syria, 28 percent are households headed by women. In total, estimates for the total number of displaced Iraqis, including both refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), range up to almost five million, according to the international organization Medecins Sans Frontieres, which believes that there are 2.5 million Iraqi IDPs and 2.3 million refugees. </p> <p>IDPs suffer both extreme vulnerability and insecurity, as they seek refuge in the homes of relatives and friends, said Hana Al Bayaty, member of the Executive Committee of the BRussells Tribunal. Many of them are the victims of ethnic cleansing, whereby a country once free of sectarianism is increasingly witnessing the targeting of persons on the basis of their religion or ethnicity. Mixed marriages in these conditions are all too often broken up by force, according to a report published by the UN-affiliated IRIN humanitarian news agency ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=26268" class="external" target="_blank">Mixed Marriages confront Sectarian Violence</a>," 6 April 2006). </p> <p>The majority of Iraqi refugees have headed to neighboring countries Syria and Jordan, where they are not allowed to work, as they are legally considered "guests." In 2007, the UNHCR reported that an estimated 40 percent of Iraq’s middle class had fled the country. Not only have almost half of those with the qualifications and experience to help rebuild Iraq left the country, but they are also suffering from the most extreme form of disempowerment, according to Al Bayaty. </p> <p>Al-Azzawi explained that "For the educated middle class, this situation is shattering as everything we have worked so hard to earn and build up over decades of war and sanctions is being brought down by military force before our very eyes." </p> <p>Unable to work legally, it is often refugee women who take upon themselves the burden and the risk of working as they are less likely to be asked for documentation on the streets of Amman, Damascus and beyond, and they thereby hope to be less likely to be deported. </p> <p>Unemployment levels in Syria and Jordan, however, mean that even illegal work is hard to come by. It is because of this that the phenomenon of forced prostitution is becoming increasingly rife. The growing problem of sex trafficking is partly caused by poverty. </p> <p>According to al-Azzawi, the lack of work permits, qualifications and opportunities "leads some women to prostitution in order to feed their children and their families." In other cases, the sheer lack of protection faced by some women push them into prostitution. Problems in such cases include threats of kidnapping issued against women should they not accept to prostitute themselves. These threats are issued especially against women whose husbands are dead or missing. "The women of Iraq live in a very fragile situation as a result of the American occupation’s crimes," al-Azzawi said. </p> <h3>Death, torture and enforced disappearance </h3> <p>No statistical reference can adequately convey the sheer suffering experienced by the people of Iraq, as a whole, from the genocidal sanctions period through the invasion and ensuing occupation. Current estimates place the number of dead at anywhere between 1.5 million and 2.5 million. </p> <p>According to Iraqi human rights analyst and advocate Asma al-Haidari, "Up to one million Iraqis have been forcibly disappeared." Behind the enforced disappearances are the US army, Iraqi government forces including the army and police, and al-Qaeda and other militias that operate freely across the country, according to a presentation given by Dirk Adriaensens, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee, at a London conference organized by the International Committee Against Disappearances on 9-12 December 2010. According to calculations by Adriaensens, based on UNHCR statistics, 20 percent of internally displaced Iraqi families have reported cases of missing children ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.brussellstribunal.org/pdf/Disappearances_missing_persons_in_Iraq.pdf" class="external" target="_blank">Enforced Disappearance. The Missing Persons of Iraq</a>" [PDF]). </p> <p>It is also understood that, given that there is a very real and justified fear of retaliation against families who report the disappearances of their loved ones, many others suffer in silence. Thousands of detainees, some of them in secret, illegal prisons, according to al-Azzawi, are women. Estimates published in 2008 by the Iraqi Parliamentary Women’s Committee and the Iraqi Ministry of Women’s Affairs indicate that between one and two million Iraqi women are widows. </p> <p>Inside Iraq’s jails, legal or not, cases of torture and sexual abuse have been widely reported. Revelations by WikiLeaks published on 22 October 2010 were described by Iraqi activists such as Sabah al-Mukhtar, president of the Arab Lawyers’ Union, as just "the tip of the iceberg," as he said on an Al-Jazeera English interview on 24 October. According to al-Azzawi, women are usually jailed on trumped-up charges of terrorism, where there is no proof and while there is no adequate legal system to ensure their right to a fair trial. "Many are awaiting execution," al-Azzawi added. </p> <p>Further, when it is the man who disappears, whether he is dead or missing, women and their families have to fend for themselves in a hellish situation. Out of this horror comes forth one of the more obtuse trends, inexistent in Iraq up until 2003, of families giving their daughters away in early marriage for fear of being unable to adequately support them. </p> <p>One immediate effect of this phenomenon is the fact that girls aged 13, 14 and 15 sold into early marriage lose their right to education. As figures currently stand, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report published on 1 September 2010, for every 100 boys in school, there are only 89 girls ("<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MCOI-89RD6Y?OpenDocument" class="external" target="_blank">Girls Education in Iraq 2010</a>" [PDF]). </p> <p>"Lots of those little girls are very bright and are willing to finish their education if they are allowed to," said al-Azzawi. </p> <p>Worse still is the flourishing of what are known as "pleasure marriages." These are short-term marriages conducted out of court, whereby separation is also very simple. It is a practice that Iraqi women’s rights advocates describe as linked to prostitution, because of the wrongful abuse of the practice by men in power, often blackmailing fathers into giving their daughters away in a "pleasure marriage," and also because once a girl or a woman has married in this way and has received alimony for her short-term commitment, she will find it very difficult to reintegrate back into her family. </p> <p>"Many girls are forced into prostitution and ultimately sex trafficking this way," al-Azzawi added. </p> <h3>Forced Islamization of society </h3> <p>It is deeply telling that Iraqi society is becoming forcibly Islamized by militias tied to the Iraqi puppet government, which is dependent upon the United States for its survival. Meanwhile, Washington claims to be fighting a war on Islamic terrorism. The reality, as is frequently the case, is the precise opposite. Previously a secular state, Iraqi society is becoming forcibly transformed into a theocracy. In such systems, women and girls inevitably lose. </p> <p>The results of the proliferation of fundamentalist militias are varied. While reports of Christian women veiling in order to avoid attacks are troubling in the Iraqi context, what is potentially much worse is that the notion of an Iraqi state for all its citizens is fast disappearing. Not only does this mean that Iraqi girls are no longer safe on the streets; it also means that if the occupation fulfills its goals, Iraqi "career women" may be a thing of the past. </p> <p>Al-Azzawi notes that "Economically the country has lost a huge, skilled working force, which is exactly what the occupation planned to do, and the lives of millions of working women and families were shattered." </p> <p>Considering that there is not a single right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the US occupation has not violated — as the International Initiative to Prosecute US Genocide in Iraq team found when working in 2009 to bring a legal case for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against four US presidents and four UK prime ministers — it is amazing yet encouraging that the US occupation’s goals have failed. </p> <p>Not only is the US administration under President Barack Obama still battling to maintain control over a country whose people resist in the name of their dignity and their love for Iraq, but many of the most outspoken and brilliant advocates for Iraqis’ rights in general are in fact women. </p> <p>"I have much hope for Iraq," said human rights advocate Asma al-Haidari, "Nothing will make me lose hope." </p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12120"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/05/iraq-muslim-solidarity-towards-iraqi-christians/#comments" title="Comment on IRAQ Muslim solidarity towards Iraqi Christians">1 Comment</a></span> Posted on January 5th, 2011 by Harith</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2011/01/05/iraq-muslim-solidarity-towards-iraqi-christians/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to IRAQ Muslim solidarity towards Iraqi Christians">IRAQ Muslim solidarity towards Iraqi Christians</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a 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<p>A delegation of Arab tribal chiefs visit the archdiocese of Kirkuk following the attacks against Baghdad cathedral and Egyptian Copts in Alexandria to voice their concern and express their closeness to their Christian “brothers”. A Christian woman who survived the slaughter in Baghdad’s Syriac-Catholic cathedral on 31 October is murdered.</p> <p>by Layla Yousif Rahema</p> </p></div> <p> Baghdad (AsiaNews) – At a time of escalating tensions and violence, Muslims leaders have expressed their solidarity with Iraqi Christians. Yesterday, some 20 sheikhs from Arab tribes in Nassiriyia, Kerbala, Diwaniyia, Imara, and Basra visited the Chaldean Archbishop’s Residence in Kirkuk to present their best wishes for the New Year, but also and especially to express their solidarity with Christians as well as voice their concern over mass Christian migration, particularly after the attack against Baghdad’s Syriac-Catholic cathedral on 31 October, and a Coptic church in Alexandria (Egypt) on 31 December. <p>During lunch with Archbishop Louis Sako, the Muslim leaders expressed their outrage and condemned the attacks against Christians. “Iraq without Christians would not be Iraq,” one of the sheikhs said. Another noted that his tribe was Christian before the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, adding that “we cannot forget our roots.” Others highlighted the need “to strengthen the spirit of brotherhood because we are all children of Adam and Abraham.”</p> <p>The sheikhs gave Mgr Sako a gift, a sword to symbolise their offer of protection to Christians. The archbishop thanked them but said that “the Christian sword is love”.</p> <p>“As the Pope said, the attack against innocent people offends God and humanity. If we want to build life together and in harmony, we must educate our children to respect those who are different from us in terms of religion, culture or ethnicity, and respect the human mosaic that God created,” the Chaldean archbishop said. “Destroying it is to destroy not only peace but life itself.”</p> <p>After the meal, the entire Muslim delegation visited Kirkuk cathedral and listened to Mgr Sako explain the Christian prayer and how, within the church, men and women praise God.</p> <p>In the meantime, Christians are still losing their lives in Baghdad. On Sunday night, Rafah Butros Toma, a 44-year-old unmarried Christian woman, was murdered in her home. She was one of the worshippers who survived the al-Qaeda massacre at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral on 31 October. She worked at a local university and lived alone after her old father moved to a village in northern Iraq. She never stopped going to church.</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Muslim-solidarity-towards-Iraqi-Christians-20419.html" class="external" target="_blank">IRAQ Muslim solidarity towards Iraqi Christians – Asia News</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-12029"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/28/we-will-resist-and-we-will-remainmgr-sako/#comments" title="Comment on We will resist and we will remain–Mgr Sako">1 Comment</a></span> Posted on December 28th, 2010 by Hussein Al-Bayati</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/28/we-will-resist-and-we-will-remainmgr-sako/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to We will resist and we will remain–Mgr Sako">We will resist and we will remain–Mgr Sako</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/human-rights/" title="View all posts in Human Rights" rel="category tag">Human Rights</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/religion/" title="View all posts in Religion" rel="category tag">Religion</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/archbishop-louis-sako/" rel="tag">Archbishop Louis Sako</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/asianews/" rel="tag">asianews</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad/" rel="tag">Baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/basrah/" rel="tag">Basrah</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christianity/" rel="tag">Christianity</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians/" rel="tag">Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christians-and-muslims/" rel="tag">Christians and Muslims</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christmas/" rel="tag">Christmas</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/churches/" rel="tag">churches</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ethnic-cleansing-of-christians/" rel="tag">Ethnic cleansing of Christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-christians/" rel="tag">iraqi christians</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/martyrs/" rel="tag">Martyrs</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/middle-east/" rel="tag">Middle East</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mosul/" rel="tag">Mosul</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/security-measures/" rel="tag">security measures</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkmen/" rel="tag">Turkmen</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86/" rel="tag">بالمسيحيين</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <blockquote><p>" We live in Iraq today, a painful experience, culminating in the massacre of Our Lady of Deliverance, which have shocked Christians and Muslims together, but we are determined to withstand the ordeal. We will not give in to temptation and frustration because life is a gift from God and it is greater than the hands of evil can destroy it".</p> <hr/></blockquote> <p>Many liturgical functions called off, no Christmas decorations, and no celebrations after dark. The Iraqi prime minister calls attacks on Christians "a crime against national unity". An appeal for peace and solidarity among ethnic groups and religions, and a message of hope from the archbishop of Kirkuk.</p> <p>Kirkuk (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.asianews.it/news-en/A-gloomy-Christmas-in-Iraq.-Mgr-Sako:-we-will-resist-and-we-will-remain-20350.html" class="external" target="_blank">AsiaNews / Agencies</a>) – A Christmas of fear and sadness for Iraqi Christians, in memory of the martyrs killed Oct. 31 in the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad. Many masses were called off across the country, and security measures heightened. But in the midst of this also the determination expressed in a message also sent to <i>AsiaNews </i>by Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk. According to <i>Middle East Concern</i>, the celebrations were cancelled as a result of threats posted on Web sites of Islamic groups. "The decision was taken after the threats were repeated on Tuesday, December 22. The churches in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk have decided not to put up Christmas decorations and called off ceremonies after dark”.</p> <p>Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called on Christians not to leave Iraq. "Attempts to keep Christians away from their homeland and their land, which clung to them through the centuries, is a great crime against national unity," al-Maliki said in a statement marking the Christmas holiday. But many churches in Mosul did not hold celebrations while in Basra the roads leading to churches were cordoned off with barbed wire, and the buildings were surrounded by security forces.</p> <p>In this gloomy picture, the archbishop of Kirkuk, wants to talk about hope. "As long as we get back to each other: Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, Muslims and Christians, we resist and we stay, because Iraq without us loses its beautiful multi-identity. We remain because are committed to love and to return to each other. This is the road to resurrection, life and renewal".</p> <p>Archbishop Sako recalled Oct. 31: " We live in Iraq today, a painful experience, culminating in the massacre of Our Lady of Deliverance, which have shocked Christians and Muslims together, but we are determined to withstand the ordeal. We will not give in to temptation and frustration because life is a gift from God and it is greater than the hands of evil can destroy it".</p> <p>"If we go back to the essence of religion and to our common human roots, inevitably we will meet tour national fraternity in equality, justice, solidarity. Then risk will vanish and life will reflect abundantly This is good news of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ with his message of hope: Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. "</p> <p>The Archbishop of Kirkuk concluded his message with an appeal for peace: "Peace is the base of all goods: we ask it in prayer and implement it with mutual love and solidarity. Then the miracle happens and we will have peace on earth for human beings and the glory of God in the highest. We both believe that God is the Lord of the impossible".</p> <p></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.asianews.it/news-en/A-gloomy-Christmas-in-Iraq.-Mgr-Sako:-we-will-resist-and-we-will-remain-20350.html" class="external" target="_blank">IRAQ A gloomy Christmas in Iraq. Mgr Sako: "we will resist and we will remain" – Asia News</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11986"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/24/christian-exodus-from-iraq-gathers-pace/#respond" title="Comment on Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 24th, 2010 by Nur Hussein Ghazali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/24/christian-exodus-from-iraq-gathers-pace/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace">Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الإسلام‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a8%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%85%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%8a%d9%86/" rel="tag">بالمسيحيين</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Their cathedrals stand silent and their neighbourhoods are rapidly emptying. Now <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq</a>’s Christians face two further unthinkable realities: that Christmas this year is all but cancelled, and that few among them will stay around to celebrate future holy days.</p> <p>It has been the worst of years for the country’s Christians, with thousands fleeing in the past month and more leaving the country during 2010 than at any time since the invasion nearly eight years ago. Christian leaders say there have been few more defining years in their 2,000-year history in central Arabia.</p> <p> <a title="20102412_captioned_memorial_murdered_christians by Gorillas Guides, on Flickr" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gorillasguides/5287899085/" class="external" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin: 0px auto 5px" height="276" alt="20102412_captioned_memorial_murdered_christians" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038im_/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5245/5287899085_689e1097d8_o.jpg" width="460"/></a> <p>The latest exodus follows a massacre led by al-Qaida at a Chaldean Catholic church in central Baghdad on 31 October, which left about 60 people dead, almost 100 maimed and an already apprehensive community terrified. Since then, the terrorist group has targeted Christians in their homes, including family members of those who survived the attack.</p> <p>In Baghdad, as well as the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, Christmas services have been cancelled for fear of further violence. Church leaders said they would not put up Christmas decorations or celebrate midnight mass. They told families not to decorate their homes, for fear of attack after al-Qaida reiterated its threat to target Christians earlier this week.</p> <p>"Now more than 80% of Christians are not going to the churches," said the head of Iraq’s Christian Endowment group, Abdullah al-Noufali. "There is no more sunday school, no school for teaching Christianity. Yesterday we had a discussion about what we would do for Christmas. We took a decision just to do one mass. In years before we had many masses."</p> <p>Noufali’s church was closed and barricaded in 2005 when violence was consuming Baghdad. Many others had stayed open since then. Until now. In the wake of the attack on the Our Lady of Salvation church, at least 10 churches are believed to have been closed. At others, congregations are down to a handful.</p> <p>Iraq’s Christian population has halved since the ousting of Saddam Hussein. But in the past two months, the rate of departure has soared. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is reporting high numbers of registrations by Christians in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. And in Iraq’s Kurdish north, the number of refugees is overwhelming.</p> <p>Christians have been arriving since the president of the Kurdish regional government, Massoud Barazani, offered them protection and refuge days after the massacre.</p> <p>Kurdish officials say at least 1,000 families have taken up the offer. Noufali believes the number is far higher. He says the Kurds have been warm and welcoming, but fears that moving there does not offer his community a long-term solution.</p> <p>"We have seen in Kurdistan that they have no ability to accept the Kurdish students in the universities," he said. "There are not enough chairs in the university for them. They must have opportunity to learn and work. The problem is not just security."</p> <p>In Lebanon, the plight of Iraq’s Christians is being carefully scrutinised. Father Yusef Muwaness, of the Council of Catholic Churches in the Middle East, said: "We understand the shock [the Iraqis] are enduring. We want them to know that they won’t be left alone.</p> <p>"There are ancient issues at work. These people [al-Qaida] are killing because of a fatwa. There has not been a mufti who has stood up and said this is wrong."</p> <p>Lebanon’s Christians once held a demographic majority. Emigration and a brutal civil war has whittled numbers away. Amin Gemayel, a former Lebanese president and now patriarch of many of the country’s remaining Christians, believes far more could be done by Muslim leaders to ensure that the exodus is not total.</p> <p>"The Christians were very nationalistic," he said. "They are part of the foundations of this area. We can’t understand such extremity then passivity from the leaders. When the region is completely cleansed of other religions (apart from Islam) it will be a surrender to the fundamentalists."</p> <p>In the Chaldean archdiocese in Baabda, above Beirut, Father Hanna has been receiving Iraqi families fleeing their homeland. "I would go back there to give a service in front of one person, if I had to," he said. "But even that may not be possible now. Since 1 November, we have seen 450 families register here. Many more have gone to the UN."</p> <p>Among those who have stayed in Iraq and tried to build a new life in the north, there are mixed feelings. "Three days after the church attack I left my house (in Baghdad) and came to the KRG," said Georges Qudah, 30, a pharmacy assistant. "At the main checkpoint I said we are a Christian family, and they said we are welcome to stay as long as we want. I feel safe and comfortable here, but the problem is how to live. The council here has given us blankets and beds, but housing is very expensive."</p> <p>In Baghdad, there are few signs of the joy of Christmas.</p> <p>"There is no hope here anymore," says Noufali. "No one can believe they [the Christians] will stay. Christmas came with two messages, peace in the world and hope for the people and we need these two things for our life in Iraq. If there are no more Christians here, I am certain Iraq will become a more dangerous country."</p> <h3>Christianity in the Middle East</h3> <p> Freedom of worship for Christians varies greatly across the Middle East. <p>In Lebanon, where about half the population are Christian, believers are allowed to practise their faith without fear of persecution. The Maronite Church is the largest, most politically active and influential denomination, holding 34 of the 64 Christian seats in the Lebanese parliament.</p> <p>In Jordan, Christians are free to profess their faith, build churches, schools, hospitals and universities. They attend mass and there are public celebrations of religious festivals and ceremonies. They experience less discrimination and more freedom than fellow believers in Egypt and Iraq. There is a similar portrait of stability and freedom in Syria, where Christians comprise up to 10% of the population.</p> <p>Evangelising bvy Protestants in Jordan has prompted a crackdown on churches, visas and summer camps. Attempting to convert Muslims is illegal, but there is no law against proselytising to other Christians and some Catholic and Orthodox groups have complained of energetic wooing from Protestants. It is this evangelising that has offended authorities, keen to avoid religious zealotry of any sort.</p> <p>What Saudi Arabia lacks in violent persecution it makes up for in outright intolerance. There is no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, which counts a million Catholics in its population. The country allows Christians to enter for work purposes but severely restricts the practise of their faith.</p> <p>Christians worship in private homes and there are bans on religious articles including Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings and items bearing religious symbols. The religious police bar the practice of any religion other than Islam. Conversion of a Muslim to another religion is considered apostasy and carries a death sentence if the accused does not recant. Still, Christians in Saudi Arabia are positively blessed compared with those of Iraq. <strong>Riazat Butt</strong></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/23/iraq-christian-exodus-christmas" class="external" target="_blank">Christian exodus from Iraq gathers pace</a> | by Martin Chulov in Baghdad |  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/" target="_blank" class="external">The Guardian</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11951"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/15/is-free-iraq-becoming-a-more-islamic-state-reuters/#respond" title="Comment on Is free Iraq becoming a more Islamic state? | Reuters">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 15th, 2010 by Nur Hussein Ghazali</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/15/is-free-iraq-becoming-a-more-islamic-state-reuters/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Is free Iraq becoming a more Islamic state? | Reuters">Is free Iraq becoming a more Islamic state? | Reuters</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/analysis-briefings-commentary/" title="View all posts in Analysis Briefings Commentary" rel="category tag">Analysis Briefings Commentary</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/features/" title="View all posts in Features" rel="category tag">Features</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/alcohol/" rel="tag">alcohol</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/alcohol-ban-on/" rel="tag">alcohol - ban on</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad/" rel="tag">Baghdad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/baghdad-provincial-council/" rel="tag">Baghdad provincial council</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/basra/" rel="tag">Basra</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/christian-families/" rel="tag">christian families</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/corruption/" rel="tag">Corruption</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/endowments/" rel="tag">Endowments</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/hair-dressing/" rel="tag">hair dressing</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/intimidation/" rel="tag">intimidation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/intoxication/" rel="tag">intoxication</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/isci-sciri/" rel="tag">ISCI (SCIRI)</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/islam/" rel="tag">Islam</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/islamic-state/" rel="tag">islamic state</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/liquor-shops/" rel="tag">liquor shops</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/local-government/" rel="tag">Local Government</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/militia/" rel="tag">Militia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/militias/" rel="tag">Militias</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/morals/" rel="tag">morals</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/muqtada-al-sadr/" rel="tag">Muqtada al-Sadr</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/music/" rel="tag">music</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/najaf/" rel="tag">Najaf</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/parliamentary-election/" rel="tag">parliamentary election</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religious-parties/" rel="tag">Religious parties</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/reuters/" rel="tag">Reuters</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadr-al-din-qabbanji/" rel="tag">Sadr al-Din Qabbanji</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/sadrist-bloc/" rel="tag">Sadrist Bloc</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/secular-vs-religious/" rel="tag">Secular vs. Religious</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%b3%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%85%e2%80%8e/" rel="tag">الإسلام‎</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/%d8%ad%d8%b1%d9%83%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%af%d8%b1/" rel="tag">حركة الصدر</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>(<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BE30N20101215?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20reuters/worldNews%20%28News%20/%20US%20/%20International%29" class="external" target="_blank">Reuters</a>) – A group of men recently ordered Siham al-Zubaidi to close down her Baghdad hair salon for two months for Shi’ite religious festivities. She had no idea who they were but complied because she feared for her life.</p> <p>"Can you just tell me who will pay the rent of my shop for these two months? What shall I do to support my family? What is the relation between hair dressing and religious events?" Zubaidi, 40, asked furiously.</p> <p>"This is a new dictatorship. They want Iraq to be an Islamic state. But this is not right. Iraq includes a variety of religious factions … These are alien ideas, not Iraqi."</p> <p>Recent efforts by authorities, clergy and unknown bands of neighborhood enforcers to police morals by shutting nightclubs, bars and other establishments has heightened concerns among academics and intellectuals that Iraq, now emerging from war, is displaying the tendencies of a hard-line Islamic state.</p> <p>Baghdad’s local government this month re-activated a federal order from last year to close down the capital’s nightclubs and liquor shops due to concern the venues were undermining morals.</p> <p>Last week, anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr issued a strongly worded statement calling for Iraqis to take a stand against "corruption, intoxication and addiction."</p> <p>The crackdown in Baghdad was preceded by similar actions in some Shi’ite-majority provinces in the south.</p> <p>"What is going on are normal consequences when religious parties take over power. They start with such practices, and end the way the Taliban in Afghanistan ended, or other parties in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.reuters.com/places/iran" class="external" target="_blank">Iran</a>," Baghdad political analyst Hazim al-Nuaimi said.</p> <p>In September, local authorities in Babil province prevented an arts festival that has been held yearly since before 2003. Security forces told organizers a day after the festival started to end it because it included dance shows.</p> <p>In the southern city of Basra, the government shut down a foreign circus a few days after it opened last month. It was the first circus the province had hosted in decades.</p> <p>Basra authorities said the government department of Shi’ite endowments held that the land on which the circus was set up could not be used in a way that violated Islamic Sharia law.</p> <p>The new measures sparked protests by some Iraqis who said the government is trying to kill freedom more than seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein and paved the way for majority Shi’ites to take power.</p> <p>RADICAL CONCEPTS</p> <p>"What is going on, in fact, is an attempt to impose the radical concepts of the Islamic fundamentalist parties who dominate the political scene in Iraq…that’s what we are afraid of," said Qasim Mohammed, a journalist who protested with dozens of others in Baghdad’s main square Sunday.</p> <p>Kamel al-Zaidi, head of the Baghdad provincial council, described the protesters in televised comments as "paid people who want to turn Iraq into a community of atheists."</p> <p>But the crackdown, alongside a series of attacks on Iraq’s minority Christian community, raised questions about freedom of religion and expression in mainly Muslim Iraq.</p> <p>In the worst of the attacks, dozens died after Sunni insurgents took hostages at a Baghdad cathedral on October 31. Hundreds of Christian families have since fled for the relative safety of the Kurdish north, and abroad.</p> <p>During Friday prayers last week, many Shi’ite clerics supported the Baghdad provincial council and called on the government to show more determination.</p> <p>"The decision of the government and the provincial council is right," said Sadr al Din al Qubanchi, a prominent cleric in the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a Shi’ite political bloc.</p> <p>"Those who condemn it must realize that the Iraqi identity is Islamic, and the government is responsible for practicing this identity," said Qubanchi in a speech in the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf.</p> <p>Sabbar al-Saeidi, the head of the legal committee of the Baghdad provincial council, defended the new measures.</p> <p>"The measures are aimed at fighting anything against moral and public discipline, whether it is a circus or not," Saeidi said.</p> <p>Overt and illegal acts of religious intimidation may have been worse three years ago, when Shi’ite militias and Sunni insurgents roamed Iraq freely.</p> <p>Now, bands of loosely organised, unknown men are carrying out threats quietly against liquor shops, schools and other establishments, and with groups like Sadr’s movement claiming a share of political power, critics say the government is closing its eyes to the intimidation.</p> <p>NAKED STATUES</p> <p>Residents of Baghdad’s mainly Shi’ite Shaab district say many alcohol shops have been attacked in recent weeks.</p> <p>At a government-run fine arts institute in Baghdad, unknown men showed up this week and ordered the removal of all statues from the yard, an official of the facility said.</p> <p>They said "it is not good to show such statues. Some of them are naked," said the official, who asked not to be named because he feared for his safety.</p> <p>The music program at the school was shut down. Students are not allowed to wear short skirts, short sleeve shirts or makeup, according to a female student.</p> <p>"(A school official) told us it is Haram (forbidden). Some teachers consider any girl who does this as absent," she said. "A top official once put an X on my classmate’s leg as she was wearing a short skirt."</p> <p>Protesters on both sides have taken to the streets. On Friday hundreds responded to Sadr’s call.</p> <p>"Stand against those who want to disseminate corruption, intoxication, and addiction (to alcohol), to make Iraq drift toward ignorance, degeneration, lewdness, to make our society rot like the West," Sadr said in his statement.</p> <p>Political analysts said the coming era could see an escalation of intimidation as Sadr’s fundamentalist religious movement plays a larger role in government.</p> <p>Sadr won 39 seats in a March parliamentary election and then pledged support for incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a key step in an agreement between political blocs that end a months-long political impasse.</p> <p>"What is going on is a new tendency of a new culture that wants to take us backward," said Haider Munaathar, a well-known actor and head of Iraq’s theater union. "We must not keep silent toward those who want Iraq to wear a robe of their choosing."</p> <p>(Editing by Jim Loney and Samia Nakhoul)</p> <ul></ul> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BE30N20101215?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20reuters/worldNews%20%28News%20/%20US%20/%20International%29" class="external" target="_blank">Is free Iraq becoming a more Islamic state? | Reuters</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="post clearfix" id="post-11864"> <div class="postmetadata"><span class="comments"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/05/saudi-arabia-rated-a-bigger-threat-to-iraqi-stability-than-iran/#respond" title="Comment on Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran">No Comments</a></span> Posted on December 5th, 2010 by Abdus-Samad</div> <h3><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/2010/12/05/saudi-arabia-rated-a-bigger-threat-to-iraqi-stability-than-iran/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran">Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran</a></h3> <p class="postmetadata">Category: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/category/english-articles/" title="View all posts in English Language Articles" rel="category tag">English Language Articles</a>, Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ali-khamenei/" rel="tag">ALi Khamenei</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ali-larijani/" rel="tag">Ali Larijani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ambassador-christopher-hill/" rel="tag">ambassador christopher hill</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/america/" rel="tag">America</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/analysis/" rel="tag">Analysis</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/ayatollah-akhbar-hashemi-rafsanjani/" rel="tag">Ayatollah Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/brigadier-general-qasem-soleimani/" rel="tag">Brigadier-General Qasem Soleimani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/economic-development/" rel="tag">Economic development</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/elections/" rel="tag">Elections</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/feridun-sinirlioglu/" rel="tag">Feridun Sinirlioglu</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/foreign-interference-accusations-of/" rel="tag">foreign interference - accusations of</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/iraqi-resistance/" rel="tag">iraqi resistance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/irgc/" rel="tag">IRGC</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/jalal-talibani/" rel="tag">Jalal Talibani</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/mahmoud-ahmadinejad/" rel="tag">Mahmoud Ahmadinejad</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/national-alliance/" rel="tag">National Alliance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/nouri-al-maliki/" rel="tag">nouri al maliki</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/press/" rel="tag">Press</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/regional-influence/" rel="tag">regional influence</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/" rel="tag">Religion</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/resistance/" rel="tag">Resistance</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/resources/" rel="tag">Resources</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saudi-arabia/" rel="tag">Saudi Arabia</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/saudi-hostility/" rel="tag">Saudi hostility</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/state-department-cables/" rel="tag">state department cables</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/tehran/" rel="tag">Tehran</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/turkey/" rel="tag">Turkey</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/water/" rel="tag">Water</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/wikileaks/" rel="tag">Wikileaks</a></p> <div class="entry" dir="rtl" align="right"> <p>Baghdad says it can contain influence of Shia neighbour, unlike powerful Gulf state that wants a return to Sunni dominance</p> <p>Iraqi government officials see <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/saudiarabia" class="external" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia</a>, not <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran" class="external" target="_blank">Iran</a>, as the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/226620" class="external" target="_blank">biggest threat to the integrity and cohesion of their fledgling democratic state</a>, leaked US state department cables reveal.</p> <p>The Iraqi concerns, analysed in a dispatch sent from the US embassy in Baghdad by then ambassador Christopher Hill in September 2009, represent a fundamental divergence from the American and British view of Iran as arch-predator in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iraq" class="external" target="_blank">Iraq</a>.</p> <p>"Iraq views relations with Saudi Arabia as among its most challenging given Riyadh’s money, deeply ingrained anti-Shia attitudes and [Saudi] suspicions that a Shia-led Iraq will inevitably further Iranian regional influence," Hill writes.</p> <p>"Iraqi contacts assess that the Saudi goal (and that of most other Sunni Arab states, to varying degrees) is to enhance Sunni influence, dilute Shia dominance and promote the formation of a weak and fractured Iraqi government."</p> <p>Hill’s unexpected assessment flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that Iranian activities, overt and covert, are the biggest obstacle to Iraq’s development.</p> <p>It feeds claims, prevalent after the 9/11 attacks, that religiously conservative, politically repressive Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9/11 terrorists came from, is the true enemy of the west.</p> <p>Hill’s analysis has sharp contemporary relevance as rival Shia and Sunni political blocs, backed by Iran and the Saudis respectively, continue to squabble over the formation of a new government in Baghdad, seven months after March’s inconclusive national elections.</p> <p>Hill says Iraqi leaders are careful to avoid harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia’s role for fear of offending the Americans, Riyadh’s close allies. But resentments simmer below the surface.</p> <p>"Iraqi officials note that periodic anti-Shia outbursts from Saudi religious figures are often allowed to circulate without sanction or disavowal from the Saudi leadership. This reality reinforces the Iraqi view that the Saudi state religion of Wahhabi Sunni Islam condones religious incitement against Shia."</p> <p>Hill reports the Saudis have used considerable financial and media resources to support Sunni political aspirations, exert influence over Sunni tribal groups, and undercut the Shia Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and Iraqi National Alliance.</p> <p>Hill adds that some Iraqi observers see Saudi aims as positively malign. "A recent Iraqi press article quoted anonymous Iraqi intelligence sources assessing that Saudi Arabia was leading a Gulf effort to destabilise the Maliki government and was financing ‘the current al-Qaida offensive in Iraq’."</p> <p>Hill and his Iraqi interlocutors are not alone in their suspicions of Saudi policy. At a meeting in Ankara in February this year a senior Turkish foreign ministry official, Feridun Sinirlioglu, told an American envoy that "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/250705" class="external" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia is ‘throwing around money’ among the political parties in Iraq</a> because it is unwilling to accept the inevitability of Shia dominance there".</p> <p>Returning to more familiar ground, Hill asserts that Iranian efforts in Iraq are also "driven by a clear determination to see a sectarian, Shia-dominated government that is weak, disenfranchised from its Arab neighbours, detached from the US security apparatus and strategically dependent on Iran". Such an outcome is not in the interests of the US, he notes drily.</p> <p>But he passes on to Washington the arguments of Iraqi officials who say they know how to "manage" Iran. "Shia contacts … do not dismiss the significant Iranian influence but argue that it is best countered by Iraqi Shia politicians who know how to deal with Iran." These officials also maintain Iranian interference "is not aimed, unlike that of some Sunni neighbours, at fomenting terrorism that would destabilise the government". They predict Tehran’s meddling will "naturally create nationalistic Iraqi resistance to it, both Shia and more broadly, if others do not intervene".</p> <p>The difficulties encountered by Iranian-backed Shia parties in coming together to form a new government, despite much urging from Tehran and the co-opting of the hardline Iran-based cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, could be seen as evidence that Iran’s overall influence has been exaggerated and that public "resistance" to Iran’s role is indeed growing.</p> <p>All the same, American officials continue to blame Iran principally for instigating and fomenting much of the sectarian and insurgent violence that has disfigured Iraq since the 2003 invasion. James Jeffrey, Hill’s successor as US ambassador, claimed in August that about one-quarter of all US casualties in Iraq were caused by armed groups backed by Iran.</p> <p>A Baghdad embassy cable from November 2009 says Iran continues to view Iraq as "a vital foreign policy priority for the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/234583" class="external" target="_blank">Iranian government’s efforts to project its ideology and influence in the region</a>". At the head of this effort, it says, is the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods (Jerusalem) Force, or IRGC-QF, led by Brigadier-General Qasem Soleimani, whose authority is "second only to supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei".</p> <p>Soleimani has close ties with prominent Iraqi government officials, including the president, Jalal Talibani, and prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, the cable reports. "Khamenei, President [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, Speaker [Ali] Larijani and former president [Ayatollah Akhbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani consult regularly with visiting GOI [government of Iraq] officials as part of the IRIG’s [Islamic Republic of Iran government] broader ’strategic’ council of advisers seeking to influence the GOI."</p> <p>The cable continues that Iran’s tools of influence include financial support to and pressure on a cross-spectrum of Iraqi parties and officials; economic development assistance, notably to religious organisations; lethal aid to selected militant Shia proxies; and sanctuary to Iraqi figures fearful of US government targeting, or those seeking to revitalise their political-religious credentials, most notably Moqtada al-Sadr.</p> <p>"This leverage also extends, to a lesser extent, to select Sunni actors, including such public figures as Iraqi speaker [Iyad al-] Samarra’i, whose September visit to Tehran included meetings with several senior IRIG officials."</p> <p>The cable comments that Iran is watching the US troop withdrawal schedule closely as it tries to make permanent its "strategic foothold". All US troops are expected to leave Iraq by the end of next year. But the cable’s American author also injects some welcome historical perspective.</p> <p>"Iran will continue to flex its muscles to ensure its strategic outcomes are met. This should not lead to alarmist tendencies or reactions on our part. The next Iraqi government will continue to cultivate close ties with Iran, given longstanding historical realities that precede Iraq’s ties with the United States.</p> <p>"On the other hand Iran’s influence should not be overestimated. As the GOI continues to gain its footing, points of divergence between Tehran and Baghdad become increasingly evident on such sensitive bilateral issue as water, hydrocarbons, maritime borders and political parity. Some prominent Iraqi leaders, including those with ties to Iran, are increasingly sensitive to being labelled Iranian lackeys."</p> <p>A visit last December by US diplomats to the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, the "epicentre of Shia Islam", finds further evidence of Iraqi public resentment of foreign meddling from whatever quarter. One local leader "<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/239665" class="external" target="_blank">singled out Saudi Arabia and Iran as the biggest culprits</a> but noted that a ‘mental revolution’ was under way among Iraqi youth against foreign agendas seeking to undermine the country’s stability".</p> <p>Iraqi sources also tell the visiting Americans that the Iranian government and the IRGC cannot match the "social and political clout" that Iraq’s Shia establishment, led by the Shia world’s most senior cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, wields among the ordinary citizens of both Iraq and Iran.</p> <p>Sistani, it is noted, rejects the fundamental tenet of Iranian clerical rule – the unchallengeable "custodianship of the jurist" adopted by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to justify his de facto dictatorship. Seen this way the entire Iranian Islamic revolution is illegitimate.</p> <p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/05/wikileaks-cables-saudi-meddling-iraq" class="external" target="_blank">WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia rated a bigger threat to Iraqi stability than Iran | World news | guardian.co.uk</a></p> </div> </div> <hr/> <div class="navigation"> <div class="alignleft"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130116082038/http://gorillasguides.com/tag/religion/page/2/">« Previous Entries</a></div> <div class="alignright"></div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar" class="span-10 last"> <div class="span-10" id="tabs"> <ul> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#featured-articles">Featured Articles</a></li> <li class="ui-tabs-nav-item"><a href="#latest-articles">Latest Articles</a></li> </ul> <div id="featured-articles" class="widget"> <ul> <li><a 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