Just a point of discussion amonst ourselves. I wonder if it's the dead Christian church which doesn't know about it, rather than the zealous Islamic faith, that believes that Allah condones and encourages any activity which bring the Shariah (Islamic Law) into existance. They do it because they truly believe it will bring them merit points and a promised entry into paradise. Christians don't blink an eye when the name of God is blasphemed in Hollywood movies.
By the way, Jihad is not only aimed at Christians and Jews.. read todays headlines and see.. Jihad has to do with inner sanctification and maintaining the purity of the faith. They see it where they live, not only in becoming Christians out of Islam, but within their own faith too...
POWER STRUGGLES
SCIRI said its movement was the target of the bomb, which blew a hole in the side of Hakim's office and killed three bodyguards. Some supporters blamed a rival cleric who has condemned the presence of foreign troops in Iraq.
Power struggles in Najaf are key to the future of Iraq, whose Shi'ite majority is eager for a taste of power long denied by Saddam. Many leaders returned from exile after Saddam, a Sunni Muslim, was ousted by U.S.-led forces on April 9.
Any infighting among Shi'ites is an unwelcome extra headache for U.S. forces battling to deliver Bush's vision of a peaceful democracy in Iraq.
Bush's approval ratings are slipping ahead of an election year when he will hope to present his Iraq campaign as a success. Sixty-four U.S. soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since Bush declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1.
Washington is keen to rein in radical Shi'ite leaders who favor a theocratic Islamic republic for Iraq similar to that of their neighbors in Shi'ite Iran.
In Najaf, some 90 miles south of Baghdad, many in the crowd of at least 2,000 blamed Sunday's attack on supporters of rival leader Moqtada al-Sadr. His group denied involvement.
"This was Moqtada al-Sadr. His people did it," said Muslim Raadi, 60. "Now there will be revenge.
SCIRI, led by Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, is represented on the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council, which Washington calls a first step toward democracy.
The attack took place near the Imam Ali mosque, tomb of Ali, a caliph and cousin of the Prophet Mohammed, and the most sacred Shi'ite site in Islam.
Tension between rival Shi'ite groups in Najaf has risen. A day after Saddam's fall, a mob hacked cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei.