CONCILIATORY GESTURES
Iraq bars its forces from raids on mosques
By and Bassam Sebti, Washington Post | May 17, 2005

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's government said yesterday its soldiers would no longer participate in raids on mosques in their fight against an increasingly violent insurgency, banning a tactic that Sunni Muslim Arab leaders had long argued was provoking sectarian strife.

Later in the day, Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential spiritual leader of Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority, and said they discussed the ''participation of Sunnis in the political process," among other topics.

The conciliatory gestures by the Shi'ite-led government occurred as a recent wave of car bombings and assassinations continued across Iraq, including a rocket attack on a Baghdad university that killed four engineering students. Authorities also discovered the bodies of 13 more people who had been slain execution-style, according to the Defense Ministry, bringing the total to more than 50 found in the past two days.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, while visiting Iraq Sunday, had urged the government to try to bridge sectarian divisions by further incorporating Sunnis into governance. The minority group is underrepresented in the National Assembly because Sunnis largely boycotted Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.

But influential Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr said yesterday evening that US forces were responsible for the growing conflict among the Iraqi people, and he called for their removal. It was Sadr's first speech since his militia clashed with US forces last August in Najaf, a city holy to Shi'ites.

In an afternoon news conference in Baghdad, Defense Minister Sadoun Dulame said he had ''received many complaints from citizens against the Defense Ministry about the random raids and arrest campaigns that have been done by the Iraqi forces."

From now on, he said, ''it is strictly prohibited that any employee of the Defense Ministry raid worship places."

Responding to another frequent Sunni complaint, Dulame said that he would work to see that persons detained by the government were processed more quickly and released if no ties to terrorism were found.

US and Iraqi officials believe the insurgency, which has taken more than 430 lives since Iraq's Cabinet was introduced late last month, is largely made up of Iraqi Sunnis and Arab fighters from other countries.

But Sunni leaders have expressed outrage in recent weeks over a spate of raids on their mosques and political organizations.

The National Dialogue Council, a Sunni political group whose negotiations with Jaafari helped lead to the inclusion of several Sunnis in his Cabinet, has been raided three times this month, its members say, although it is still unclear who was responsible for the incidents. Last week Iraqi security forces raided Baghdad's Mukhtar Mosque, detaining its preacher, Sheikh Abdul Karim.

Yesterday, Sunni leaders welcomed the government's new policy, although some did so cautiously.

''This is a proper decision that came at the right time. The armed forces shouldn't enter mosques or worship places and disrespect them," said Naseer Ani, head of the political office for the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni political party. ''This decision will help to calm the situation down in the country and decrease violence."

Sheikh Oman Dulaim, a member of the influential Muslim Scholars Association and a preacher in a Sunni Mosque in Baghdad, said, ''We'll wait to see if this will be effective in reality." He added that, if implemented, the new policy ''would lead to less violence."

But it could also pose a problem for US forces, who in recent clashes with insurgents have relied upon Iraqi troops to enter mosques, where insurgents sometimes take refuge. US commanders believe the Iraqi troops' presence would be less offensive to worshipers.

''Our standard policy is that when there are [Iraqi Security Forces] with us, we don't enter unless engaged," said Marine Major Ed Sullivan, who serves as a liaison in the city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.



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