Iraqi Sunni Sheiks Assail Cleric for Qaeda Ties

[ECH1969]

Sunni Arab sheiks from volatile Anbar Province denounced a powerful Sunni cleric on Saturday, calling him “a thug” for supporting the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and urging the Iraqi government to issue an arrest warrant against him.

The sheiks, the founders of a group called the Anbar Salvation Council that they formed in September to resist foreign militants in Iraq, were reacting to statements that the cleric, Harith al-Dhari, had made in interviews last week in which he criticized Sunni tribal leaders who had recently decided to take a stand against Al Qaeda. snip.

Sheik Rishawi spoke at a news conference he had called at the Mansour Hotel in Baghdad. He strode into the room swathed in the traditional white robes of a sheik and surrounded by three gunmen. Three Shiite sheiks from the south also accompanied him in a show of sectarian unity.

Mr. Dhari’s statements have touched off outrage in the highest ranks of the Iraqi government. President Jalal Talabani said last Tuesday that Mr. Dhari was stirring up sectarian strife and that he was trying to enlist the aid of Sunni-led countries in the region to foment violence here. Mr. Dhari is in Amman, Jordan, and has been traveling widely across the Middle East.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin