Iraq's Qaeda warns Sunnis against constitution
Reuters
May. 17, 2005 - Iraq's al Qaeda blasted calls by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for Sunni Muslims in Iraq to participate in drafting a new constitution, saying those who did would be infidels, according to an Internet statement. "The crusaders' hag (Rice) came to sully the land of the caliphate...and wants the participation of apostates and secularists claiming to be Sunnis," the group led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in the statement posted on Tuesday on a Web site used by Islamists on Tuesday. "Would anyone draft the constitution other than those who do not believe in God's book...," said the statement dated May 16. "Our Sunni faith stipulates that the sword and bullets be the only dialogue between us and worshippers of the cross."
Rice met Iraqi leaders on Sunday to discuss the battle against an escalating insurgency and said minority Sunni Arabs should be included in political processes. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shi'ite, said he wanted the drafting of the constitution to involve Sunnis. Iraqi politicians are reaching out to Sunnis, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein, hoping to lessen support for the insurgency. Zarqawi's group, one of the main networks fighting the government and U.S. forces, has threatened to kill fellow Sunnis who join the new government announced late last month.
"Those of sick hearts rush to please the Jews and Christians and sell their religion for earthly interests, desiring posts," Al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq said. It also vowed in its latest statement to avenge what it said was the desecration of the Koran in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, the Iraqi city of Basra and the U.S. base in Guantanamo. A report in Newsweek magazine's May 9 issue about U.S. interrogators desecrating the Koran sparked protests across the Muslim world. Newsweek later retracted the report.
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