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Posted on Wed, May. 18, 2005 Shiite, Sunni leaders in Iraq trade terrorism charges on TV BY HANNAH ALLAM AND NANCY A. YOUSSEF Knight Ridder Newspapers BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - Two of Iraq's most prominent Shiite and Sunni Muslim leaders blamed each other for sponsoring terrorism in a heated television exchange Wednesday that many Iraqis interpreted as a call to arms edging the nation closer to civil war. The name-calling between Harith al-Dhari, the leader of the Muslim Scholars Association, an influential group of militant Sunni clerics, and Hadi al-Amri, the commander of Iraq's largest Shiite militia, represented the most brazenly sectarian - and first public - war of words for men of their prominence. Each commands thousands of followers, many of whom saw the accusations on the Al-Arabiya satellite channel as a sign that Iraq's sectarian tensions had reached the boiling point. "It's definitely one step closer toward a sectarian war," said Hazem al-Nuaimi, an independent political analyst in Baghdad. "People living with sectarian tensions ... are affected greatly by such (outbursts) and they will definitely be ready to take up arms against one another. They will not think about their best interests." A senior cleric from al-Dhari's group was found dead Tuesday in Baghdad, the latest in a string of assassinations of Sunni and Shiite clerics. Outraged Sunni groups called for a three-day closure of mosques throughout Iraq in protest. "The parties that are behind the campaign of killings of preachers and worshippers are ... the Badr Brigade," al-Dhari said, pointing angrily during a news conference broadcast on TV. "Badr forces are responsible for the escalating tensions." Al-Amri leads the Iran-trained Badr Brigade, formerly the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the backbone of the Shiite coalition that swept into power through January's parliamentary elections. Al-Amri has said the Badr corps was turned into a political organization, though residents in southern cities say the armed militiamen still operate openly. Many Sunnis resent the Badr forces because they fought with Iran against Iraqis during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. Immediately after al-Dhari's accusations aired, Al-Arabiya broadcast a live telephone interview in which an emotional al-Amri denied the charges. The militia leader swatted back with claims that al-Dhari and his outspoken son, Muthanna, support the al-Qaida-allied terrorist network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "(He) considers Zarqawi's terrorist and criminal operations as legal and justified," al-Amri told Al-Arabiya. "He said they're ready to stop these terrorist operations if there's a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops in Iraq. This indicates that they stand behind these terrorist operations, in which Iraq's Shiites were the first victims." Stunned Iraqis watched the exchange in coffee shops, electronics stores, barbershops and their living rooms. Many shook their heads in sadness; others were enraged. "Oh, my God, he shouldn't say such things," said Haider Jawad, 40, as he watched al-Dhari's televised remarks at his clothing store. "Thousands of Shiites have been killed and they didn't say anything. A few Sunnis are killed and look how he is talking." Jawad, a Shiite, wasn't impressed by al-Amri's response, either: "There are people who believe these men are worthy leaders, and these men want to lead them to civil war." Iraq's historic elections dealt new power to Shiites and Kurds, but ostracized Sunni Arabs, who largely stayed away from the polls in protest or fear of insurgent retaliation. Right after Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, announced his government April 28, insurgents launched a wave of attacks that's shown no sign of slowing down. The violence has steadily grown more sectarian. More than 500 people - Sunnis and Shiites - have been killed in 70-plus bombings, assassinations and other violence in the past three weeks. Most alarming were the discoveries of groups of executed men whose bodies were found in trash dumps, on chicken farms and in deserted fields. Often bound and blindfolded, most had been shot execution-style by unknown groups. The victims included Sunni and Shiite clerics, worshippers, policemen, soldiers and farmers. Those grisly discoveries were followed by another batch of bodies Tuesday, this time Sunnis who belonged to al-Dhari's Muslim Scholars Association. Al-Dhari said in a statement that Iraqi security forces rounded up 14 men, tortured them and threw them in a Baghdad dump. Iraqi government officials denied they were involved, but that hasn't ended the widespread belief that the Sunni deaths were revenge for Shiites slain in a similar fashion. Laith Kubba, the prime minister's adviser and spokesman, said the exchange between al-Dhari and al-Amri undermined the restraint that Iraqis had shown in the face of such violence. Kubba defended the televised remarks as freedom of speech, but cautioned: "They need to act responsibly. They have followers." The Muslim Scholars Association, which represents up to 3,000 conservative Sunni mosques across Iraq, has been the target of repeated U.S. and Iraqi raids on the grounds that clerics were harboring or helping insurgents. However, they're also credited with orchestrating the releases of several foreign and Iraqi hostages held by guerrillas. Al-Dhari long has been portrayed as an insurgent sympathizer for the anti-American tirades he delivers from a mosque west of Baghdad at which even the minarets are shaped like assault rifles. A newspaper cartoon Monday showed a caricature of al-Dhari saying, "We condemn and denounce terrorism!" while masked gunmen crouched under his flowing tribal robes. Lauded by some Sunnis as a voice for Iraqi resistance, al-Dhari is despised by other Sunnis for an extremist brand of Islam that they say gives Sunni Islam a bad name. "Harith and Amri don't represent Sunnis or Shiites," said Khaled Ahmed, 45, a Sunni who works at a cell phone company. "These statements won't do anything except encourage gullible people to follow them." --- (Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondents Mohammed al Dulaimy, Shatha al Awsy, Yasser Salihee and Huda Ahmed contributed to this report.) --- ------------------------ Yahoo! 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