Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Iraq

Samarra Shrine Attacked Golden Dome Or

Juan Cole 06/13/2007

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

Samarra Shrine Attacked

The Golden Dome or Askariya Shrine in Samarra had its minarets blown up on Wednesday. The shrine is among the holiest in the Shiite world, dedicated to the father and grandfather of the hidden Twelfth Imam. Millenarian Shiites believe that the hidden Imam will one day return to restore the world to justice and herald the Judgment Day (i.e. he is like the second coming of Christ for Christians).

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani called for restraint. Muqtada al-Sadr called for three days of mourning and blamed the US for being behind the attack. Muqtada likes conspiracy theories. Then Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad joined in with the conspiracy, addressing Washington and saying, “You, by supporting these actions, are making it harder for yourselves.”

US officials blamed “al-Qaeda.” But it is just the Sunni Arab guerrilla movement or rather one of its cells, which is trying to throw the country into turmoil as an insurgency strategy.

Ahmadinejad’s reaction demonstrates how dangerous it is for the US to remain the occupying power in a country full of crucial Shiite shrines. If the US cannot protect them, it will be blamed for the desecration, and Americans will be much less safe.

This is what I said about the February, 2006, bombing of the shrine, which sent Iraq spiralling down into civil war.

Filed Under: Iraq

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Removing Syria Sanctions is a Win for the People, Whatever Trump's Motives
  • Even as it Strikes Deals with Trump, the Gulf Embraces Chinese Tech Giants
  • Pope Leo XIV’s Link to Haiti is Part of a broader American Story of Race, Citizenship and Migration
  • Can we Even Remember it? How America was Disappeared before our Eyes
  • As Trump urges End to Gaza Fighting, Half a Million Face Starvation and Israel bombs more Hospitals

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved