Tens of Thousands of Iraqis Stage Massive Anti-US Protest

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from Juan Cole:

Tens of Thousands Rally against US on Anniversary of Saddam's Fall

April 9 was the sixth anniversary of the fall of the Saddam Hussein government in Iraq. The date passed without much remark in the United States, which is consumed with its own domestic economic problems and high rates of unemployment, rendering a distant foreign misadventure virtually invisible. Gone are the debates over whether a US military occupation could jump-start democratization throughout the Middle East, creating a shining city on a hill rather than an economic and political basket case. Gone are the confident assertions that the path to peace in Israel/ Palestine goes through Baghdad. Gone is the quixotic sabre-rattling against neighboring Iran, which was premised on the false notion that the US did not need Tehran to succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All gone, to be replaced by a yawning silence on this side of the Atlantic, with perhaps a touch of regret or shame among the sliver of observers who remembered the date at all.

Indeed, the big news on Thursday was not the anniversary but the request put forward by the Obama administration for an $83 bn. supplemental appropriation for the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, of the sort Bush routinely requested and carefully kept out of the budget deficit statistics.


McClatchy reports that tens of thousands of protester came out in Baghdad to demand the withdrawal of US troops. They chanted and reminded Obama of his pledge to draw down the US military in Iraq by the end of 2011. The crowd was mostly Shiites of the Sadr Movement, followers of Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, who called for the rally to protest the US presence in Iraq. They were joined by some Sunni Arabs from one of the Awakening Councils.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/992375.html


Al-Hayat writes in Arabic that the Iraqi Islamic Party in Fallujah organized a similar demonstration there against continued US military presence. In November and December of 2004, the US damaged 2/3s of the buildings in Fallujah and more or less destroyed the city. The hardline fundamentalist Association of Muslim Scholars issued a statement accusing the US military of killing a million Iraqis. The statement of the Iraqi Islamic Party reminded Barack Obama that he has a legal and moral responsibility to distinguish his policies from those of Bush, which visited such calamities on the innocent Iraqi people.
http://www.sotaliraq.com/iraqnews.php?id=39171


Meanwhile, Gen. Ray Odierno cautioned that more, not fewer US troops might be needed in Mosul and Baquba, two largely Sunni Arab cities that still witness frequent guerrilla violence. There has been open disagreement between Obama and his military commanders on the Iraq withdrawal and its pace, and this interview was clearly intended to put the brakes on Obama's withdrawal train.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6069734.ece


from Democracy Now: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/4/10/headlines#3

April 10, 2009

On the same day Obama requested millions more for war, tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied against the US occupation at a protest marking the six-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. Hazem al-Araji of the Sadr movement said opposition to the occupation unites differing Iraqi factions . . .

[JuniperLea]

1. That's more than showed up to pull the statue down...

If they want us out this badly, we should just go... please disregard any other of my war posts this morning... this is what comes of an open mind, folks.

Afghanistan may be another matter...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Apparently, the grateful Iraqis have run out of flowers for the "liberators". K&R

But, we can expect a deluge of them from the similarly grateful Afghans.

[malaise]

5. The US will have no choice but to leave

There was never going to be a successful occupation of Iraq and given the state of the US economy the sort of bribes Bushco paid to tribal leaders is simply no longer available.

I have no doubt that things will get worse quickly not only because there is not solution, but also because Bushco's goons still have way too much influence in the ME.

Watch who gets blamed for those five dead soldiers today.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. I guess that's the bright side of bankruptcy.

Tho' our poodle congress will, no doubt, be willing to steal from useful programs to "support the troops" until we are really, completely, bankrupt.

[Canuckistanian]

3. If America continues to ignore Iraqi opinions, nothing will get resolved

Americans have long forgotten Fallujah, but the Iraqis have not. Most people in Iraq still think the occupation is causing more harm than good.

They're tired of a foreign country patrolling their streets, choosing their leaders and making all their big decisions.

And they're not seeing Obama as any great hope, despite the 2011 pullout date.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Who cares what the Iraqis want and for that matter who cares what most Americans want either?

More war profits, that's what really matters. That and huge profits for the oil companies.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

7. K&R

[democrank]

8. K & R

http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx

[shadowknows69]

9. How cute, do they still believe we'll leave when they ask us?

Like they have been for six years now? Do I need the sarcasm thingy on the "how cute" part? What a fucking tragedy my country has become. A tragedy we share with others with death and pestilence.

[bigtree]

10. the president is listening

. . . to the generals

[maryf]

11. We should have been protesting too...K&R nt