Word: clerics
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...While the Fallujah deal is holding, there is no specific agreement at Najaf. Sadr appears to be holding out despite mounting pressure from within the Shiite clerical establishment for him to avoid a military confrontation in any of the shrine cities, and Paul Bremer appears to be insisting that Sadr be arrested before June 30 to face charges over the murder of a rival cleric a year ago. Local Shiite leaders had been working on a deal in which Sadr would agree to disband his militia in exchange for an understanding that he would be held only after the transfer...
...Volvo sped toward the guard post near Najaf's Safi al-Safa shrine just as the muezzin began his evening call to prayers. Inside the car, three gunmen prepared to fire. Their targets were members of the Mahdi Army, a band of militants loyal to the firebrand Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has holed up in Najaf for the past month to avoid capture by the 2,500 U.S. soldiers surrounding the city. As the Volvo neared the tiny brick-and-reed building, a gunman in the car opened up with his AK-47, hitting...
Plenty of people have an interest in seeing al-Sadr and his ragtag army cut down. The cleric has little widespread support among mainstream Shi'ites. But al-Sadr's rise has alarmed senior Shi'ite clerics, who view him as an upstart demagogue. Al-Sadr's troops have regularly clashed with the more powerful Shi'ite militia known as the Badr Brigade. Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani, the most prominent Shi'ite leader in Iraq, has ordered all Shi'ite factions to avoid further confrontation with al-Sadr's men, fearing it would lead to fratricidal Shi'ite violence...
Thugs is at best an inadequate word for the Shi'ite militiamen of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who have been battling the U.S. Thugs are what police deal with on city streets. But U.S. troops in Iraq aren't getting rolled for their wallets. Fighters using rocket-propelled grenades and firing at Apache helicopters are more than common thugs. These people are guerrillas, soldiers, insurgents, rebels or terrorists. Calling them thugs only downplays the difficulties in Iraq. Once President Bush and the American people realize we're not dealing with thugs, then maybe we can come up with the number...
ARRESTED. ABUBAKAR BA'ASYIR, 66, Indonesian Muslim cleric; on the day he was to be freed after serving 18 months for minor immigration offenses; in Jakarta. Authorities say they have new evidence that he heads the radical group Jemaah Islamiah and that he approved a string of bombings, including the 2002 Bali attack that killed 202 people, although he has been acquitted of those charges. (He has consistently denied involvement in terrorist activities and is suing TIME for a 2002 article that linked him to terrorism...