BAGHDAD,
April 26 (IslamOnline.net) - You are counted now in any U.S.-installed
government. Take to the streets to make the Americans hear your voice
and know your weight, the head of the society of Iraqi scholars, Dr.
Ahmad al-Kubaissi, addressed a throng of Imams and scholars, who huddled
together in an auditorium at the society's headquarters.
Asked
about the U.S. presence on the Iraqi soil and the possibility of joining
an U.S.-installed government, al-Kubaissi told IslamOnline.net, in an
exclusive interview, “Yes, it is possible. This is now the destiny of
the Iraqis and they must live with it”, stressing that all Iraqis
rejected the occupation but it was a necessity at least for the time
being.
"I
myself see that their (the Americans) presence is a necessity…We need
the atmosphere of security they provide even if it is not predominant
but we need it," he told IOL.
"We
are objective people and our country is under occupation and militarily
defeated. (Retired U.S. Gen. Jay) Garner is a military governor who is
in charge now and we are going to open a dialogue with the Americans,
since we are the indigenous people of this country and they are
foreigners. We will take from them whatever we need and give them
whatever they need."
Asked,
by IOL, about the new Islamic drive in Iraq in view of the country's
religious mosaic, Kubaizi said the Iraqi people, who had fallen down
under decades of unspeakable and unprecedented intimidation, are in a
dire need to have a "respite," in politics terms they need a
transitional period to help them get rid of "the Saddamite
terror."
"A
judge can not reckon on the testimony of the hungry or the terrified.
The Iraqis lived more than 35 years under unprecedented intimidation and
they come up now to face the stark reality of the earth's most
oppressive occupation," he said.
"Trapped
between the horrors of the sad old days and the premonitions of the
future, no one can blame them for any impromptu reaction…they can say
and do anything. Any two consecutive actions must be broken up by some
kind of a respite. The Iraqis desperately need such a respite,"
al-Kubaissi argued.
But
when asked bout the current "party anarchy" in the
war-battered country, where every now and then a new party, society or
faction pops out, he said his society serves as a gathering place for
all Iraqi scholars.
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Anti-occupation
sentiments are on the rise among Iraqis
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Kubaissi
noted that the Iraqi National Movement (INM) party -- set up by the
society - is not grounded on an Islamic basis but aimed at rebuilding a
new Iraq.
"It
is a separate party for all Iraqis, whether Muslims, Christians, Jews or
Kurds, and it will take me some 20 years from now to be asked about the
Islamic drive in post-Saddam Iraq," he said.
"The
party does not adopt an Islamic or un-Islamic ideology, but it aspires
to establish a civilian and just Iraq."
"We
must first find the lost Iraq and then steer it forward," he said.
Kubaissi
told IOL that his party wants the Americans to respect the dignity and
the time-honored civilization of the Iraqi people.
"We
ask them to treat us in accordance with the U.N. Charter and then we can
sit together and talks," he said.
Asked
if this new tendency runs counter to earlier Fatwa (religious edict)
that whosoever cooperates with the Americans is an apostate, he said
this is only applied to wartime.
"But
now as there is no government (in Iraq) and there must be no fighting as
well. There is much difference between Muslims who fight off invading
troops and those who are stateless and are under occupation. We are now
dealing with occupying troops as the Germans did with the Americans and
the Palestinians are with the Israelis," Kubaissi argued.
"If
Saddam emerged, we would then rally behind him and fight off the
occupation but now there is no Hawza (religious authority). We will
follow the U.S.-installed government but we will also topple it if it
proved un-Islamic," he added.
