Reply #27: Who detonated a bomb at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf on 29-Aug-03?

[IndianaGreen]

The Najaf attack came despite US intelligence warnings that Hussein loyalists or Sunni extremists were planning a terrorist strike at a Najaf shrine. For weeks before the blast, Marines searched hundreds of busloads of worshipers heading to Friday prayers at Najaf.

The explosion killed more than 100 people, including a moderate Shiite cleric supporting the coalition, Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0922/p01s03-woiq.html

Was it the US? Not likely, for the last thing the neocons want is an unstable Iraq. You cannot profit from oil if the country is in the midst of a civil war. Perhaps it was Al-Qaeda? Bin Laden views Shia Islam as a heresy, as do the Wahabi clerics in Saudi Arabia. So why not spill some Shia blood and have them blame the Sunnis, most of whom do not follow Sharia the way Osama would approve?

Letter may detail Iraqi insurgency's concerns
Tuesday, February 10, 2004 Posted: 1849 GMT ( 2:49 AM HKT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A letter seeking al Qaeda's help battling the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, if authentic, could provide a rare look into the inner workings of the the country's insurgency.

The 17-page document, which the U.S. military said it believes was written by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and captured last month with an al Qaeda courier, calls for suicide attacks and car bombings against Shiite targets to promote civil war between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq.

The letter depicts insurgents who are worried about what effect Iraqi self-rule, scheduled for this summer, will have on their efforts. It also expresses frustration over the lack of cooperation between Iraqis and foreign fighters, the Americans' staying power and the growing solidification of Iraqi security forces.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/10/sprj.nirq.zarqawi/