Then again, maybe they were busy, huh?
"Threats, Ashoura help mute Christmas festivities; Glitz toned down during period of Shi’ite mourning" by Lara Jakes and Bushra Juhi, Associated Press | December 25, 2009
BAGHDAD - Christmas is bumping into Shi’ite Islam’s most mournful ceremony this year, forcing Iraqi Christians to keep their celebrations under tighter wraps than usual....
That doesn't really make sense.
Adnan al-Sudani, a cleric in the Shi’ite-dominated Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, said Christmas generates no ill will among his followers. “We as Shi’ites respect Christian occasions and share their happiness in our hearts,’’ he said....
Yes, I KNOW!!!!
Muslims respect religion; what they do not respect is atheism.
Yeah, you ever notice Maliki's foremost political enemy's party is the one that is the main victim of the "Al-CIA-Duh" and "insurgent" attacks?
Midnight Mass will again be celebrated in daylight across Baghdad, and security around churches is heavier for a community that has been threatened by sectarian violence since the 2003 US-led invasion.
Yeah, how odd that the violence arrives after we get there, huh?
A deadly Christmas Eve ambush of a Christian bus driver yesterday and a bombing this week targeting a 1,200-year-old church, both in Mosul, underscored their concerns.
Related: Occupation Iraq: Stoking Sectarianism
Yeah, I'm not buying it anymore at all.
How odd that once the U.S. is denied the oil field contracts the "insurgents" pick up the attacks.
And WHO (rhymes with) BENEFITS when Christians and Muslims are fighting?
But this year, Christians feeling an extra need for caution are toning down the Christmas glitz, and the plastic Santas aren’t selling as well as usual. At least one Catholic archbishop has discouraged Christmas decorations and public merrymaking out of respect for Ashoura, a period of Shi’ite mourning and self-flagellation.
I wish they would stop punishing themselves for what happened so long ago; however, it is their ways and their custom. Who am I to gainsay them?
“We used to put the Christmas tree with its bright lights close to the window in the entrance of our home,’’ said Saad Matti, a 51-year-old surgeon and Basra city councilman. “But this year, we put it away from the window as a kind of respect for the feelings of Shi’ite Muslims in our neighborhood because of Ashoura.’’
Yeah, they really moved them away so the CIA/government/Mossad/Blackwater/British covert operators wouldn't hit their homes.
Didn't you read what the cleric said above?
The lunar Islamic calendar varies against the West’s, and this year Ashoura happens to climax on Dec. 27. Shi’ites are the majority of Iraq’s 28.9 million people and now dominate the country politically, giving other sects more reason to accommodate them. Few weddings are held during Ashoura, and any business associated with beauty - flower shops, jewelry stores, photography studios - loses money. The archbishop of the southern Shi’ite-dominated city of Basra, Imad al-Banna, called on Christians “to respect the feelings of Muslims during Ashoura and not hold the public celebrations during Christmas. . . . to hold Mass in the church only and not receive guests or show joyful appearances.’’
As a Christian, it really hurts to read these lies about Muslim intolerance in my divisive, Muslim-hating, war-promoting, Zionist War Daily.
Especially considering what the cleric said.
Some 1.25 million Christians, 80 percent of them Catholic, used to live in Iraq. An exodus that began after the 1991 Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein imposed more Islamic policies, intensified after 2003, when Christians became targets of sectarian violence, and some 868,000 are left....
If the Anti-Christ is to bring harm to Christians then it was George Bush!!!
Saddam protected them!
Also see: Occupation Iraq: The New Mandaeans
Occupation Iraq; Mixed Marriages
Occupation Iraq: U.S. Training Terrorists
Occupation Iraq: Dog Day Afternoon
Yeah, who is behind that sectarianism?
The Defense Ministry said patrols will be stepped up around churches, Christian neighborhoods, and places of celebration, mostly in Baghdad, Mosul, and Kirkuk. That didn’t stop unidentified gunmen from ambushing a Christian man in Mosul yesterday, shooting him after pulling him from the bus he was driving in Mosul, police said. It was not clear whether the attack was religiously based.
So for WHICH INTELLIGENCE AGENCY did he work?
The added security also didn’t deter Mosul bombers from attacking the Mar Toma Church, or the Church of St. Thomas, on Wednesday with an explosive hidden in an abandoned cart a few yards away. Two Muslim passers-by were killed, police said....
Also see: Occupation Iraq: Inside Jobs
Occupation Iraq: Merry Muharram
And yesterday was a lot worse than the impression that last article left:
"At least 27 killed in Iraq blasts; Fears raised ahead of Shi’ite holiday" by Katharine Houreld, Associated Press | December 25, 2009
BAGHDAD - Bombs hit Shi’ite pilgrims in Baghdad and a central Iraqi city yesterday, killing at least 27 people and wounding scores more, in the latest attack in the lead-up to Ashoura, the sect’s most solemn annual rite.
The blasts raised fears of more bloodshed as hundreds of thousands of Shi’ites head to the holy city of Karbala in central Iraq for ceremonies Sunday to mark the climax of the religious observance. Ashoura’s 10 days of mourning are in remembrance of the killing of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Imam Hussein, in a 680 A.D. battle that sealed the split between Shi’ites and Sunnis.
Strange how centuries went buy and mosques, etc, were not being blown up.... UNTIL USRAEL got there!!!!
Authorities said twin bombs killed at least 13 people and injured 74 others in the central Iraqi town of Hillah, the capital of Babil Province, which is located about 60 miles south of Baghdad. The explosions hit a busy bus terminal where many Shi’ite pilgrims had gathered, and the second explosion hit emergency workers and civilians responding to the first blast.
The STINK-STENCH of the false flags (and the MSM attention on them) is gagging.
Abandoned shoes lay in puddles of blood as shell-shocked survivors sat in front of damaged storefronts....
Witness Ali Hussein: “A bomb exploded there and a car bomb exploded here.’’
Among the dead in Hillah was provincial councilman and doctor Nima Jassim al-Bakri. He was driving to the attack site and was shot after failing to stop at a checkpoint, causing a guard to mistake him for an attacker, police Major Muthana Khalid said.
FYI, readers: CHECKPOINT SHOOTINGS happen FAR MORE than is reported and THIS ONE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN had the guy not been someone important!
Notice how it is buried in the middle of the piece in a lone paragraph?
Hours later, a bomb targeting a funeral in Baghdad killed nine and wounded 33 in a predominantly Shi’ite neighborhood, police and hospital officials said. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to media.
That is BLASPHEMY and NOT even the most pious Al-CIA-Duh patsy would do that!!
It was unclear whether the attackers thought they were targeting an Ashoura procession, when devout Shi’ites beat themselves with swords and other instruments to show their devotion and mourning for Hussein. Also in Baghdad, another bomb killed five Shi’ite pilgrims and wounded 18 others on their way to Karbala, police and hospital officials said.
And who has a hard on for Shi'ite Iran and its close friend here?
Although Ashoura is essentially an expression of religious grief, it has also become a demonstration of power by Iraq’s majority Shi’ites.
So says my Zionist prism of a paper!
Observance of the holy day was forbidden by former dictator Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led regime.
Sometimes I wonder if he was doing you a favor by stopping the self-flagellation.
After he was ousted and a Shi’ite-led government came to power, pilgrims turned out en masse to mark the occasion, defying the threat of insurgent attacks.
Although I am happy for them; I think people should be able to freely worship their religions and celebrate as they see fit. That goes even for the you-know-whos, readers.
People from around southern Iraq, which is overwhelmingly Shi’ite, make up the bulk of pilgrims traveling to Karbala. In Karbala itself, police said another explosion injured eight pilgrims about a mile from the Imam Hussein holy shrine. Yesterday’s explosions were not as deadly as in previous years. But clerics from both sides of the divide denounced the insurgents’ attempts to reignite the sectarian hatred that shook the country two years ago.
Yeah, SEE!!??
“We expect Al Qaeda will exploit the religious occasion of Ashoura and try to ignite the sectarian tensions,’’ said Sheik Salah al-Obaidi, the spokesman of the conservative Shi’ite Sadr movement, a political party led by an anti-American cleric. Al Qaeda in Iraq is predominantly Sunni.
Yup, Al-CIA-Duh, yup!
Please see:
Prop 101: Al-CIA-Duh and the OSIProp 101: Al-CIA-Duh's Greatest Hits
Prop 101: The "Terrorism" Business
"Al-CIA-Duh" School in Somalia
New York Times Admits War on Terror is U.S. Creation
"Al-CIA-Duh," yup!What do you mean there is no Al Qaeda?
You mean Al Qaeda doesn't even exist?
Yeah, I do get tired of repeating myself.
Sheik Hameed Maroof al-Obaidi, a Sunni imam in northern Baghdad, said sectarianism should be dismissed and called on Muslims to “coexist even with Jews and Christians because our prophet, Mohammed, did that.’’
And I'm sick of grinding the same old saw against the AmeriKan *ewsmedia lies.
He asked for mercy for the victims and families.
--more--"
And the "uptick" in violence continues:
"Six Shi’ite pilgrims killed in bombing" by Associated Press | December 26, 2009
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb in Iraq’s capital killed six Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims yesterday during a procession, the latest violence targeting the group during observances of a religious holiday, officials said.
The deaths followed heightened tensions in a northern Iraqi town after troops were deployed after a scuffle between Christians and Shi’ites over holiday decorations. Observances of the 10-day Shi’ite festival of Ashoura, which ends Dec. 27, coincided with Christian celebrations of Christmas. The government has been trying to assure people it can protect Shi’ites and Christians during the two holidays....
In the days leading up to the event, large processions of men go through the streets of Shi’ite neighborhoods, beating their chests and using chains to flay their backs in a show of grief over the seventh-century killing of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Imam Hussein.
I would never stop them from their rituals, though it pains me to see them hurt themselves.
Related: Ashura, an eternal saga of conviction and courage
Actually, some of it looks like a great time, too!!!
The gatherings, practically banned under Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, have often been targeted by insurgents as a way to sow sectarian divide.
Yeah, we know who is targeting them, cui bono?
The bomb in the capital killed six pilgrims and injured 17, including a local politician, said a police officer in Sadr city in eastern Baghdad. A medic and another officer confirmed the number of dead. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity. In a northern Iraqi town, troops were deployed and a brief curfew was imposed after three guards at a Christian church were injured during a dispute between Shi’ites and Christians over competing religious decorations.
Given what I read above, I'm not believing this lying Zionist War Daily drivel.
They lie about everything, and have forfeited any faith in them.
The confrontation in Bartela, 240 miles northwest of Baghdad, occurred as many Christians in Iraq tamped down celebrations to avoid offending Shi’ites....
Which they wouldn't have been, but this is the cover story we are getting!
--more--"
Update:
"5 killed in attacks targeted at pilgrims
A string of attacks against Shi’ite pilgrims in eastern Baghdad killed five people yesterday, the latest round of violence to strike worshipers during a mourning observance. Insurgents have targeted Shi’ite pilgrims, killing dozens and wounding more than 100 last week in an attempt to re-ignite sectarian violence. Yesterday’s attacks began when a bomb was planted near a tent that offered drinks and food to pilgrims.
No Muslim would do that!
The blast killed three and injured 16. Hours later, a bomb exploded near minibuses carrying pilgrims to the holy city of Karbala, killing two people and injuring seven (AP)."
Related: Pitting Pakistan's Christians Against Its Muslims
That last author has no idea how important that post was to me.
Thank you, Ahmed.
