BAGHDAD, Oct 9 (AFP): Leading Iraqi Sunni cleric Harith al-Dhari has urged Iraqis not to join US forces in fighting Al-Qaeda, arguing that by doing so they are siding with the occupier.
"A decision to stand beside the occupying enemy in order to achieve a wish to stay in Iraq under the pretext of destroying Al- Qaeda is neither accepted legally nor on patriotic or rational grounds," said Dhari, head of the influential Muslim Scholars' Association.
"We reject their ideas but Al-Qaeda remains part of us and we are part of it. Ninety per cent of Al-Qaeda members are now Iraqis," he added. "We can talk to them. We can reform them and God may bless them to resort to wisdom."
Dhari is living in exile in Amman. Al-Qaeda has warned it will target those involved in the initiatives.
Last Thursday, a roadside bomb near Samarra killed the leader of the Salaheddin Awakening Council, Sheikh Maawia Naji Jebara. His killing was claimed by Al-Qaeda.
So-called Awakening councils, coalitions of tribes formed to hit back at Al-Qaeda, are springing up across Iraq following the lead of the Anbar Awakening Council which largely cleared the western Anbar province of insurgency.
Sunni leader calls on Iraqis not to fight Al-Qaeda
FE Team | Published: October 10, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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