VZCZCXRO8311
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHIHL #0028/01 0551759
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241759Z FEB 06
FM REO HILLAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0553
INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0538
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHIHL/REO HILLAH 0600

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000028 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL PINR IZ
SUBJECT: NAJAF, KARBALA MOSQUES PREACH UNITY AND CALM; BLAME 
SADDAMISTS AND TAKFIRIS 
 
REF: HILLAH 0026 
 
HILLAH 00000028  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Friday Mosque sermons delivered amidst heavy 
security in Najaf and Karbala generally appealed for calm and 
unity, and were followed by peaceful demonstrations. Despite 
some Sadrist provocations, the two Shi'a holy cities were 
reportedly quiet, with shops and offices closed and black 
mourning curtains draped around shrines and religious offices. 
Rumors and some reports circulated in Najaf and Karbala of 
Sadrists mobilizing to travel to Samarra. End summary. 
 
NAJAF MOSQUES PREACH MOURNING, UNITY, CALM 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Sadrist statements on February 23 stoked tensions but 
the mood reportedly cooled in the wake of conciliatory sermons 
and calls for unity and non-violence at major Najaf mosques 
during Friday prayers February 24. Sayid Mohammed Al-Tabtabae, a 
leading Sadrist cleric in Kufa, issued a statement to a crowd of 
about 800 outside the Kufa Mosque on February 23. The cleric was 
guarded by black-clad Mahdi Militia members. Many in the crowd 
carried weapons and images of Moqtada Al-Sadr. The crowd also 
contained tribal leaders. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Al-Tabtabae's statement said, "This attack was carried 
out by the Saddamists and the 'invasion forces,' and it was not 
carried out by the Sunni. This is a war against Islam that is 
made by the infidels against our sacred places. We demand 
immediate action from the national government. We shall not just 
protest and leave. We shall stay until our demands have been 
met, and we demand that the U.S. forces withdraw." On Friday, a 
statement attributed to Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, leader of the 
Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), 
appeared on Elaph, a Jordanian website generally up-to-date on 
Iraqi news and Iraqi Al-Furat TV, a SCIRI outlet. In the 
statement, Al-Hakim blames the followers of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi 
and Saddam Hussein for the Al-Askariyah bombing. It urges the 
people to be calm and cautious in the face of attempts to incite 
a civil war, which Al-Hakim says has been the goal of the 
terrorists for three years. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Security remained tight in Najaf through February 24. 
Large numbers of armored cars parked in the vicinity of Grand 
Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani's house on February 24 after Friday 
prayers sparked rumors that a high-level visitor, possibly SCIRI 
Leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, had arrived to visit Sistani. Najaf 
local staff reported that the main entrance to Najaf's Old City 
was closed by Iraqi Police (IP). Other entrances were partially 
open but many checkpoints were in place. The Imam Ali Shrine was 
guarded by Iraqi Army units and vehicles, the doors to the 
shrine were closed, and security forces were on high alert. The 
shrine remained closed and heavily guarded through Friday, and 
there were no Friday prayers there for security reasons. Cars 
were barred from the vicinity of the shrine, even for residents 
of the neighborhood immediately surrounding it. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Najaf SCIRI office, adjacent to the Fatimiya 
Mosque, remained open February 23, local REO staff reported. 
Security was provided by Badr Organization members, and the 
fence around the office was covered in black sheets signifying 
mourning. Most stores in the city remained closed through 
Friday, February 24. Many had flags and banners of mourning on 
their doors. Large numbers of people gathered in the city in 
places traditionally designated for mourning during the Ashura 
commemoration, and many pictures of Moqtada Al-Sadr hung in 
these places. Large numbers of Sadrists surrounded the Sadr 
offices near the Imam Ali Shrine. Crowds also massed around 
Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani's house nearby. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Sadr Al-Deen Al-Qubanji, the Najaf SCIRI head and the 
Imam of the Fatimiya Mosque in Najaf, led the regular Friday 
prayer service at the Fatimiya Mosque. About 1,000 worshippers 
attended the prayers, local staff reported, and many more 
gathered outside. Badr Organization members provided security. 
The sermon began with a condemnation of the bombing. Al-Qubanji 
blamed the Baathists and "Wahabbis," and held the national 
government partially responsible for not doing more to protect 
the shrine. Then Al-Qubanji called for the unity of the country. 
He said that the "forces of the believers" should be mobilized 
to protect the holy shrines and protect the Marja'iya. He called 
for a full investigation of the bombing, a group trial of the 
criminals, and their immediate execution. Al-Qubanji also 
demanded that local, national and foreign officials make clear 
their position either for or against the bombing. Al-Qubanji 
announced a demonstration immediately after the Friday prayers, 
traveling to the Imam Ali Shrine and from there to the nearby 
house of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. By late Friday 
afternoon, a peaceful demonstration estimated to contain 
protestors "in the hundreds, not thousands," was underway. 
 
 
HILLAH 00000028  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) At the Kufa Mosque, a Sadrist stronghold, about 1,500 
worshippers attended, many dressed in black and armed. Shaykh 
Falah Al-Obeidi and an assistant preached a sermon calling for 
Muslim unity and tranquility. He said that Shi'a cities must 
close for three days and the mourning period would last for 
seven days. He urged the worshippers to cover all homes, 
shrines, and religious schools with black drapes.  He said that 
violence against Sunnis and their shrines was prohibited, and 
that the Mahdi Militia will protect them. Shaykh Falah called 
upon the Iraqi Government to boycott the U.S. government. Late 
Friday afternoon, a crowd of about 200 unarmed Sadrists were 
seen marching through Najaf toward the Sadr offices in the Old 
City, chanting anti-American slogans. 
 
 
 
KARBALA SERMON BLAMES SADDAMISTS, TAKFIRIS; ORDERS CALM 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶8. (U) Thursday, February 23 passed quietly with no reported 
major demonstrations or acts of violence. Local staff reported 
that mid-morning on February 24, six buses, each loaded with 
about 40 to 50 men, left Karbala heading north to Samarra. 
 
¶9. (SBU) At the Imam Hussein Shrine, Shaykh Abed Al-Mahdi 
Al-Karbala'e, a Sistani representative, led Friday prayers 
before an audience of about 8,000. At the beginning of the 
sermon, Shaykh Abed informed the worshippers of a silent 
demonstration for women and a general demonstration after the 
service from the Hussein Shrine to the nearby Imam Abbas Shrine. 
Shaykh Abed told of phone calls he received from the offices of 
Sistani and senior Najaf cleric Sayid Mohammad Saeed Al-Hakim 
giving them instructions, which he then described. He related 
that the offices of the clerics said that the Al-Askariyah 
bombing was carried out not by Sunnis but by Saddamists, 
takfiris and terrorists who do not want democracy to flourish in 
Iraq. The purpose of these groups was to foment a sectarian war. 
The clerics called on the Iraqi Government to stand firm against 
terrorism and to protect sacred places, and admonished that if 
the Government proved unable to do so, the "faithful" would. 
Shaykh Abed reminded the worshippers that Sistani had prohibited 
attacking Sunni shrines and property. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Shaykh Abed then addressed what he said were 
accusations from the Sunni, who he said blamed the Hawza for 
instigating demonstrations against the Sunni and causing attacks 
against them and their shrines. He said that the Hawza had asked 
the people to demonstrate in order to confront the terrorists, 
to channel the anguish of the people peacefully rather than 
"irrationally," and to refrain from responding to the terrorists 
in the same "cowardly" way as they had acted. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Television crews from Al-Furat, Al-Hurra, Al-Manar 
(Lebanon), Al-Iraqiya, Al-Anwar (UAE) and Karbala TV covered the 
service. Afterwards, worshippers left the shrine to cover the 
short distance, approximately 120 meters, to the Imam Abbas 
Shrine. As they marched, they carried banners reading, "No, no 
U.S.A.," "No, no Israel," "No, no Denmark," "No, no Terrorists," 
and "Yes, yes Ali Al-Hadi" and "Yes, yes to peace."  The 
National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) reported Friday 24 that 
thousands of protesters marched through Karbala carrying Iraqi 
flags and banners calling for the dismissal of U.S. Ambassador 
Zalmay Khalilzad. One banner reportedly read, "No to Zad [sic], 
no to Takfiris." The protestors chanted: "No to Israel, no to 
America, yes to unity, yes to Islam". 
FONTENEAU