Uday, Qusay now martyrs
2003-07-25 19:50
Beirut - leading Lebanese Sunni Moslem cleric said on Friday the slain sons of toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were "martyrs", while the head of the country's pro-Iranian Shiites called on the Iraqi people to build a free nation.
Sheikh Maher Hammoud said: "Uday and Qusay died as martyrs because they were fighting the American invader, which is an honourable attitude. The Americans covered themselves with shame and humiliation in assembling a huge force to overcome three men and a teenager."
He added: "This crime has incited deep anger against the Americans and will push the Iraqi people to intensify their Jihad (holy war). If the two brothers had committed any crimes, they are as nothing compared to those perpetrated by the United States in Iraq and elsewhere in the world."
Meanwhile Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah called on Iraqis to use "all your strength to build a free nation and establish security".
"The Iraqi people can do miracles...but they should confront with great caution the plots of the (US) occupation," Fadlallah said.
Iraqis "should avoid those plots which the Americans are using to ignite conflicts between the Iraqi Moslem Sunni and Shiite sects", he said. "If the occupiers are imposing their plots, you should unite and confront them."
The United States and Britain were trying to snatch away the role of the United Nations in Iraq, but "you (Iraqis) are the people who will decide the fate of the Iraqi people in order for them to live in peace and freedom".
- SAPA