2.5 Million Scuzzy Muzzies at Mecca for Hajj - Should We Bomb It?

http://www.newsmax.com/international/saudi_hajj/2007/12/16/57483.html

Hajj Gets Under Way in Saudi Arabia

Sunday, December 16, 2007

MECCA, Saudi Arabia -- Millions of Muslims from around the world gathered in

Mecca Sunday for the start of the annual Islamic hajj pilgrimage, as the

Saudi Interior Ministry announced tough security precautions.

Men and women draped in white robes circled the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site,

seven times in a ceremony anticipating the official start of the pilgrimage

on Monday.

King Abdullah has invited 1,000 guests to this year's hajj, including

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Over the next two days, an estimated 2.5 million pilgrims will move out of

Mecca to Mount Arafat for Tuesday's climax of symbolically stoning the

devil.

By Friday, more than 1.6 million pilgrims had arrived in Mecca, according to

the Central Hajj Committee. The Health Ministry said about 254 pilgrims,

many who were elderly, have died of natural causes since arriving.

The pilgrims are massed in tent cities on the outskirts of Mecca. For many

believers, the hajj is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to cleanse their sins in

what is one of the most important rites for Muslims.

This year's hajj takes place amid increasing worries across the Islamic

world over the bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan and recent terror attacks

by al-Qaida-linked groups, including last week's twin suicide bombings in

Algeria that killed at least 37 people.

Tensions also have increased between the two main sects of Islam, Sunnis and

Shiites, who come together in the five days of hajj rituals centered around

Mecca, the traditional birthplace of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries _ who are all U.S. allies _ have

been worried over Iran's increasing regional influence. But the king's

invitation to Ahmadinejad appeared to reflect a readiness from Saudi Arabia,

a majority Sunni country, to reach out to its Shiite-dominated neighbor. It

comes about a week after the a U.S. intelligence report said Iran had ended

a nuclear weapons program four years ago.

Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said the kingdom is

capable of maintaining security and preventing any attempt to threaten the

safety of the pilgrims.

"We will not allow for the problems in other countries to be reflected here

during this hajj season," he said in a news conference late Saturday.

Maj. Gen. Saleh Mohammed al-Shihri, commander of the Central Control of the

Hajj Security, said 1,150 cameras have been placed in several areas to

monitor the area. Several helicopters, fitted with these cameras, will also

hover over the pilgrims.

Nayef said no extra security precautions will be put in place for

Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader was scheduled to arrive in Mecca on Monday,

Iranian state media has reported.