Lebanon's top cleric blasts US "massacres" in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09656770.htm

BEIRUT, April 9 (Reuters) - Lebanon's top Shi'ite cleric compared the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq to that of Israel in Palestinian territories, and said on Friday the excessive use of force against Iraqi rebels would only fuel anti-U.S. sentiment.

"The bloody scene of savage Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people... is being replayed in the shape of savage American massacres against the Iraqi people," Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said in a sermon in Beirut.

"If the Palestinians are fighting in Palestine in response to occupation and its massacres, the Iraqi people -- in recent events -- is also fighting as a reaction to occupation and its massacres," he said.

U.S.-led forces are battling Sunni Muslim guerrillas west of Baghdad and a Shi'ite uprising in central and southern Iraq. Hundreds of Iraqis, including many civilians, and more than 40 foreign soldiers have been killed in the violence in the past week.

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[ZR2]

1. Massacres ?

I thought the Iraqis were driving our troops out of town.

[Hav]

2. .

When there were hundreds of them dying this last week, then I think we have almost reached a situation where the term "massacre" describes what's going on there.

[daleo]

11. Both can be true at the same time

For example, in 1941-1945, the Germans massacred plenty of Russians even though they lost the war.

[The Stranger]

3. Surrounding a civilian area and killing over 130 people there over a

3 or 4 day period probably qualifies as a massacre. Maybe if there is anyone who has seen carnage like this before first hand can correct me on the precise definition of what a massacre is.

[whatelseisnew]

4. Now it is over 400 dead

[MGKrebs]

5. Reference point:

This is not some small little neighborhood mosque we are dealing with.





AP
April 9: Over 20,000 Shiite followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr pray in Sadr City, Baghdad.

http://www.foxnews.com/

edit to add link and rearrange for clarity.

[mmm]

6. That is truly a beautiful sight

[mobuto]

7. Oh yes, 20,000 supporters of a militant religious extremist

Oh mmm, you're back to your old tricks.

[Karenina]

10. U.S. GOOD

Brown folks fighting for their lives BAD.

[Aidoneus]

9. indeed

I've seen other Friday shots from Madinat al-Sadr from a few weeks ago that were even moreso. Might've been a couple months.. don't save or bookmark images usually.

[Aidoneus]

8. Sayyid Fadlallah knows a thing or two about other US massacres

the CIA tried to kill him in '85, big car bomb ("terrorist attack") outside his mosque in South Beirut--Fadlallah escapes unharmed, but dozens of people (girls and pregnant women) were massacred by it.