The Command Post - Iraq - Shi'ite Cleric : "Pardon Saddam"

April 17, 2003

Shi'ite Cleric : "Pardon Saddam"

Shi'ite Muslim cleric Sheikh Sayed Jamaluddin, who condemned the Howard Government for the "jailing" of Iraqi asylum-seekers, has allegedly argued that an overthrown Saddam Hussein should be pardoned and escape prosecution. The cleric, well known to Iraqi Muslims in Australia, told Australian representatives attending post-war talks at Ur yesterday that the Howard Government should treat Iraqi asylum-seekers with more compassion.
Mohammed Al Salami, chairman of the Sydney-based Organisation for Human Rights in Iraq and a prominent Shi'ite, said yesterday that he met Sheikh Jamaluddin at a gathering of Iraqi opposition parties in London late last year.
Dr Al Salami said he was disturbed at the skeikh's position that Hussein and his loyalists should be pardoned and not necessarily be put on trial.
"He is the most stupid cleric I saw in my entire life," Dr Al Salami told The Australian.
...
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said the cleric seemed unaware of the small number of Iraqis actually held in detention.
"The overwhelming majority of Iraqis are actually in the community on temporary protection visas," he said.
He said that only 39 Iraqis were being detained, while 4200 were living in the wider community.
"I think it demonstrates a misunderstanding of the situation," the spokesman said.

Or possibly that Dr Salami is correct.

Posted By Alan E Brain at April 17, 2003 10:37 AM | TrackBack

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A guy with the same name as a pork sausage calling a Shi'ite cleric "The most stupid cleric I saw in my entire life".

Classic. I love it.

Posted by: Ted at April 17, 2003 10:49 AM

I love hard salami.

Posted by: Frank Degamma at April 17, 2003 10:50 AM

When will the world at large stop giving airtime or press ink to any and all religious "leaders". This goes for priests, ministers, clerics, mullahs, you name it. They are all in fantasy land, and have no currency other than that given them by the deluded.

The scary thing is how much influence all these gasbags have in the world of true believers. Church & State, never the twain should meet.

Posted by: Elvis at April 17, 2003 11:07 AM

"Stupid" is a compliment in describing this cleric. He's likely worse, as in "complicit with evil."

Regardless, it's a fallacy to think that "church and state"--"never the twain should meet" unless one restricts this specifically to the institutional organizations. The fallacy comes in when people extrapolate this to think religious thought can ("and should") be kept separate from secular or "normal" thought. However, all thought, opinion, and even "science" has philosophical foundations and therefore even the most "agnostic", "atheistic", or any "religion-condescending" perspective you can think of, is ALL religious/philosophical. You can't escape it. The arguments you may be thinking of to rebut what I'm saying right now are "religious" as well.

What needs to be avoided is not "religious" thought, but illogical thought and coercion of all kinds--which of course exist in the worst examples of institutional "religion" but by no means are exclusive to it.

Stalin was an atheist.

Posted by: yank at April 17, 2003 12:02 PM

Yank, I agree. Religious critiques and analyses of government and culture are welcome (it's free speech)--nothing to fear. But likewise religious institutions should welcome what others have to say about them. Honest dialogue, even when impassioned, can help all around.

Posted by: Charlie at April 17, 2003 12:25 PM

Do you need any training or education to become a muslim cleric, or is it more of an Al Sharpton thing where anyone can play?

Posted by: BH at April 17, 2003 01:24 PM

yank, You have it. But the problem is distinguishing between religious-based thought ("It is not right to steal") from religious-oriented ("Everyone should believe in Kali, like I do: I will not make them do so, but I will exclude them from any effectual position or media access") and of course, religious fanatic ("Everyone must follow Mithra, and I will kill anyone who does not").

I have not expressed it well, you'll have to interpret it, but it is key.

Posted by: John Anderson at April 17, 2003 01:39 PM