Shiites in Baghdad Protest Planned US-Iraq Pact

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Shiites in Baghdad protest planned US-Iraq pact

By HAMZA HENDAWI – 1 hour ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converged on a central Baghdad square Friday for a mass prayer to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact.
The demonstrators waved Iraqi flags and green Shiite banners, chanting, "No, no to the American agreement!" and, "No, no to the agreement of humiliation!" Iraq's parliament is expected to vote Monday on the plan to keep U.S. forces in Iraq for another three years. But the noisy opposition by the Sadrists indicates that even if it is approved, the deal could remain divisive in a country struggling for reconciliation.

Opponents view the security deal as a surrender to U.S. interests despite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, saying the pact would eventually lead to full sovereignty.
The protest was being held at Firdous Square, where U.S. Marines tore down a statue of Saddam Hussein in one of the iconic images of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Organizers placed an effigy of President George W. Bush holding a sign that said, "The security agreement ... shame and humiliation" on the pedestal near a sculpture that replaced the Saddam statue.
Many protesters carried prayer rugs, pieces of cardboard or newspapers in preparation for the mass prayer as they arrived at the square on foot or by bus.
Security was tight, with the area closed to unofficial traffic and heavily guarded by Iraqi security forces.

- snip -

Al-Sadr's followers and other legislators opposed to the pact also try to could use the narrow vote to turn their anti-American message into a defining issue in provincial elections on Jan. 31 and general elections late in 2009.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD94J7VMO1

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. Bush effigy burned in anti-US protest in Baghdad

Source: The Huffington Post

BAGHDAD — Followers of a Shiite cleric on Friday stomped on and burned an effigy of President George W. Bush in the same central Baghdad square where Iraqis beat a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein with their sandals five years earlier.

Chanting and waving flags, thousands of Muqtada al-Sadr's followers filled Firdous Square to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact that would allow American troops to stay for three more years. The Bush effigy was placed on the same pedestal where U.S. Marines toppled the ousted dictator's statue in one of the iconic images of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

After a mass prayer, demonstrators pelted the effigy with plastic water bottles and sandals. One man hit it in the face with his sandal. The effigy fell head first into the crowd and protesters jumped on it before setting it ablaze.

Before it fell, the effigy held a sign that said: "The security agreement ... shame and humiliation."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/21/bush-effigy-burned-in-ant_n_145436.html

---

A protester uses his shoe to strike an effigy of U.S. President George. W. Bush, in an expression of contempt, as thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converged on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq for a mass prayer to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008.(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

[Dogtown]

2. K&R n/t

[Lasher]

3. Here's what Richard Pearle said 5 years ago:

“And a year from now, I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they’ve been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis to express that sense of liberation.” - Richard Pearle luncheon keynote at the American Enterprise Institute, September 22, 2003

[BrklynLiberal]

5. Still quite delusional, isn't he?

[Lasher]

8. Neocons and supply-siders, all in denial as reality sets in.

Too bad all of us have to pay for their folly.

[Mari333]

7. boy, thats a telling statement...! n/t

[Lasher]

9. Come to think of it, that effigy does look kinda square shaped. n/t

[gratuitous]

11. Richard Pearle today:

Close enough! I was right again.

[riverwalker]

13. Perle is still giving advice

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4556

Seven Questions: Richard Perle’s Advice for Barack Obama

November 2008

The “Prince of Darkness” weighs in on Vladimir Putin, Bob Gates, and how the new U.S. president can avoid the Bush administration’s biggest blunders.

[Lasher]

14. This is good.

Now we'll know what to do: The exact opposite of what he says.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Guess that is as close as they will come to erecting a statue of him ....

[Mari333]

6. "we will be greeted as liberators

they will throw flowers and greet us as liberators."
This is the inevitable and surreal symbolic outcome of a pre emptive occupation of aggression and propaganda. Did anyone ever really believe it would end well, or ever really end?
US policy of propping up puppet governments to serve corporate needs is really getting old.
Maybe it takes the USA a few decades of bankruptcy to change it's militaristic chest thumping pre pubescent policies.

[Christa]

10. Mission accomplished. NT.

[BREMPRO]

12. I know how they feel. burn baby burn...

[LynneSin]

15. I get the impression that Bush isn't liked very much around the world

but that's just me

[ClayZ]

16. Just wondering how "pins" are still in use besides my house?

This post made me laugh!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2311947#2311950

[cambie]

19. 20000 People in the square this time.

It won't be necessary to use photo-shop this time to make the crowd look bigger like for the original staged event. All the newspapers had that one on the front page. Nobody will see this real one.

[Bozita]

17. Shias stage protests against Iraq-US pact

Source: The Guardian UK


Shias stage protests against Iraq-US pact
• Tensions rise over 2011 exit date for US troops
• Foreign workers to lose immunity from Iraqi law

Martin Chulov in Baghdad
guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 22 2008 00.01 GMT
The Guardian, Saturday November 22 2008
Article history


Iraqi Shia protesters yesterday defaced and burned an effigy of President George Bush in a show of contempt for a deal struck between the departing US administration and the Iraqi government which will keep US troops in Iraq for another three years.

The protest, organised by supporters of the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, drew thousands of people to the central Baghdad square where a statue of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was torn down and destroyed five years ago by US marines and bystanders.

The demonstration followed a week of tension in the national parliament, stemming from a cabinet decision to approve the deal, which for the first time commits US forces to a departure date in 2011 and gives the central government a more dominant role in Iraqi affairs in the interim. A spate of apparent insults during debates this week led to several bodyguards bringing weapons in to the parliamentary chamber for the first time.

Iraqi officials took a first step to exert their new authority yesterday by warning all 172 foreign security companies operating in the country that from early next year their employees will lose immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit under Iraqi law.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/22/iraq-us-al-sadr-madhi

[xchrom]

18. recommend -- the 'surge' is now in shambles. nt