QUIT KILLING THEM and TALK to THEM! I mean, LOOK AT 'EM ALL!!!!
"Mass pilgrimage to Baghdad mostly peaceful; Insurgents launch scattered strikes at Shi'ite event" by Lauren Frayer/Associated Press August 10, 2007
BAGHDAD -- Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ites marched to a gold-domed mosque in harsh heat and sun yesterday in a pilgrimage of devotion to an eighth-century saint that also starkly demonstrated their political power.... Iraqi officials estimated the crowd at 3 million.
[HOLY CRAP!! Yeah, we BETTER START TALKING!]
"Long live Moqtada!" some pilgrims shouted as they paraded toward the Imam al-Kadhim shrine, referring to radical Shi'ite leader Moqtada al Sadr, whose Mahdi army is accused of death squad attacks. "May God kill his enemies!"
A few shook their fists at US soldiers standing alongside the procession route, but the march was mostly peaceful.
[Wow, just shaking a fist is VIOLENT now! Yup, can't even GET ANGRY!
Well, you will NEVER QUELL my rage until Bush and his wars are OVER and we STOP KILLING PEOPLE (and having the shit MSM hide it)!!!!!]
Many said they intended their presence to show they could not be intimidated by Sunni insurgents who have devastated past gatherings, and who regularly target Shi'ites at markets and on buses.
Hussein Mizaal, a 21-year-old college student from southeastern Baghdad:
"I have come here to get the blessing of the martyr imam and to challenge the terrorism of the Wahhabists. We are not afraid of anyone except God."
He was referring to the austere Wahhabi strain of Sunni Islam, practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia but also identified with Sunni insurgents.
[With some help from their "friends."]
The heat soared to 115 degrees as the religious event unfolded. Residents used garden hoses to spray cool water over pilgrims, many of whom began their journey -- on foot -- days ago from Shi'ite cities in southern Iraq. Men draped wet towels over their heads and necks.
Guards checked pilgrims as they reached the green iron gates of the mosque, but in some spots the crush of the crowd was so thick that chaos reigned.
[I am fascinated at these PEACEFUL PEOPLE and their worship.
I LOVE THY "ENEMY!"]
The violence:
Only scattered strikes by Sunni insurgents marred the event.... Seven pilgrims were killed when gunmen in a speeding car opened fire and threw hand grenades at them in the Dabouniya area, southeast of Baghdad, as they headed to the pilgrimage, Kut police said.
Gunmen also opened fire on Iraqi soldiers guarding pilgrims in the Yarmouk neighborhood in western Baghdad. The soldiers returned fire, killing one attacker.
"Shiite Pilgrims Converging on Baghdad Shrine Are Protected by Improved Security" by DAMIEN CAVE and QAIS MIZHER
BAGHDAD, Aug. 9 — Tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims converged on a shrine in western Baghdad on Thursday to honor an eighth-century imam, chanting and waving flags and in some cases riding in government vehicles.
Police officers and soldiers clustered every 50 yards, watching for threats. Ambulances lined the route while trucks from the Trade Ministry, buses from the Transportation Ministry and even armored military vehicles helped ferry pilgrims toward the shrine. At one point, in a Shiite majority area of eastern Baghdad, an Iraqi Humvee passed by with boisterous pilgrims piled inside, on the hood and on the roof.
Many of the pilgrims said that the trek was not just an expression of faith, but also a protest against violence.... Several pilgrims said they considered the streets safer, noting that there appeared to be more police officers and fewer attacks.
Muhammad Hussein Mahawish, 33, the owner of a shoe shop, referring to antigovernment Sunni groups:
“Regardless of terrorism and danger, no one can stop us, the Shiites, from fulfilling these duties to our imams. Down with Takfiris, Saddamists and terrorists.”
Ahmed Aboud Hassan, 36, a food vendor in Sadr City, said he had walked through several parts of Baghdad overnight, including Sunni areas... said no shots were fired, and the pilgrimage is a display of Shiite unity and strength:
“We are here to tell them you will never frighten us.”
Pilgrims said the rhetoric... was not directed at all Iraqi Sunnis.
Mr. Hassan said he was excited to discover that some areas appeared to be more welcoming. He said that on Haifa Street, for example, a Sunni area often riven by sectarian violence, residents handed out tea and food to pilgrims. Interpreting their presence as a sign of long-awaited reconciliation, he said the gesture brought him comfort:
“They’re helping us.”
[Of course they are! The sectarian thing is a LIE to sell to the American people and KEEP US THERE!
It is WESTERN BLACK-OPS and BLACKWATER THUGS who are CARRYING OUT the "TERROR" ATTACKS!!!!]
Khudier Sabah al-Jumaili, a Sunni serving drinks to pilgrims alongside some of his Shiite neighbors from the mixed neighborhood of Baiji, said he hoped to show that God’s blessings, including tea, transcended sect or ethnicity.
“I’m here to confirm that we are one people, Shia and Sunnis. I want to fight the sectarianism with this kind of activity and to not let anyone divide us.”
[Anybody else notice that this shit didn't get started UNTIL AMERIKA GOT THERE?]
The violence:
There were few instances of the violence that has blemished previous celebrations. In Kadhimiya, the site of the shrine honoring Imam Musa al-Kadhim, two people died and at least 15 were injured when pilgrims crushed each other trying to reach a train, an Interior Ministry official said.
A sniper in the mostly Sunni area of Yarmouk was killed by Iraqi soldiers after he opened fire on pilgrims around 2 p.m., the official said, adding that three soldiers were wounded.... The sniper fired three shots into the crowd from a building near a flood of walking pilgrims, attracting what witnesses described as a barrage of fire from Iraqi soldiers."
