Thursday, April 3, 2003
Iraqi ayatollah OKs U.S. troops - ‘Fatwa’ tells Shiite Muslims not to interfere with coalition
NAJAF, Iraq, April 3 — After battling pro-Baghdad loyalists, U.S. troops moved into the center of Iraq’s holy city of Najaf on Thursday, bolstered by an edict from a top local Shiite Muslim leader urging people not to interfere with the soldiers.
U.S. OFFICERS said they believed most of the fedayeen paramilitary fighters loyal to President Saddam Hussein had dropped their equipment and fled, but that a few were still in the city putting up a fight.
“Ideally, we would kill them all,” Col. Joseph Anderson, a brigade commander of the 101st Airborne Division, told Reuters. “But if they choose to change their mind and flee, there’s not much we can do.”
The U.S. military said Iraq’s senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who had been held under house arrest by the Iraqi government, had ordered local people in a “fatwa,” or edict, not to interfere with the U.S.-led troops.
In London, the Shiite Al-Khoei foundation confirmed the ayatollah’s new ruling and said that, until now, his followers had been “confused” over whether to fight the U.S. forces.[...]
U.S. OFFICERS said they believed most of the fedayeen paramilitary fighters loyal to President Saddam Hussein had dropped their equipment and fled, but that a few were still in the city putting up a fight.
“Ideally, we would kill them all,” Col. Joseph Anderson, a brigade commander of the 101st Airborne Division, told Reuters. “But if they choose to change their mind and flee, there’s not much we can do.”
The U.S. military said Iraq’s senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who had been held under house arrest by the Iraqi government, had ordered local people in a “fatwa,” or edict, not to interfere with the U.S.-led troops.
In London, the Shiite Al-Khoei foundation confirmed the ayatollah’s new ruling and said that, until now, his followers had been “confused” over whether to fight the U.S. forces.[...]
