Anti-US Rally in Baghdad

[John Corn]

Less than 10 days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, thousands of Iraqis marched in downtown Baghdad on Friday to demand a rapid U.S. troop withdrawal and a prominent opposition leader said he expects Americans to relinquish most government functions within weeks "No to America, no to Saddam," they shouted, and called for unity among Iraq's Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims and Kurds. Some carried banners in Arabic and English. "Leave our country. We want peace," read one. Shiites would not accept a brand of democracy "that allows Iraqis to say what they want but gives them no say in their destiny," Sheikh Mohammed Fartusi told worshippers jammed into the Al-Hikma mosque in a poor Baghdad suburb.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=1&u=/afp/20030418/ts_afp/iraq_worldwrap_030418165056

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20030418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_rdp

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030418/capt.1050695129.topix_iraq_war_baghdad_protest_axl p101.jpg

[gcutler]

I hope the Iraqis also realize that this type of protest against those "running the show" was impossible 1 week ago.

[firephoto]

The reports I heard said that this rally was a in the minority as far as Baghdad's citizens go.

[RichW]

It will be interesting to see if the Iraqis set up a fundamentalist Islamic state. This would please Iran tremendously and start the "dominoes" falling opposite to US interests, in that Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt might follow.

This would devastate any hope for Mid-East peace as it would embolden anti-Israeli sentiment. If this happens, we will have won the battles and lost the War.

[Mike123abc]

I do not think that the US would allow a fundamentalist Islamic state to form in the US. Right now they are going to have to set up a non secular state because the 3 different sects in the country. It will be very interesting to see what comes out of it.

[George_F]

I believe they can surely see the United States forces not providing adequate security and resources for daily living, including electricity. I think they can also see that instead of organizing a new government under the umbrella of an international body, a single country is working to piece together a government for them. I think if any of us were in that position, we'd likely have a lot of the same concerns that our voices aren't likely to be heard in the choosing of the new government and it being thrusted upon us by a invading foreign army.

I think demonstrations such as the one seen today is a very small percentage of the population of Baghdad. However, I wouldn't be surprised if their sentiments reflected many of the same concerns of the Iraqi population.

[RandyAB]

I think this will all change was the people in Iraq have electricity and water. Then you will see the attitudes change back again. Plus as someone else said this is still a minority of the population that feels this way/

[kark_1999]

Originally posted by RandyAB
I think this will all change was the people in Iraq have electricity and water. Then you will see the attitudes change back again. Plus as someone else said this is still a minority of the population that feels this way/

I'd like to see the studies that show that this is the minority opinion.

[kark_1999]

Originally posted by Mike123abc
I do not think that the US would allow a fundamentalist Islamic state to form in the US. Right now they are going to have to set up a non secular state because the 3 different sects in the country. It will be very interesting to see what comes out of it.

Of course the US is not going to just "allow" any old government to form. Do you think the Bush admin would just allow a Shiite not keen on Bush's policies to be democratically elected? No. Bush isn't interested in a true democratic election there - unless it looks like the results would be in his interest.

[lastmanstanding]

The concern about fundamentalists is valid. This demonstration is very likely backed by an interest group trying to stack the deck in their favor, rather than a spontaneous protest of concerned citizens.

They are used to a totalitarian socialist state. Not only do we need to encourage democracy, but also capitalism. After watching Russia try it, I am more than a little concerned.

But Iraq is smaller, and has a huge resource, the oil, that is ready to be tapped.

[RandyAB]

Originally posted by kark_1999


I'd like to see the studies that show that this is the minority opinion.

Sorry the reason I said that is because with a population of over 5 million people, the article only quoted "thousands protesting" Since minorty is technically less then half, I think their would need to be a little over 2.4 million people marching or at least complaining to the journalists. I think with numbers that big, they could easily over throw the 80,000 service people protecting them in their city.

[sampatterson]

I have to second what gcutler says above, isn't it great that they can protest without fear of reprisal (e.g. death)