Made in the USA
Historical and
Investigative Research - 18 May 2006
by Francisco Gil-White
http://www.hirhome.com/iraniraq/sharia.htm
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Below, HIR reproduces a report by Reuters on the developing political climate in Iraq. The main message of the article is that, imposed by terror, Sharia, or Islamic law, is fast becoming the law in Iraq.
What does Sharia mean?
It means that if you own a store that sells alcohol, your store will be bombed. If you are a woman, you will be violently attacked if you neglect to wear a veil or dare to drive a car. If you are a man, you will be violently attacked if you wear shorts or decide to shave. This is the future of Iraqi society.
The article explains that things were quite different under Saddam Hussein:
“Baghdad [was] known under the secular rule of Saddam Hussein for its nightlife and liberal social culture.”
Something else that the article explains is that:
“Some of the militias suspected of being behind the attacks or the threats are linked to Shi’ite parties in power.”
In other words, what is happening in Iraq is that it is becoming the westernmost province of Iran. About 60% of the population of Iraq is Shi’ite, like the Muslims who run the totalitarian theocratic state of Iran, next door. Ever since 1979, the Iranian Shi’ites have been attempting to control Iraq through their influence on Iraqi Shi’ites, and their goals have now been largely accomplished: Newsweek recently remarked on just “how deeply Iran has infiltrated Baghdad.”[1]
The terrorist imposition of Sharia in Iraq is a consequence of the US invasion of Iraq, because before the US invasion, Iraq had a secular government and a “liberal social culture.” In other words, before the US invasion, the Iraqi government repressed political dissent but did not mess with the minutiae of Iraqi private life, so that the Iraqis were free to shave or not shave, drink or not, wear a veil or not, drive or not drive, and wear shorts or pants as they desired.
Now, in public the US claims to oppose Islamist terrorism, but HIR’s position is that governments very often have reasons to publicly misrepresent their real intentions and actions, which means that a social scientist can hardly be learning much if he constructs a model of the world with the statements of public officials. Ignoring, therefore, what US officials say, there are two obvious hypotheses to consider here:
Hypothesis 1. Iranian-style Islamist terrorism in Iraq is an unintended consequence of the decisions of the US foreign policy elite.
Hypothesis 2. Iranian-style Islamist terrorism in Iraq is a foreseen and intended consequence of the decisions of the US foreign policy elite.
HIR has been defending the second
hypothesis. In favor of HIR’s view is the entire history of US foreign
policy towards Iran and Iraq, which HIR has been documenting here:
http://www.hirhome.com/iraniraq/guide-iraniraq.htm
As HIR has shown, US foreign policy has been remarkably consistent since 1979: the US ruling elite of both major US parties, over and over again, has made decisions whose effect is to strengthen Iranian Islamism. HIR has defended the view that the whole point of the US invasion of Iraq was to remove a secular rival so that Iranian-style Islamism could spread to Iraq. Consistent with this view is the absence of evidence to suggest that invading Iraq was necessary to protect the national security of the US, and the abundance of evidence that the US ruling elite had other motives and lied to the US citizenry.
Also consistent with this view is the fact that the US sponsored the imposition of Sharia in Iraq, as the Reuters article also explains:
“A new, U.S.-sponsored constitution introduced last year makes Sharia, or Islamic law, a main source for legislation.”
The bulk of the evidence is consistent with HIR’s hypothesis: the US ruling elite would like to see the spread of Iranian-style Islamist terrorism.
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Beer bombers set tone for Islamist Baghdad
Reuters; By Ibon
Villelabeitia and Omar al-Ibadi; Tue May 16, 10:37 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060516/wl_nm/iraq_sharia_dc;_ylt=AuLj0x.oyiPczSq
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Leaflets threaten women who do not wear veils. Militias bomb and burn beer shops and music stores at dawn. Rumors swirl of men shot... for wearing shorts.
Hopes for secular democracy in Iraq three years after U.S. forces invaded are being challenged by militants seeking to impose their own strict version of Islamic sharia law on the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
In the latest attack against alcohol sellers in Baghdad, bombs on Tuesday damaged three shops that sold beer and other liquor in the central commercial district of Karrada.
The explosions wrecked the stores' frontages and an advertising display for beer but killed no one. But for the shop keepers, from Iraq's Christian minority, the message was clear.
“I shut down the shop last year after I received threats by gunmen to stop selling alcohol and just reopened last week,” Asaad Aziz, 56, owner of the Gazal liquor store told Reuters.
“Armed gangs are now ruling Iraq. There is no rule of law. I used to feed two families with this store. What am I going to do now?” Aziz said as he surveyed the destruction.
“Everybody is talking about banning alcohol sellers. The government doesn't say anything but clearly it is their militias who are playing a role in a secret way.”
The increasing intimidation by militants seeking to impose Islamic customs in Iraq, a society with a liberal tradition, pose a particular dilemma for the ruling Islamist parties, engaged in forming a broad-based government Washington hopes will foster stability and help end sectarian strife.
Some of the militias suspected of being behind the attacks or the threats are linked to Shi’ite parties in power. Sunni militants have adopted similar stances in some areas -- barbers have been killed and men ordered not to shave in some towns.
SHARIA AND LEGISLATION
A new, U.S.-sponsored constitution introduced last year makes Sharia, or Islamic law, a main source for legislation. But there are no laws banning alcohol or forcing women to wear veils as in other Muslim countries. It is unclear whether the new ministers will seek to impose stricter Muslim customs.
Salah Boshi, head of the non-government Human Rights Association, said competing militias were taking advantage of Iraq's security chaos to consolidate their political power and using Islam as an excuse.
“These activities are devastating human rights and will end up destabilizing democracy in Iraq,” he said.
A 33-year-old woman who refused to be named for fear of retribution said she started wearing a veil last week when militants circulated leaflets warning women to wear an “Islamic dress” near her workplace in Amriya, a Sunni area in Baghdad.
“I started wearing a veil a week ago. I did not see the fliers myself. I wear the veil and a long coat to avoid any trouble. When I arrive at work, I take them off.”
In Basra, Iraq's second city, militias have targeted music shops and harassed females students for refusing to cover themselves in the black abaya.
In Baghdad, known under the secular rule of Saddam Hussein for its nightlife and liberal social culture, unconfirmed tales circulate about young men who have been shot for wearing shorts.
Leaflets threatening punishment for such behavior -- and also ordering women not to drive cars -- circulated in Amriya this month. But police deny anyone has been killed as a result.
Whether stories of such killings are true or not, one thing is certain: Fear is driving many alcohol sellers to close and more women are following conservative dress codes.
Said Faris Shamoon, 49, whose beer shop was bombed on Tuesday: “I will shut the shop and leave the country to those who claim they are Islamists. Islam should not hurt others.”
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami in Baghdad and Abdel- Razzak Hameed in Basra)
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Footnotes and Further
Reading
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[1] “Iran Won’t Need an Exit Strategy: Top Iraqi Officials Hammer Out a Memorandum of Understanding in Tehran – and take America’s Ambassador in Baghdad by Surprise”; Intel; Newsweek; 28 November 2005; pp.30-31; by Scott Johnson and Michael Hirsh.
“Leaflets
threaten women who do not wear veils. Militias bomb and burn beer shops
and music stores at dawn. Rumors swirl of men shot... for wearing
shorts.
”
“...barbers
have been killed and men ordered not to shave in some towns.
”
“In
Basra, Iraq's second city, militias have targeted music shops and
harassed female students for refusing to cover themselves in the black
abaya.
”
“A
33-year-old woman who refused to be named for fear of retribution said
she started wearing a veil last week when militants circulated leaflets
warning women to wear an 'Islamic dress'.
”
“In
the latest attack against alcohol sellers in Baghdad, bombs on Tuesday
damaged three shops that sold beer and other liquor in the central
commercial district of Karrada.
”
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