The Jakarta Post, 3/23/2003 6:56:33 PM
Hundreds of Muslims register as volunteers for Iraq war
JAKARTA (JP): More than 400 Muslims registered here on Sunday as volunteers to
help Iraqi troops fight against U.S.-led military aggression, Metro TV reported.
The registration was organized by the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), led by Habib
Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, during an antiwar rally by the militant Muslim radicals in
front of the U.S. Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan.
Muliadi Akbar, one of the volunteers, claimed that he had been called by God and was
ready to die to help Iraqis defend their country.
Besides calling for a halt to the war and condemning the U.S. policy to attack Iraq
without a UN mandate, the demonstrators also burned U.S. and British flags as well
as an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush.
At the end of February, FPI reactivated its paramilitary wing, with the same mission
as before: fighting against immorality in its own way, if deemed to be necessary. FPI
was disbanded last November following the suspension of detention of Rizieq, who
was charged with instigating violence.
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