Protests Erupt in Five Iraqi Cities Over Najaf

[DoYouEverWonder]

August 13, 2004

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Protests against the U.S.-led military campaign in the sacred Shi'ite Muslim city of Najaf broke out in five Iraqi cities on Friday, with some demonstrators calling for interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to step down.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/nm/20040813/ts_nm/iraq_protests_dc


Looks like W is doing a great job uniting the Iraq people.

[dbt]

1. Allawi to Iraqi protestors:

"I do not believe in focus groups."

:evilgrin:
dbt

[leftchick]

2. what? No First Ammendment Zones?

Coming soon no doubt if the new dictator gets his way. Though I think his days are numbered.

[qanda]

3. An Iraqi Police Officer joins the protest....

Yes, things are going great!

[gasperc]

4. nice, we trained them to kill our troops

fuck

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. And we gave them better weapons

than the ones we gave our soldiers. Check out the Iraqis rifles, they are a higher caliber than the US rifles.

Way to go W.

[gasperc]

7. double fuck

and there wearing our body armor

[NickB79]

8. Higher caliber doesn't mean better

The AK fires a heavier bullet, but it is moving much more slowly. Therefore, it is LESS likely to penetrate body armor than the 5.56mm round used in the US M16, because penetration is mainly dependent on velocity. Also, the 7.62 round used in the AK doesn't fragment much on impact, while the 5.56mm round usually fragments pretty significantly, causing more damage overall.

[Endangered Specie]

10. Bullet size and muzzle velocity ain't gonna do you a bit of good...

when your M16 jams like clockwork.

[NickB79]

17. Good point

The M16/M4 family of rifles aren't exactly known for their reliability, esp. in an area with frequent sandstorms that jam up your rifle's action. However, the M16 isn't the jam-o-matic it used to be in Vietnam; there have been substantial improvements in it and in the suggested cleaning regiment that cut down on the jamming rate.

It's a crappy trade-off: make a gun mechanically tight for high accuracy and get jams, or make it mechanically sloppy for high reliability and get poor accuracy.

[atreides1]

9. No

They were trained to kill other Iraqis, this one just picked his countrymen over the US, that's all.

[Barrett808]

12. Can you post a link to that image?

It's too amazing to ignore.

[Barrett808]

14. Never mind, here are some more images

Iraqi police officers chant after joining the Mehdi army militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr in the southern city of Basra, August 12, 2004. U.S. Marines, backed by tanks and aircraft, seized the heart of the holy Iraqi city of Najaf Thursday in a major assault on Shi'ite rebels, but they kept out of a site sacred to millions of Shi'ites around the world. REUTERS/Atef Hassan

Iraqi police officers chant after joining the Mehdi army militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr, in the southern city of Basra, August 12, 2004. U.S. Marines, backed by tanks and aircraft, seized the heart of the holy Iraqi city of Najaf on Thursday in a major assault on Shi'ite rebels, but they kept out of a site sacred to millions of Shi'ites around the world. REUTERS/Atef Hassan

[54anickel]

15. Just saw that! Powerful slideshow of various protests. n/t

[Ms. Clio]

6. Sunnis joining with Shiites in these protests

Thousands also protested in central Baghdad, Kufa and Samawa. The military campaign infuriated residents of the Sunni-dominated town of Falluja, a hotbed of resistance.


About 3 thousand demonstrators marched in the center of Falluja carrying pictures of Sadr and placards denouncing the U.S. bombing of Najaf, where the cleric and his followers are surrounded.


"Long live Sadr. Falluja stands by Najaf against America," the demonstrators shouted.


Hmmmm--a nation plagued by deep internal divisions becomes united in its resistance to an invasion and brutal occupation--who ever could have predicted that would happen?

[The Magistrate]

11. The South Of Iraq Teeters Today On The Brink Of Revolt And Secession

That really ought to be the lead in any competent new-cast....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Strelnikov_]

16. Plan for Retreat

Of all the concerns the incompetence of this administration invokes, my greatest fear is reserved for our troops.


Guest Column: Plan for Retreat
By William S. Lind
05-13-2004

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?command=viewone&id=162&database=DefenseWatch%202004%2edb

. . .

"The disastrous course of America’s war in Iraq has created a new task for the Great General Staff, in the form of more contingency planning. America needs to make sure it has a plan in the file for a fighting withdrawal from Iraq."

. . .

"A Second Generation military such as America’s does not improvise well under time pressure, at least at the higher levels, where vast staffs drilled to Kadavergehorsamkeit in the sacred “staff planning process” are slaves to procedure. The neo-cons in the Bush administration and their toadies in the Pentagon will no doubt howl if the military starts contingency planning for a forced withdrawal."

"This time, the military may have to play the Kaiser when the Bush administration falls prostrate on the couch."

[gratuitous]

13. Latest Republican meme

If the letters to the editor in the local fishwrap are to be credited, the latest Republican meme for anything, from our guard people witnessing torture to unrest anywhere in Iraq, is that the Iraqis are now sovereign, and we shouldn't interfere in the internal workings of another sovereign nation.

This is, of course, pure horseshit -- why did we topple Saddam in the first place, then -- but you should be aware that it's out there, being repeated endlessly by the mouth-breathers who can't remember last year or even last week.

[yellowcanine]

18. More freedom haters. Dang Eyerackis.

"Don't even speak English."