Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: By NASSER KARIMI
Date: 24 October 2006
TEHRAN, Iran_Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called
for an end to the bloody sectarian conflict tearing apart neighboring Iraq.
"The Iraqi people should do everything to avoid sectarian conflict,"
Khamenei told a crowd of thousands, including senior government officials,
ringing in the first day of Eid al-Fitr at a mosque in Tehran.
Iraq's Shiite Muslim-led government has maintained close ties with
Washington as well as Shiite-dominated Iran since the fall of Saddam
Hussein's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim regime.
But Iraq teeters on the brink of civil war with Sunni and Shiite factions
launching daily attacks and reprisals that have killed and displaced
thousands of Iraqis, turning once-mixed neighborhoods into ethnic enclaves.
Many Iraqis believe Tehran has played a role in the unrest, since Iran has
ties to Iraq's largest Shiite political parties and their militias.
That view was echoed hours after Khamenei's speech, with Gen. George Casey,
the top U.S. commander in Iraq, lambasting Tehran and Syria, Iraq's
neighbors east and west, for trying to undermine the American effort to
stabilize the country. Casey said both countries had been "decidedly
unhelpful."
Casey also predicted Iraqi forces would be able to take full control of
security in the country within the next 12 to 18 months with "some level of
support from us."
Khamenei also warned other Middle Eastern countries against cooperating with
American initiatives that may be designed to divide the Middle East for
Israel's benefit.
"Our nation should be aware. The Lebanese nation should be aware. The
Palestinian nation should be aware. Arab nations in the region, Iraq and
other Muslim nations should be careful not to play along with these U.S.
plots," said Khamenei. The supreme leader said America's biggest priority in
the Middle East was protecting Israel's interests.
"What is considered success for the U.S. is harming all Islamic nations,"
Khamenei said.
Byline: By NASSER KARIMI
Date: 24 October 2006
TEHRAN, Iran_Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called
for an end to the bloody sectarian conflict tearing apart neighboring Iraq.
"The Iraqi people should do everything to avoid sectarian conflict,"
Khamenei told a crowd of thousands, including senior government officials,
ringing in the first day of Eid al-Fitr at a mosque in Tehran.
Iraq's Shiite Muslim-led government has maintained close ties with
Washington as well as Shiite-dominated Iran since the fall of Saddam
Hussein's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim regime.
But Iraq teeters on the brink of civil war with Sunni and Shiite factions
launching daily attacks and reprisals that have killed and displaced
thousands of Iraqis, turning once-mixed neighborhoods into ethnic enclaves.
Many Iraqis believe Tehran has played a role in the unrest, since Iran has
ties to Iraq's largest Shiite political parties and their militias.
That view was echoed hours after Khamenei's speech, with Gen. George Casey,
the top U.S. commander in Iraq, lambasting Tehran and Syria, Iraq's
neighbors east and west, for trying to undermine the American effort to
stabilize the country. Casey said both countries had been "decidedly
unhelpful."
Casey also predicted Iraqi forces would be able to take full control of
security in the country within the next 12 to 18 months with "some level of
support from us."
Khamenei also warned other Middle Eastern countries against cooperating with
American initiatives that may be designed to divide the Middle East for
Israel's benefit.
"Our nation should be aware. The Lebanese nation should be aware. The
Palestinian nation should be aware. Arab nations in the region, Iraq and
other Muslim nations should be careful not to play along with these U.S.
plots," said Khamenei. The supreme leader said America's biggest priority in
the Middle East was protecting Israel's interests.
"What is considered success for the U.S. is harming all Islamic nations,"
Khamenei said.
