US Forces Worse than Saddam, Iraqi Shiite Leader Charges
Agence France Presse

Wednesday 23 April 2003

ABU DHABI - A prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric, saying he was detained 
and beaten by US forces, charged on Wednesday that American 
methods were "worse" than those employed by the regime of Saddam 
Hussein.  

"Our arrest by the Americans was worse than the arrests that Saddam 
ordered against our students," Sheikh Mohammed al-Fartusi told Abu 
Dhabi television.  

Fartusi, whose followers said he was detained Sunday by US troops 
along with five other Shiites, reappeared in Baghdad on Tuesday to 
cheers from hundreds of supporters who had held protests for two days. 

"We were beaten .. spent a night with our hands tied behind our 
backs," Fartusi said, adding however than an American officer did 
turn up and offer an apology.  

"It was disgusting. Despite that none of our young men has pointed 
a weapon against America ... but next time, God alone knows what 
popular anger could lead to?"

US officials have said they could not confirm FartusiAEs arrest, but 
reports that the prominent mullah had been detained infuriated members 
of Iraq's Shiite majority.  

Protest organizers said Fartusi, Abdelrahman al-Shuani and Halim 
al-Fatlawi were arrested along with three bodyguards by US forces 
Sunday at a checkpoint 25 kilometres (10 miles) south of Baghdad.  

They were returning from Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of 
Shiites have gathered for a massive pilgrimage that was due to 
climax later Wednesday.  

The reported arrest threatened to become a major source of friction 
between the Americans, who toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein on 
April 9, and the Shiites, who account for 60 per cent of Iraq's 25 
million people.  

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material 
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(c): t r u t h o u t 2003

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Source: Truthout - http://truthout.org/docs_03/042503B.shtml

Cheers, Steve..

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