Following are excerpts from an interview with Iraqi Sunni cleric Taha Al-Dulaimi, which aired on Safa TV on December 29, 2011:

Taha Al-Dulaimi: This is the history of the Shia – treaties with foreigners, betrayals, and agreements [with foreigners against Iraq]. All their political parties [in Iraq] – the Islamic Dawa Party, the Islamic Supreme Council, or whatever, Ahmad Chalabi and his ilk, Ayad Allawi… They all work for the Americans and their supporters, formed ties between them outside the country, and returned to the country along with the Americans. They are the ones who carried the Americans on their backs. They carried the American tanks on their backs, and vice versa. They carried one another, may Allah curse them both.

Interviewer: You have said several times that the Iraqis… I mean the Shiites in Iraq welcomed the American occupier with roses, with sweets, with drinks, and perhaps even with alcohol. Is this an exaggeration?

Taha Al-Dulaimi: We have seen this time and again. Everybody has seen this. You can ask in Al-Hillah or in Al-Diwaniya what parties were held in their honor. Here is a picture of [Shiite leader] Hussein Al-Sadr kissing Bremer on the mouth. Why do people even ask if we are exaggerating? It is obvious. Where is he kissing Bremer? On the mouth. I don't know what that kind of kiss is called. And standing next to him…

Interviewer: Colin Powell…

Taha Al-Dulaimi: Colin Powell. As you see, he is holding a Koran…

Interviewer: Of course. It's holy to him…

Taha Al-Dulaimi: And here is [former Iranian VP] Abtahi, who says that if not for Iran, Kabul and Baghdad would not have fallen.

Interviewer: He is proud of that.

Taha Al-Dulaimi: Of course. And here, you can see Shiite policemen carrying British [soldiers] on their shoulders.

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