On the Najaf attack [Archives:2003/668/Letters to the Editor]

Shabbir Khambaty
[email protected]
The attack on the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf is a hideous act. There are fingers pointing towards Saddam loyalists, foreign mercenaries and even the Sunni Muslims. But when the matter is analyzed, one would wonder who would benefit from such an attack. The Americans -by creating a rift between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the country- would be able to have a stranglehold over Iraq. Moreover, the target in this attack was the SCIRI leader Ayatollah Mohammed Hakim Al-Bakir, the Iranian backed spiritual leader. Everyone knows about the rift prevailing between Tehran and Washington. The SCIRI leader’s presence would bring Iranian influence in Iraq which would not be beneficial to the Americans.
There is one other thing I ponder about. Let’s say the Americans are not behind this attack. Then, how come the group which carried out this bombing managed to kill over a hundred people and manage to kill no –or a few- Americans?
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