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A crowd hurling shoes, stones and tomatoes has prompted Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, to cut short a visit to Iraq’s holiest Shia shrine during a campaign trip to the city of Najaf.
A spokeswoman for Allawi, a secular Shia, said she had no information on the incident but confirmed that Allawi, who is challenging the ruling Shia Islamist Alliance bloc at next week’s parliamentary election, had been in Najaf on Sunday.
A police captain, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a large crowd of worshippers at the Imam Ali mosque hurled sandals and shoes at Allawi – a grave insult in the Iraqi culture.
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Both policemen said they believed that supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric, were responsible for the disturbances, though evidence for this was unclear.
“When Allawi entered the shrine, a few people, believed to be Sadrists, picked up batons and threatened to attack him,” the police captain said.
Al-Sadr supporters were said to be
responsible for the attack in Najaf
AFP/Qassem Zein
“His American and Iraqi guards fired in the air when everyone started throwing shoes and sandals at him.”
CNNi and BBC World reported the incident: “Iyad Allawi was seen running from the shrine with a crowd of people hurling shoes at him”.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) August 8, 2004 — Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi paid a surprise visit to the holy Muslim city of Najaf, the scene of recent fierce fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents that has left an estimated 300 rebels dead. Allawi called on the militia fighters to “leave the holy sites quickly, lay down their weapons and return to the rule of order and law.”
Allawi believes that the people behind the violence in Najaf are common criminals and foreign forces — not part of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army. U.S. officials have accused al-Sadr, a maverick, anti-U.S. Shiite cleric, of fomenting unrest. He is wanted in connection with the killing of a rival cleric last year.
A senior U.S. military official said there was no direct evidence that the fighters in Najaf were acting on al-Sadr’s orders although they are wearing the black uniforms representative of the Mehdi Army. That official said that there is evidence of competing factions within al-Sadr’s organization and that the fighters appear to be broken into squads of 10 to 12 men each.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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Angry Shi’ites pelt Iraq ex-PM Allawi
Seems the only thing they wanted to kill was his pride and ‘honor’…
That’s what I thought when I saw the video on CNN this morning. Allawi has made the importance of being the tough guy leader a priority. How will he be able to live down the legend of being chased from a mosque as a cowardly shoe target?
Apparently, the symbolism behind the shoes and sandals is that you beat your servents with them, so striking someone with these is considered to be a act of enormous degradation. At least this was what they said in the MSM back during the heady days of April 2003 when people would strike pictures and statues of Saddam with their footwear.
Should be some election.
Yeah. It just seems odd that a man that bravely (supposedly) survived an attempted homicide or two would be greater disgraced by the video of being run out of a mosque under a shower of shoes.
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Last year Allawi and U.S. forces attacked the holy city of Najaf, today he comes for prayer?
Reminds me of agitator Sharon on the Mount in Jerusalem, September 2000, that led to the 2nd intifada and the downfall of Bill Clinton’s peace effort. First rate hypocrisy.
Today Ariel Sharon is the Prince of Peace with new party Kadima joined by Labor leader Shimon Peres
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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I don’t believe in assasination but the voices of the people will be heard.
Nice work on the Human Rights Leaders too, if I didn’t say so earlier.
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BAGHDAD (TIME) Dec. 4 — An Iraqi known by the nom de guerre Abu Marwan, is a senior commander of the leading Baathist guerrilla group called the Army of Mohammed. Together with a representative of an alliance of Iraqi Islamist insurgent groups, Abu Marwan met aides to Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
A TIME investigation, based on dozens of interviews with military and intelligence officials as well as Iraqi leaders inside and outside the insurgency, reveals that Iraqis are reclaiming the upper hand, forcing al-Zarqawi to adjust. Differences between Baathist insurgent groups and al-Qaeda are driven by discomfort with al-Zarqawi’s extreme tactics and willingness among some Iraqi commanders to join the political process.
U.S. officials in Baghdad confirm to TIME that they have stepped up their efforts to negotiate with nationalist insurgents and the Sunnis they represent. “We want to deal with their legitimate concerns,” U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad tells TIME. “We will intensify the engagement, interaction and discussion with them.”
Training facilities are dotted across Iraq; videos obtained by TIME show classes in infantry techniques and handling weapons. Abu Baqr, a former emir, or commander, of a nationalist militia in Baghdad who was recently released from a U.S. military prison and is rebuilding his team, tells TIME that “in the beginning, even I didn’t know how to use most of the weapons, but I learned. We give out weapons from the old army, and the money that funds us comes from wealthy individuals.”
OFAC’s Terrrorism Brochure and Executive Order 13224
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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I support throwing them at politicians, warlords, henchmen and collaborators everywhere.
For the record, I did not receive, nor will I accept if offered, any consideration or honorarium from the International Association of Dry Cleaners.
i would hate to see a beautiful ripe and juicy tomato wasted like that.
their freshness date, and better described as “squishy” than “juicy.”
For the record, I did not receive, nor will I accept if offered, any consideration or honorarium from the International Association of Dry Cleaners.
Couldn’t get the wrinkles ironed out in negotiating the honorarium?
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BAGHDAD (CNNi) Dec. 5 — As defense lawyers walked out of the court today, the half-brother of Saddam Barazan Ibrahim, also a defendant at the trial acclaimed: “Why don’t you just execute us to get this over with”. These words were reported by a CNNi reporter inside the courtroom and censored from being broadcast by U.S. vetters of the trial in a 20-30 minute delayed “LIVE” broadcast.
Saddam Hussein's defense team walk out of court after a heated exchange over the legitimacy of the tribunal. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and two other attorneys for Hussein walked out after Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin refused to hear their complaints. At one point Hussein stood up, shook his fist and shouted, "Long live Iraq."“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
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He looked more like the Saddam the world knew, didn’t he? I would say it’s a dangerous thing to let him regain his arrogance of power under the illusion of demanding rights.