IRAN BLAMED US AND ISRAEL FOR HAKIM’S ASSASSINATION
BAGHDAD, 31 Aug. (IPS) As thousands of Iraqis mourned Sunday in
Baghdad the tragic death of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, crying vengeance and protesting to the American-led occupation forces in Iraq, Iranian conservative clerics and their proxies in the media and Islamic associations openly blamed the United States and Israel for the Friday terrorist operation in the holy city of Najaf.
Officials and hospitals sources put the final toll of the powerful explosion on Friday at the entrance of the shrine of Imam Ali, the Muslim Shi’ite’s first imam, at about a hundred, with some three hundreds wounded, some of them seriously
Contrary to most Iraqi religious dignitaries who blamed "enemies of Islam" and supporters of the toppled dictator Saddam Hoseyn for the unprecedented explosion, senior Iranian clerics, in statements, accused randomly the "world estekbar (i e, American imperialism), occupation forces and Zionist circles" for the deadly terrorist operation.
In an editorial carried on Sunday, the hard line "Keyhan" evening daily, a mouthpiece for Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, said presenting al-Qa’eda or the followers of Saddam Hoseyn, known as Saddam’s feda’iynes as the culprits is a "ploy" used by the Americans and the Israelis for "diverting the public opinion and the Muslims from the realities, covering up their dirty crime".
The paper also criticised pro-reform newspapers for having "bought" the American, Western and Israeli propaganda by front-paging the arrest of members of al-Qa’eda terrorist organisation and Saddam’s supporters as some of those responsible for the explosion.
Although the 63 years-old Ayatollah Hakim lived in Iran after he fled the terror of Saddam Hoseyn and his Ba’thist regime 24 years ago and formed the SAIRI with the full backing of the ruling Iranian ayatollahs, yet some Iranian and Iraqi analysts speculates that Hakim’s triumphal return to his native Iraq last May and the fact that the SAIRI accepted to be part of the American-sponsored Iraqi Provisory Council of government was not welcomed in Tehran.
Dr Alireza Noorizadeh, a prominent Iranian independent journalist said beside followers of Saddam and Shi’ite extremists close to Hojjatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, a young and turbulent cleric who fights for the leadership of the Iraqi Shi’a, some fingers also points to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Qods Unit.
Writing in the pan Arab newspaper "Al sharq al-Awsat", Mr. Noorizadeh said officers at the Qods Unit, responsible for carrying out terrorist operations outside Iran, had warned Ayatollah Hakim not to be cooperative with the American forces in Iraq.
Whoever carried out the attack, several Iraqi Shi'ite leaders have said the U.S. must shoulder some blame, as occupying powers are responsible for ensuring security in a country under their rule, according to international law
In a statement issued Sunday, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s highest Shi’a religious authority joined other clerics in blaming the Americans for the lack of security and indirectly, urged the allies in passing to the Iraqi the exercise of government powers.
Ayatollah Mohammad Bahr al-Oloum, a leading Shi'ite scholar and member of the Provisory Council announced Sunday that he was suspending his membership of Iraq's U.S.-appoined Council in protest at Hakim's assassination.
He said in a statement that there was "a dangerous security void in Iraq, especially in Najaf".
Hojjatoleslam Mohsen Hakim, a nephew of the assassinated Ayatollah and his representative in Tehran said SAIRI had warned the Americans about threats against the life of the organisation’s leader as well as on the appalling security situation of the nation, but they did not acted.
Analysts and political observers said the assassination of Ayatollah Hakim not only would make more difficult the already tense relations between the occupations forces, mostly Americans, with the Sh’ite community, that makes some 60 per cent of the Iraqi population, but also draw the community closer to the hard line clerics openly opposed to the presence of foreign forces.
Iraqi police on Saturday said it has arrested 19 men, among them some Iraqis, Saudis, Kuwaitis and Palestinians who admitted links to al-Qa’eda.
But US officials have not confirmed the details of the arrests, and have not taken an active role in the investigation because of Iraqi sensitivity to any US presence at the holy site.
The Iraqi police officer said the four suspects first arrested after Friday’s attack claimed the recent bombings were designed to "keep Iraq in a state of chaos so that police and American forces are unable to focus attention" on the country’s borders, allowing foreign fighters to gain easy access to the country.
On orders from Ayatollah Khameneh'i, the Islamic Republic declared a three days national mourning for the "martyrdom" of Ayatollah Hakim.
Meanwhile, experts said the explosive material used in the Friday bombing in Najaf was similar to one that destroyed the offices of the United Nations in Baghdad on 19 August, killing more than 20 people, including the UN’s special Representative, and the Jordanian Embassy on 7 August, killing 19 people.
Early Saturday, a fresh explosion and fire hit the export pipeline carrying oil from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk fields to Turkey. The huge blaze burned out of control, further delaying the resumption of the vital link which is costing Iraqis an estimated $7m a day it is out of operation.
The explosion and fire were the fourth to hit the line since it briefly reopened earlier this month. ENDS AYATOLLAH HAKIM KILLED 31803