Word: shia
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...months before the 3rd Infantry Division crossed the border from Kuwait, Special Forces teams entered the Iraq. One of their primary missions was to establish the conditions and train fighters for a revolt in the Shia areas in the south of the country. But they failed to spark the anticipated revolt. In retrospect, it's easy to see why; the Shia have been burned before by what they thought were U.S. promises of support. A Shia rebellion against Saddam in the aftermath of the first Gulf War was brutally suppressed, and no one here, remembering the tens of thousands killed...
...helps to look at the background of Iraqi's Shia population and of Ayatollah al-Khoei. The scion of one of the two most powerful families of Iraqi Shiites, al-Khoei returned to An Najaf two weeks ago with the help of the U.S. military after a decade in exile outside Iraq. He was the son of the former Grand Ayatollah of An Najaf, Abdul-Qasim al-Khoei, who had died in 1992 under house arrest by Saddam Hussein's regime. The current Grand Ayatollah, Ali al-Sistani, was also under house arrest until U.S. troops took control...
...deeply religious Shia Muslim, Zaki bears the mark of the devout - the top of his forehead, just below his lace prayer cap, is darkened from repeated rubbing on the ground. Piety is the key to his influence over the extended household: with the exception of Muntaha, all the adult women wear traditional Islamic clothing, complete with tightly drawn headscarves. Even the token portrait of the president on the living room wall depicts Saddam deep in prayer...
...says they were intrusive, even examining the personal belongings of his wife and daughters. He also said that one of the inspectors, an American, suggested that she could help him to accompany his wife out of the country to seek medical aid. Now Sheik Qutaiba Sa'adi Amash, a Shia cleric of the blue-domed Al Nid'a Mosque in Baghdad says that the visit of the bare-footed inspectors - and their rather innocuous questions about the area and construction of the structure - was an insult to Islam. "Mosques in Iraq contain nothing that they are looking for," he complained...
...Najaf, base of the 1991 Shia rebellion, a woman laughs as I struggle with my slippery hijab, then helps tie the scarf that covers my hair. Is she scared of war, I ask, miming planes and bombs. She shrugged and pointed to the sky. God will decide. Then she turns to pray at the beautiful, golden shrine. She looks extremely devout, and perhaps her God is listening. She is praying for peace...