Iraqi assembly lashes out at Arab reaction to stampede

Iraq's parliament criticised fellow Arab states on Sunday for failing to mourn 1,000 Shiite pilgrims crushed in Baghdad last week, while some had found time and money to help Americans hit by Hurricane Katrina.

"Qatar felt sorry for those who were killed by Katrina, which is indeed sad, and sent them $100 million. Other countries did so too. But why is it that the Iraqi people are getting killed everyday but none of these countries says a word," said Jalal Al Deen Al Sagheer, a cleric and prominent Shiite member.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari stepped into the fray later by holding up the sympathy expressed by Iraqi Sunnis for the disaster during a Shiite religious festival as a lesson to Arab governments.

"Why would Spain and other countries send us their condolences while these so called Arab countries did not even say a word?" he told the National Assembly.

He added that in any case, words of sympathy from Arab states would be hollow. "We know they would be lying because they are liars."

The outspoken language echoed criticism from Iraq of fellow Arab governments' failure to halt Islamic militants flowing into the country.

Other Arab leaders have indicated some unease at the close relationship the new Iraqi authorities have with the United States and their ties with Shiite, non-Arab Iran.

The Arab League, which Iraq helped found, criticised a draft constitution which has hedged the extent to which Iraq is part of the "Arab nation".

Iraqis were devastated by the stampede on a bridge over the river Tigris in which 1,005 people died, the greatest loss of Iraqi life in a single incident since 2003.

President Jalal Talabani's and Jaafari's offices have said they had received condolences from across the globe, though it seems few came in from the Arab world.

"I call on the foreign minister to consider this disaster a turning point in Iraq's policy toward Arab nations," Sagheer said.