Hazem al-Araji, top aide to firebrand anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, survived an assassination attempt Sunday in Baghdad.So how is that news, you ask... these guys blast away at each other like we go to Tim Hortons.
Turns out there's a Canadian connection.
Al-Araji, who lived in Canada from 1999 to 2004, was imam at the Al-Kawther Islamic Association in Surrey and paid regular visits to Victoria as spiritual leader of the half-dozen families who make up the Greater Victoria Shiite community.Apparently Imam Al-Araji has hooked up with Murderin' Mookie and his madcap Mahdi Army...
The Mahdi Army, the militia group loyal to Sadr, has battled with coalition forces in Baghdad and Basra and has been blamed for a series of revenge killings, torture and mutilation of Sunni Muslims. The militia, with its distinctive black uniforms, is blamed for some of the worst sectarian violence in Iraq.That, of course, doesn't mean al-Araji isn't a man of peace... in some people's minds.
Even though al-Araji wants an end to the American occupation of Iraq, he is a peace-loving man, said his friend Mamdoh Ashir, a director of the Ansar Al-Hussain Islamic Association of Vancouver Island.Sure, Mamdoh... you keep telling yourself that.
Technorati Tags: Hazem al-Araji, Al-Kawther Islamic Association, Mahdi Army
