Friday, October 14, 2005

Iraq Insurgents Attack Sunni Party Office

A clear illustration of total desperation....

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sunni insurgents determined to derail this weekend's constitutional referendum attacked the largest Sunni Arab political party Friday, bombing and burning offices and the home of one of its leaders after the group dropped its opposition to the draft charter.

The reprisals came as Sunni and Shiite clerics gave their last advice to their followers in sermons during weekly Friday prayers — a key political platform. Shiite imams transmitted the word of the majority community's most powerful cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani: Go to the polls Saturday and vote "yes."

The message among the Sunni Arab minority was more muddled after the Iraqi Islamic Party threw its support to the constitution following last-minute amendments to the draft to try to assuage Sunni objections ahead of the referendum.

Maybe slaughtering your base is not the most effective political strategy.

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