U.S. Blamed For Destruction Of Golden Dome

's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blames the United States and Israel for the destruction of the Askariya mosque dome.

"They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice," Ahmadinejad said, alluding to the U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq.

According to the Associated Press, Ahmadinejad is not the only one blaming the U.S. Some Islamic clerics and Hezbollah also blamed the U.S:

"We cannot imagine that the Iraqi Sunnis did this," said the influential Sunni cleric Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian who lives in Qatar. "No one benefits from such acts other than the U.S. occupation and the lurking Zionist enemy."

Radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who cut short a visit to Lebanon after the blast, said blame must be laid either with the Americans or the Iraqi government.

Yesterday the New York Times reported the leader of Iraq's main Shiite political alliance thought Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador to Iraq, was partly to blame for the bombing of the shrine:

The Shiite leader, Abdul Aziz al Hakim, said he thought Mr. Khalilzad's public comments on Monday, in which he drew attention to apparent death squads operating within Iraq's Shiite-led Interior Ministry, were a provocation to the bombing. He did not explain how.

"This declaration gave a green light for these groups to do their operation, so he is responsible for a part of that," Mr. Hakim said of the ambassador, at a news conference called to condemn the shrine bombing.

Bloomberg reports Iraq's Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said insurgents are trying everything to foment civil war following yesterday's bombing of the Golden Mosque:

"Anti-democratic forces have tried everything to push the country into a civil war and sectarian violence," Zebari said today in a phone interview from Baghdad, blaming the attack on extremists and supporters of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

It seems much of the main stream media believes civil war is imminent:

BBC - Iraq's Civil War Nightmare:

Iraq does not have a civil war, but it has the makings of one.

Reuters - Iraq Faces Decisive Days Under Threat Of Civil War:

The next few days could decide whether Iraq can pull back once again from the brink of all-out civil war or if a sharp spike in sectarian violence will finally tear the delicate political process apart.

[. . .]

"The issue hangs on the next few days. Either the gates of hell open onto a civil war or the Shi'ites will take more power with the excuse that Sunni leaders are unable to rein in increasing terrorist activity," said Hazim al-Naimi, a political science professor at Mustansiriya University.

I could cite more, but you get the idea.

I don't think Iraq is on the precipice of civil war. As long as leaders such as Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, continue to speak against reprisals civil war will be avoided.

Comments

[reza]

I am unsurprised by the violent reaction to this despicable crime, because the fundamental dispute between Shiites and Sunnis outrageously spawns hatred, nonstop. I am unsurprised, therefore, by the reprisal attacks at Sunni mosques.

As a Shiite, I am shocked, however, at the murder of three Sunni journalists in Samarra.