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This is the fourth time Abu Hanifa Mosque has been raided by the U.S.-led occupation forces since the invasion
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By
Dahr Jamail, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD,
May 17 (IslamOnline.net) – Away from the policies of pre-dawn
terrifying sweeps, systematic and abhorrent prisoner abuse and
"imprecise" bombings of civilian Iraqi homes, the U.S.
occupation troops have recently embarked on a policy of storming and
attacking mosques, making Iraqis even more bewildered and angry.
Abu
Hanifa mosque in Baghdad was the last to witness a U.S. 'sweep' with
soldiers desecrating the holy place with their boots and throwing
copies of the Noble Qur’an, paying no heed whatsoever to the
feelings of the people they came to "liberate".
"They
say they are searching for a killer in the mosque," said Hassam
Aziz Abdul, while he glared at soldiers walking dogs into the mosque.
"But they want to destroy every holy place in my country."
On
Sunday, May 16,
U.S.
soldiers sealed off the mosque in the Al-Adhamiya district of Baghdad
under the pretext of hunting down "militants" and ammunition
caches.
Dogs
were brought into the courtyard of the mosque to the fury of the
area’s residents.
Humiliation
Ra’ad
Hussam Thamil, a 58 year-old man who was praying inside the mosque
when the soldiers stormed it, said the crowd of 200 people was held at
gunpoint for nearly one hour.
After
being frisked and insulted by
U.S.
soldiers, Thamil said what most made him angry that they desecrated
the holy place with their boots.
Following
that raid, Kassem, a 54 year-old grandfather who works as one of the
guards at the mosque, said a
U.S.
soldier hit him in the forehead with the butt of an M-16 rifle.
"When
I fell to the ground they kicked me. They came to humiliate the people
of Islam. Why else? We have no guns here, no mujahedeen [fighters].
They want to destroy the Islamic religion."
This
is the fourth time Abu Hanifa Mosque has been raided by the U.S.-led
occupation forces since the invasion of the oil-rich country on
March 20, 2003
. The previous raid of the mosque occurred on April 11.
On
April 7, the
U.S.
occupation military admitted that a Cobra helicopter slammed a Hell
Fire missile and a laser-guided precision bomb into Abdulaziz
Al-Samarai mosque in the restive
town of Fallujah, killing up to 40 people.
'Making
Things Worse'
Several
preachers in Friday sermons agreed that the Americans did not pay any
attention to the sanctity of mosques.
"What
they are doing by entering our mosque and causing destruction is
making things even worse than before," said Imam Muad Al-Adhamy.
The
occupation troops withdrew from the mosque after one hour, without
having found weapons or any suspects. But they left the faithful with
deep psychological scars.
Muslim
Inaction
Abu
Hanifa mosque, according to Professor Adnan Mohammed Salman Al-Dulainy
at the
Diwan
Wakfa
Sunni
College
in
Baghdad
, is the primary Sunni mosque in the area.
"It
is also one the most important Sunni mosques in
Iraq
, as well as one of the most important in all of the
Middle East
," Dulainy told IOL.
"I
call on all of the Arab and Muslim leaders throughout the world to
condemn these actions, and to show their frustration about these
despicable acts," he stated firmly from a microphone inside the
mosque following the
U.S.
desecration.
"This
is a humiliation to Muslims across the world."
Dulainy
said he frequently urged the
U.S.
military occupation in
Baghdad
not to attack mosques.
"I
have been completely open and clear with the Americans about how they
should behave in our holy places, yet they don’t change how they
treat our mosques," he told IOL.
"This
has increased the instability in
Iraq
," he stated. "It has planted hatred in peoples’ hearts
towards the Americans."
The
raid at Abu Hanifa, coupled with damage suffered during the raid in
April 2004 when gates were smashed open by
U.S.
tanks, adds to the outrage of Iraqi Shiites after the partial damage
to the dome of Imam Ali Mosque in An-Najaf.
When
contacted by IOL, the occupation’s press information center declined
to comment on the raids.
