23 February 2006
Samarra Mosque Attack a "Heinous Crime," Military Spokesman Says
U.S. Army Major General Lynch adds that civil war is not igniting in Iraq
Washington – A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad says the insurgent bombing of the sacred Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, February 22 was a “heinous crime.”
Speaking to reporters in Baghdad February 23, Army Major General Rick Lynch said there was no advance warning that any action was planned against the mosque.
Although an investigation has been launched to determine who perpetrated the crime, Lynch said it appeared to be the work of terrorists.
The individuals who carried out this attack -- and additional attacks against other mosques -- are trying to derail the democratic process in Iraq, he said, and upset Iraqi efforts under way to establish a unity government composed of Sunni, Shi’ites and Kurds. The spokesman of the multinational forces in Iraq said that “the insurgents want to stop that unification” and are doing their utmost “to inflame sectarian violence.”
Lynch described the attack as deplorable and said it indicates that the terrorists will stop at nothing in their quest to stir up emotions and turmoil in Iraq. (See related article.)
At the same time, the spokesman said, “we are not seeing civil war igniting in Iraq.” Both Iraqi political and religious leaders, Lynch said, have taken steps to help “calm the storm.”
Both Sunni and Shi’ite leaders have called on their followers to remain calm and other prudent measures have been taken, he said, including canceling leave for all Iraqi security forces and establishing curfews for Samarra and Iraq’s capital.
“We are not seeing death in the streets” of Iraq, Lynch added, although there have been problems with drive-by shootings from vehicles. Instead, he said, a capable and confident Iraqi government is using its security forces to calm the situation “that was inflamed by a horrendous, horrific terrorist attack, yesterday, against the Golden Mosque in Samarra.”
What the insurgents are doing, the spokesman said, is going after softer, easier targets such as mosques, Iraqi religious leaders and new Iraqi security forces instead of the coalition forces on which they previously concentrated all their efforts.
Lynch pointed to seven recent mosque attacks and he expressed particular concern about small arms and rocket-propelled grenade attacks against mosques in the Dora neighborhood of southwestern Baghdad.
He also confirmed that two Sunni imams had been murdered in Basra and Baghdad and talked about other murders and kidnappings.
“We are dealing with a cowardly insurgency,” Lynch added.
The Samarra mosque attack is an indication of what is driving the terrorists and foreign fighters, who are trying to inflame sectarian violence because they cannot cope with the notion that Iraq might become democratic, he said.
But Iraqi politicians and religious leaders are doing the right thing, the spokesman said, by emphasizing that violent demonstrations are not the answer to political disagreement.
For more information see Iraq Update.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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