Whoever blew up the golden-domed Askariyah shrine in Iraq on Wednesday committed an offense against civilization and touched off a dangerous round of sectarian strife between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
The rupture will test the ability of the Iraqi government to keep the peace.
“The act was an evil act,” President Bush said Thursday. “The destruction of a holy site is a political act intending to create strife. So I am pleased with the voices of reason that have spoken out.”
Competing with the voices of reason, however, were the instruments of violence.
As of Thursday, more than 100 Iraqis had died in apparent retaliatory attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics for the destruction of the 1,200-year-old Shiite shrine at Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
Several U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bombs and gunmen took 47 factory workers out of buses at Baqouba northeast of Baghdad and shot them to death, execution-style.
The unrest could derail attempts to form a new national unity government encompassing all of Iraq’s ethnic and religious factions.
A full-fledged civil war between the majority Shiites, who chafed under Saddam Hussein for three decades, and Sunnis, who made up Hussein’s primary support, has been a constant danger since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Baathist government in 2003.
Indeed, the strongest argument in favor of keeping U.S. troops in Iraq has been that their presence is a hedge against a destructive civil war.
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, called political leaders to a meeting Thursday to address the crisis, but the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni faction in parliament, refused to attend, citing the attacks on Sunni mosques and clerics.
One leader of the Sunni front, Dr. Salman al-Jumaili, denounced the government because it “didn’t do enough to curb these angry mobs.” From the other side, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr blamed the Iraqi government and U.S. forces for failing to protect the Shiite Golden Mosque.
“If the government had real sovereignty, then nothing like this would have happened,” al-Sadr said.
The next few days could be key as diplomats from the many interests in Iraq attempt to safeguard the streets and try to ensure confidence in the new government.
