Iraq Shiites Prepare for Bloody March

Shitte ceremonies honoring Imam Moussa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim, one of 12 principal Shiite saints who died in the year 799, begin soon in Iraq.

More than a million Shiite faithful — flogging themselves with iron chains and slicing their foreheads with swords — are expected to proceed Thursday toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in Baghdad’s Shiite Kazimiyah neighborhood. The self-flagellation slowly turns their white cloaks red with blood in a ritual of grief banned under Saddam Hussein. See Chick's ALLAH HAD NO SON.