Raed In The Middle: Shia and Sunni Iraqis ask the Occupation to Leave

A number of the main Iraqi Sunni and Shia parties had several meetings today. The meetings reflected a united Muslim front against any attempts of splitting the Iraqi people along sectarian and ethnic lines.

The main Shia and Sunni parties asked the occupation troops to schedule withdrawal as soon as possible.

It's important to mention that the current sectarian tension was handled very efficiently by the Iraqi religious and social leaders working with their elected national government, and that the occupation troops and authorities didn't take any part in "protecting Iraqis from each other", which is the bush administration's number one excuse for keeping the troops in Iraq.

According to the latest polls, the majority (70%)of the Iraqis want the occupation troops to leave Iraq, and the majority of the US people (55%) say that it was a mistake to send the troops to Iraq in the first place. Even Bill O'reilly, the neo-con who would have cut me to small pieces and fed me to the dogs if I had said the words troops and home in the same sentence a couple of weeks ago, is now asking to bring the US troops back home!

Let's bring the troop back home, and spend the money in rebuilding New Orleans instead of wasting it in Iraq.

Today’s attack on Al-Askari Shrine is a tragic milestone in the history of Iraq under the occupation. It’s a sad day for all Iraqis, Muslims and non Muslims, Arabs and non Arabs.

Iraqis are very very angry now. This attack was followed by more condemned small attacks against some 89 mosques around the country in a manifestation of the sectarian tension growing under the US led occupation, but all of these attacks were condemned and stopped.

When the Iraqi volcano erupts, it won't burn Iraqis. Unlike what the bush administration is trying to promote and claim, Iraqis never had a civil war, and they’ll never have one unless the occupation troops stay in Iraq. The US troops should leave Iraq as soon as possible so that Iraqis would have the time and space to heal their wounds and deal with their internal issues. The US army shouldn't be left in Iraq to face the ire of millions of Iraqis.

Today’s attack was yet another disaster that will be contained and dealt with by all the different Iraqi religious and social leaders. I hope this incident will not cause any further vioence against anyone, and I hope it'll prove to the world that Iraqis are capable of handling the most tragic crisis without turning against each other. The only help anyone outside Iraq can offer in the meantime is to ask the occupation troops to give Iraq back to Iraqis, or at least stop killing them in the occupation prisons.

On a second note, I received a fresh threat this morning from an occupation supporter. Ladies and Gentlemen: as hot and crisp as an Iraqi Sammoon:

“You might refrain from the discourse of such publicly. You never know when a Marine might be nearby. Although you're surrounded by the loony left out there, that kind of lie said in the wrong place will get you in a lot of trouble.

So be careful where you twist reality. A blog is much safer than a public square. Even in San Francisco”.

It seems that my praise of In-N-Out didn’t calm this dude down!