Suicide Bomber Attacks Muslim Shrine

[tinybear]

And America is blamed!!!

Have these people lost their minds??

20 Killed in Bomb Blast at Muslim Shrine

By SADAQAT JAN
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - An apparent suicide bomb detonated Friday as hundreds of Shiite Muslims recited verses from the Quran during a religious festival at a shrine near Pakistan's capital, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens, witnesses said.

After the blast, hundreds of Shiite pilgrims, beating their chests in mourning, clashed with baton-wielding police, who charged the crowd to clear the way for ambulances. Some of the Shiite protesters chanted, ``Down with America!''

The explosion at the Bari Imam shrine, the burial place of a historic saint on the outskirts of Islamabad, was the latest attack on a religious gathering in Pakistan, which has a long history of violent sectarian rivalry. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...20050527ISL106

[Trotsky]

But its all Americas fault! Are you too dumb to realise this?? He was actually Jewish, trained in the US and flown to Pakistan on a British plane by two Australians. Duh!

[tinybear]

Everything seems to be America's fault these days. South Koreans held an anti-American protest yesterday. Gee, what's eating them? We should just leave and let them deal with North Korea.

[rmnunez]

There is a clash of civilizations going on in the Muslim world. It involves the Sunni and Shia communities who have long-standing differences and are respectively reciprocally mistreated, dicriminated against, repressed and subjected to hardship by each other. I can't recall the exact distribution patterns but seem to recall the Sunni are about a fifth of the Iraqis, 50% are Shia, the rest Kurds. The Kurds and Shia were victimized by the Sunni Saddamites. Saddam attacked neighboring Iran which is overwhemingly Shia (and were Sunnis are repressed as infidels).

On the differences between the 2 groups: http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm

Shias also form a majority of the population in Yemen and Azerbaijan and 40 to 50% of the population of Iraq. There are also sizeable Shia communities in Bahrain, the east coast of Saudi Arabia and in the Lebanon. The well known guerilla organization Hizbollah, which forced the Israelis out of southern Lebanon in 2000, is Shia. Worldwide, Shias constitute ten to fifteen percent of the overall Muslim population. Within Shia Islam there are different sects. Most Shias are "Twelvers", i.e. they recognize the 12 Imams. There are also Sevener and Fiver Shias who don't recognize the later Imams. There have been various attempts throughout the years to foster Sunni/Shia unity, one of the latest being a website called www.oneummah.net.

[tinybear]

Another suicide bombing. And what do they do? They attack KFC!

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...256&sec=Latest

[Matt W]

If you want a high-profile symbol of America, you can't get much higher than KFC. Of course, McDonalds would be the ideal, but any fast-food joint will do at a pinch. Bizarre, though.

[tinybear]

Bizarre is not how I would describe it.

[rmnunez]

If we buy the line its crummy US foreign policy that animates terrorist action, attacking franchises from that country makes more sense. I doubt Islamic fundamentalists are animated by US foreign policy they disagree with though.

[tinybear]

Then what do you say 'animates' them?

[rmnunez]

I think its the vision of a caliphate ruled by like-minded people enforcing ultra-orthodox Islam.

[tinybear]

Wow, that's a scary vision!

[rmnunez]

Its not some outlandish perspective, the animals behind the Atocha attack expressed the desire to see Spain restored to the Muslim world and everyone knows OBL's take on Islam is that they are too lax in Saudi Arabia (which isn't at all 'laid-back' on matters of religion). As near as I can figure the "accomodation" envisioned with infidels is something along the lines of Ottoman Turkey at its heyday.

[tinybear]

Gee, and here I've all along been given to understand that it's American imperialism which has driven them towards the path of terrorism! How wrong was I, eh?

[tinybear]

And I notice they have no qualms about killing fellow Muslims:


Blast targets Afghanistan mosque

At least 20 people have died in a suspected suicide bomb attack at a mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the worst attack this year.

Kabul police chief Mohammed Akram was among those killed, officials say.

He was among many who were at the mosque to mourn a senior anti-Taleban cleric, who was shot dead on Sunday.

Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz was killed by two men on a motorcycle as he left his office. Last week he made a speech attacking Taleban leader Mullah Omar.

In a call to the BBC in Kabul a man claiming to be from the Taleban said they had carried out the latest attack.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4598369.stm

[Matt W]

Tb, this is just DULL. Your anti-Islamic predjudice is...sickening. The people who died in the mosque were Muslims, too. Yet you attack their faith as a whole. Nice. Very classy.

[tinybear]

Matt, I'm attacking the terrorists. I abhor the fact that they have no qualms killing their fellow Muslims (in an Islamic holy place no less). Please read my post, above.

[rmnunez]

Many critical lefties harbour the hope Islamic fundamentalists have emerged as the revolutionary standard-bearers in the fight against capitalist imperialism, they tell us if only the US stopped supporting Israel, financed meaningful employment opportunities for Muslims and ended its propping up of tyrants across the Middle East, even the terrorists would lay down their arms. By their logic the primary cause of terrorism is deplorable US foreign policy. Curiously, US foreign policy in the Middle East was just as bad before OBL. Inasmuch as OBL gives voice to Islamic fundamentalist terrorist grievances it bears noting there isn't as much advocacy for these things the critical left says they are fighting for. What does appear in all his messages is something critical lefties will never discuss, a goal to impose ultra-orthodox Islam across the Muslim world and wherever Muslims once lived.