Beginning of Countdown for the End of U.S. Presence/in Iraq, as well as the rest of the Middle East/April 24, 2003/TEHRAN

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/24/03&Cat=2&Num=019

April 24, 2003

Nasrallah: Arbaein Rituals in Iraq, Beginning of Countdown for the End of U.S. Presence
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TEHRAN -- Secretary General of the Lebanese Hizbullah, Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, stated on Tuesday, that the unprecedented and glorious observance of the Arbaein rituals in Karbala this year, would click the start of a rapid downward spiral for the U.S. presence in Iraq, as well as the rest of the Middle East.

Nasrallah who was speaking on Tuesday night in Beirut at a commemorative service marking Arbaein, the 40th day after the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (AS), compared the passionate observance of the Arbaein ritual in Iraq this year, with those of 1982 in Lebanon.

"In 1982, too, the Lebanese nation's wide participation in the Arbaein rituals prompted the beginning of the strong resistance against the racist Zionists' presence in Lebanon," said Nasrallah. Referring to the shabby developments of the past few weeks in In Iraq, reverberating throughout the rest of the Middle East, the Hizbullah Secretary General emphasized, "The Bush administration had initially aimed at turning its war in Iraq into a war between the Christian and Islamic world. But that satanic plan failed, thanks to the wise stand adopted by the Pope, as well as the alertness of the Islamic alims." Nasrallah said, "Another dreadful U.S. objective in starting a war against Iraq, was to add fuel to the flames of an internal crisis among the country's Muslim sects." He added, "Some circles helped Bush in achieving that goal, by over-emphasizing the mosaic and ethnic divisions of the Iraqi population, but that plot, too, failed - thanks to the alertness and timely moves on the part of the Iraqi Shia leaders and nation."

Warning the regional nations that the U.S. and Israel are together trying to imply the idea in the hearts and minds of the regional nations that they are incapable of resisting in the face of the U.S. will, Nasrallah said, "The Americans tell a big lie about fighting to establish democracy and to safeguard freedoms in Iraq. "They are actually after securing other goals there, and everyone knows it too well to be denied by them," he said

Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims flocked to Iraq's holy city of Karbala Wednesday for the climax of a pilgrimage.

The second and last day of the ceremony, outlawed for nearly quarter of a century, was met with protests demanding an end to the U.S.-led occupation.

Iraq's U.S. civil administrator, retired General Jay Garner, meanwhile continued a tour to assess the needs of rebuilding Iraq, neglected during 24 years of Saddam's rule and shattered in three blistering weeks of intense U.S.-led bombing.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, many beating their heads and chests and flogging their backs with chains, converged on the city of karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, to mourn Imam Hussein (AS), the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, who was beheaded in 680 AD.

Even before the rally was due to start, chants of "No to America and Saddam, yes to Islam" rang out around the city, from which U.S. troops have kept their distance.

"We refuse occupation, we want an elected government that represents the people," organizing committee member Sheikh Raed Haidari said.

"No to An american Government, No to Chalabi," the Shias shouted, referring to Ahmad Chalabi, the pro-U.S. leader of the Iraqi National Congress, who has returned to Iraq after decades of exile.