BAGHDAD, Sept. 14, 2007
U.S.-Allied Sheik's Followers Vow Revenge
Funeral For Slain Sunni Leader Draws 1,500 Mourners; Elsewhere, 4 U.S. Troops Killed
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President Bush met with Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha in Anbar province on Sept. 3, 2007. (CBS)
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Sunni Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, slain in an apparent bombing Sept. 13, 2007, is seen in this January 2007 file photo. Abu Risha was the top Sunni cleric working with U.S. forces to fight against al Qaeda in Iraq. (CBS/Cami McCormick)
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Mourners accompany the coffin of Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, founder of Anbar Awakening, in Iraq's Anbar province in the provincial capital of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad on Friday, Sept. 14, 2007. (AP Photo)
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President Bush shakes hands with Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar Awakening, during a meeting in Anbar province, Iraq, in this Sept. 3, 2007 file photo. Abu Risha was killed in a bomb attack Sept. 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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Play CBS Video Video Bush, Sheik Risha Meet
President Bush met with U.S. ally Sheikh Risha for what would be the last time on Sept. 3 in Anbar province. The Sunni leader was killed by a roadside bomb near his home in Ramadi.
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Special Report The Road Ahead Katie Couric reports from Iraq on the future of U.S. involvement there.
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Al Qaeda’s front in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack in a Web statement.
In eastern Diyala provice, meanwhile, a bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle on Friday, killing four American soldiers in, the U.S. command said. They were the first American deaths reported in Iraq since Monday.
More than 1,500 mourners marched along the highway near the home of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who was killed along with two bodyguards and a driver Thursday by a bomb hidden near his house, just west of Ramadi.
Scores of Iraqi police and U.S. military vehicles lined the route to protect the procession as it followed the black SUV carrying the sheik's Iraqi-flag draped coffin.
"We will take our revenge," the mourners chanted along the six-mile route to Risha's family cemetery, many of them crying. "We will continue the march of Abu Risha."
Abu Risha was buried one year after the goateed, charismatic, chain-smoking young sheik organized 25 Sunni Arab clans under the umbrella of the Anbar Awakening Council, an alliance against al Qaeda in Iraq, to drive terrorists from sanctuaries where they had flourished after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
No group claimed responsibility for the assassination, but it was widely assumed to have been carried out by al Qaeda, which already had killed four of Abu Risha's brothers and six other relatives for working with the U.S. military.
U.S. officials credit Abu Risha and allied sheiks with a dramatic improvement in security in such Anbar flashpoints as Fallujah and Ramadi after years of American failure to subdue the extremists. U.S. officials now talk of using the Anbar model to organize tribal fighters elsewhere in Iraq.
Mr. Bush hailed Abu Risha's courage during his short Sept. 3 visit to al-Asad Air Base, and vowed in his nationally televised address Thursday night to help others carry on his work.
"Earlier today, one of the brave tribal sheiks who helped lead the revolt against al Qaeda was murdered," Mr. Bush said. "In response, a fellow Sunni leader declared: 'We are determined to strike back and continue our work.' And as they do, they can count on the continued support of the United States."
Many high-ranking officials were on hand for the funeral, including Iraq's interior and defense ministers and National Security Adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie.
"We condemn the killing of Abu Risha, but this will not deter us from helping the people of Anbar - we will support them more than before," al-Rubaie declared. "It is a national disaster and a great loss for the Iraqi people - Abu Risha was the only person to confront al Qaeda in Anbar."
In other developments:
Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader said Friday that President Bush will one day be tried in court just like deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for his involvement in the Iraq tragedy.
Speaking to thousands of worshippers during the first Friday prayer of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Mr. Bush will be called to account for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Khamenei's caustic remarks were the latest in a war of words between Tehran and Washington, on the heels of Mr. Bush's Thursday night speech in which he repeatedly referred to the Islamic Republic as a "disruptive" force in need of countering and containment.
"Americans will have to answer for why they don't end occupation of Iraq and why waves of terrorism and insurgency have overwhelmed the country," Khamenei said during his address. "It will not be like this forever and some day they will be stopped as happened to Hitler, Saddam and certain other European leaders."
Khamenei mocked the U.S., describing the recent congressional testimony of the top U.S. officials in Iraq as a sign of weakness and the failure of American policy in the war torn country.
"More than four years have past since the occupation of Iraq and today everyone knows that American has failed and is frantically looking for a way out," he said.
In their testimony Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker raised allegations of Iranian meddling in Iraq by financial and military supporting militias and insurgent groups, warning that the U.S. was already embroiled in a proxy war with the Islamic republic.
Despite U.N. sanctions and efforts to isolate Iran internationally, the country is flourishing, maintained Khamenei.
"Today we are in a better political position compared to four to five years ago," he said. "We have moved forward economically and the spiritual preparedness and happiness of our nation has improved."
"A nation like ours, without an atomic bomb and not as wealthy as these other powerful governments, has foiled a whole series of their conspiracies and forced them to give up and withdraw," he added.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 132 CommentsThey regular insurgents far outnumber the whozewhatses. That is well established. So they don''t need to "rebel".
Ah. The words of propaganda.
Old BS labels are replaced with new BS labels.
But the propaganda methods of those who wish to rule by force and intimidation (terror) stay the same.
j-whitman,
Re: "Wouldn''t be funny if they all bought thier own tickets & left ???"
Not only funny, but also a great idea.
"shrinkingprick" must have seen the "Male Enhancement: Is It Worth A Try?" article, an decided that this might be a good way to please his Master, Beezelbub.
"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God''s side..."- Abraham Lincoln
stinkingprick/arse008/shafi,
You wrote : "I''ve gotta run."
Yet you keep right on posting your hateful message.
Are you lying again?
-- Answer this,,, which Bible should I read, The King James written in 1611 ?? Gidion''s, the Septuagint, St. James, Tohrah (the Bible of the Jews),, or around 19 others ????
The political party that did the attacks during Vietnam suffered for years from that mistake and are very aware of the danger and that is why the Moveon.org ad caused so much grief for the demos this week and they have dissention.
The attacks on the military are not sitting well in much of America these days and I think a lesson is being learned: We all owe those who serve America.
Christianity and patriotism are often difficult to separate but they are separate. To confuse the two will cause a test of belief.
"I have done my best to spread hatred against the scary brown people, Master. I have lied, committed blasphemy, and twisted the words of Jesus to suit your grand scheme. Are you pleased, Master?"
"Inded I am, ''stinkingprick''. I am very pleased indeed. You have earned a place as my concubine, for all of eternity....", replied Beezelbub.
1. If Jesus is the One & Only God,,,, Then who was the God he prayed to ?????
2. Who came 1st Jesus the man god or Moses ?????
"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God''s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people."
...Having finished the deed for the um-teenth time, Mephistopheles rolls over, strokes Rick''s goo encrusted hair, and asks, "Can I get you a cigarette, hon?"...
1. If Jesus is the One & Only God,,,, Then who was the God he prayed to ?????
2. Who came 1st Jesus the man god or Moses ?????
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