CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak has sought to defuse anger over remarks he made about Shiite Muslims being more loyal to Iran than their own countries, saying he was referring only to religion. My remarks about Shiites dealt with their religious loyalties and sympathies, without putting into question the patriotism of Shiites in Iraq or any other country, Mubarak said in an interview Saturday in the official daily Akhbar Al-Youm. Ironically, Iraq is considered the cradle of Shiism, not Iran, and is home to its two holiest sites, Najaf and Karbala. Moreover, the world s Shiites have traditionally looked to Iraq s clerics as being preeminent. Both Iran and Iraq had condemned the statements made by Mubarak to Al-Arabiya television on April 8 in which he said Shiites are mostly always loyal to Iran and not the countries where they live. Criticism has not been limited to Iraq and Iran, with members of Hizbollah and Kuwaiti Shiite MP's making their displeasure regarding the comments known. In the same interview, Mubarak described Iraq as in the throes of a civil war. Egypt does not linger on small details or on attempts to mask reality. What is important is the protection of the Iraqi people who have suffered a great deal, he told Akhbar Al-Youm. Our efforts towards the Iraqi people do not differentiate among Sunnis, Shiites or Kurds ... They are all Iraqis and our brothers. Iraq, whose majority population is Shiite, Wednesday, boycotted a meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League s headquarters in Cairo in protest. For his part, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad said Mubarak s words reflected his great concern over the deterioration of the situation and his commitment to the unity of Iraq. Meanwhile, several thousand Shiites demonstrated in Iraq s holy city of Najaf Saturday, to denounce the remarks Mubarak made about questioning whether their loyalty lay with Iran. Saturday s demonstration follows on a smaller protest that came after Friday s weekly prayers. Agencies
