Crowds Protest U.S.-Led Seige of Fallujah

[Tinoire]

Fri, Apr. 09, 2004

Crowds Protest U.S.-Led Seige of Fallujah

MAAMOUN YOUSSEF
Associated Press


CAIRO, Egypt - Across the Middle East, angry crowds on Friday denounced the U.S.-led siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah and praised insurgents for resisting what clerics and commentators likened to Israeli attacks.



At Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, one of Sunni Islam's oldest, some 500 men called President Bush "the enemy of God" and demanded Egypt expel the American and Israeli ambassadors from Egypt.

"Iraqi resistance is defending you and your honor and without this resistance you will find America in Cairo and in Riyadh," Mustafa Bakri, editor of the weekly Al-Osboa newspaper, shouted to worshippers.

<reluctant snip>

Libyan state television announced that Saturday will be a "day of mourning ... for the martyrs who fell in Fallujah in defense of their land, homes and honor." Flags will fly at half staff, it said.

"America is carrying out the same actions in Iraq that Israel is carrying out in the occupied (Palestinian) territories - an army leading a war against civilians," Saudi political analyst Dawood al-Shirian told The Associated Press.

<snip>

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/special_packages/8398293.htm

[izzie]

1. Guess these people have not been reading free rep.

Those people on that site, sound like they are on drugs they are so in love with the killing. Some even think it is like Belleau Woods where Fr gave the Marine a great gift which all used to wear on their uniforms. I find the love of killing really scary with these "Christians" and at first I used to think they were just odd. Now it is getting scary they like it so.

[NJmaverick]

21. My guess is they have been reading it

That is why they hate us so much. The Free Republic is giving huge amounts of aid and comfort to our terrorist enemies.

[soothsayer]

2. We're just making friends all over the place!

Look at those crowds around the world throwing roses at us.

[happyending]

3. baby terrorists in the making

Bush's Iraq policy has NOT made America safer. 

[Laughing Mirror]

11. Who are the terrorists?

People defending their own land?

[happyending]

12. Pardon,

No, I did not mean that.

My thinking was that the war in Iraq would push
some toward radical Islam.

Sorry for not making that clearer.

[sspiderjohn]

4. Egypt,Lebanon,Syria,Jordan,Libya,Iran--all protesting Fallujah.

How will this affect our Middle East relations?

[BeFree]

8. They will breathe a sigh of relief

...when Kerry is elected. It won't be too hard to get leaders of these other countries to forgive us, but the individual citizens will forever be leery of trusting America.

Hopefully, America will leave them in total peace under a Kerry administration.

[Tinoire]

10. A sigh of relief? They could care less who's heading the occupation

of their country. If America were occupied, would you care about some cosmetic changing of the guard in a country insistent on occupying you until they could re-shape you in accordance with their needs and ideas?

They did not breathe a sigh of relief after Bush I when Clinton took over with his 8 years of sanctions and daily bombing of Iraq during which half a million Iraqi children died (Madeline Albright of course thought it was "worth it") and they are not going to breathe a sigh of relief when Bush 2 leaves and is replaced by another globalizing imperialist.

We all need to sit down and think long and hard about why they hate us.

[BeFree]

14. Well

If you can't tell a difference between Kerry and Bush....

A sigh of relief is not tantamount to becoming an ally, a sigh will just be a bit of thanks for us getting rid of Bush.

The reality of the Middle east is surely more evident to Kerry than Bush. While Kerry may be imperialistic (we shall see) he surely doesn't envision empire like the neo-cons do.

Kerry is a consumate politician (surprise, surprise) so he will pull our troops out of Iraq just as quick as he can because that's what the American people will desire.

[freeforall]

15. An unlikely scenario...

"Kerry is a consumate politician (surprise, surprise) so he will pull our troops out of Iraq just as quick as he can because that's what the American people will desire."

Respectfully, I disagree. Kerry has said that the US should stay beyond the June 30th deadline, and even send more troops.

[Tinoire]

16. I'll let an Iraqi answer you directly

I wonder , what if Bush lost and went down and kerry became the president?
wouldn't it be just the same for us?
what's the diffrence between them?
I don't think there's any significant diffrence espcially in foreign
policy...because they have the same base of voters with the same demands and
will not vote for this one or the other to serve its interest...
and as I always think, it's not in the hands of Bush or kerry personally ,
neither one of them puts the plans or the policies...they are just some men
with limited access...there's an "adminestration" that puts the plans and
performs them...controlling the fate of the american and the iraqi people
and the whole world...to serve a set of interests and priorities....they
believe in it and agree upon it , and we the people of the world know
nothing of it... and we spend many years of our lives arguing about what
happned and what's going to happen...and a small elite is controlling the
fate of the world...until the people wake up...and the first is the american
people...
when???
I think the start is when the american people exert pressure towards
elections with more honest candidates in what they say and what they
conceal..from their people and the rest of the world...
that would be no.1
no. 2 would be cleaning the campaigns from lying and propaganda...
******************************************************
If I were american i'd set those a s my priorities ....
that freedom is the right of my people and the people of every other country
in the world...
and convince myself that my country isn't ruling the world and so does
whatever suits it...
every country's citizens are their own masters and live their life in the
best way that suits them and doesn't harm other people...
there's no masters and slaves...peopel are all free and deserve equal
opportunities in life....
being an american doesn't mean I have to be arrogant and self centered or to
think that the world won't function right unless i intervened and programmed
it as i like..I'll try to be more understanding of other viewpoints....This
will give me a feeling of modesty and lowers the barriers...seperating me
from other people...I'm not better than them...I'm never better than
them...not for any reason...

http://afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com/

Getting rid of Bush won't mean squat to the Iraqis unless you get rid of the occupation. The Vietnamese didn't care whether the US President was a Democrat or a Republican. Same with the Columbians... What makes you think the Iraqis will? Kinder, gentler occupations are no easier to sell to the occupied people than a brutal one.

[BeFree]

22. Let's get this straight, eh?

The original post I responded to was this: " Egypt,Lebanon,Syria,Jordan,Libya,Iran--all protesting Fallujah.

I offered that they (not Iraqis) would breathe a sigh of relief, and ya'll take it as if my teeny bit of optimism was taboo or some such shit.

Try a little optimism, you'll like it. Optimism has a sweetness too it that hearkens for a better tommorow and belays the awful future Bush is promising. A little optimism goes a long way, trust me. Just one little bite, c'mon, I dare ya....<grin>

[IndianaGreen]

18. Kerry is not a PNAC imperialist

Kerry is a sugar-coated PPI imperialist.

Iraqis don't want any foreigners on their soil, and that includes the UN and the new NATO-Warsaw Pact.

[0007]

28. What if an Arab nation came and interfered with our civil war?

How would we feel?

[aneerkoinos]

19. Viva la differance!

"If you can't tell a difference between Kerry and Bush...."

Like between coke and pepsi?

[IndianaGreen]

17. Kerry has already said he will continue the occupation

keeping American troops for years to keep whatever puppet we put in charge, probably Chalabi.

Why do you think Bremer is trying to destroy the influence of the clerics over the Shias?

[BeFree]

23. Kerry has already said....

Imagine: Kerry saying "We will remove our troops from Iraq as soon as I am elected and leave those poor fucks to fend for themselves even tho we fucked the place up.... tough luck"

Yeah, sure, he'd get voted in, right?

It's politics, ya know? We all know the shit Bush has done in three short years, just imagine what Kerry will do in eight? Especially considering how we will be on his ass the whole time.

The whole fucking mess can only be altered by one of two levers: A bush lever or a Kerry lever. That's the reality. When we begin using a Kerry lever, the rest of the world will breathe a sigh of relief.

[IndianaGreen]

25. "Politics" kept us in Vietnam for decades

because no one had the "statesmanship" to admit the whole thing was a mistake and bring the troops home.

Kerry should be reminded of the Kerry of the Vietnam era that once asked the question about who could ask another man to die for a mistake. The Kerry of 2004 has lost touch with that Kerry.

[davhill]

24. Let's get Kerry elected first

If he turns out to be just as much under the control of the war party as Bush, we can deal with that later.

[IndianaGreen]

26. "Later" we are going to be accused of undermining the Kerry Administration

for opposing the misguided "stay the course" policy that Kerry favors for Iraq.

We are going to be damned for as long as we oppose the war, so it matters not whether we make a stand now or wait until later. The only issue is how many will die while we wait for the appropriate time.

The Pope warned last year that if we went into Iraq we would go without God. The Pope was right! Why should we stay?

[TahitiNut]

5. Aww... they just "hate us for our freedom"

... our self-proclaimed freedom to kill anyone anywhere for whatever lies our selected Reichsmarshalls decree. :puke:

[WinningDoubt]

7. Actually...Jimmy Carter say it's our relationship with Israel to blame

Did you see his quote on that?

[Ediacara]

9. I think the poster was being facetious

Making fun of Bush's absurd claim that the terrorists hate us because of our freedoms.

And welcome to DU WinningDoubt!

[rfkrocks]

6. the great destabilizer at work-our president

I agree with all the posts here-we are not safer we are in great danger and it all stems from the hubris of the GOP

[Tinoire]

13. Photo of Iraqis heading INTO Falluja

Iraqi Marchers Break Through US Roadblocks in Bid to Relieve Fallujah

Thu Apr 8, 6:39 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Thousands of Iraqi sympathisers, both Sunni and Shiite Muslim, forced their way through US military roadblocks in a bid to bring aid from the capital to the besieged Sunni rebel bastion of Fallujah.


Troops in armoured vehicles attempted to stop the convoy of cars and pedestrians from reaching the western town where US marines have met ferocious resistance in a two-day-old offensive against the insurgents.


But the US contingents were overwhelmed as residents of villages west of the capital came to the convoy's assistance, hurling insults and stones at the beleaguered troops.


Some 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Baghdad, a US patrol was attacked just moments before the Iraqi marchers arrived, and armed insurgents could be seen dancing around on two blazing military vehicles.

<snip>

US troops armed with machine guns and backed up by armour again blocked the highway further west, but were forced to let the Iraqis past as they came under a hail of stones.

<snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1514&e=31&u=/afp/20040408/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_fallujah_demo_040408103955

[keithyboy]

20. If Americans had any moral compass, they too would be in the streets

But we are just too comfortable.

[Dark]

27. Are these people even ready for a democracy?

[sspiderjohn]

29. Maybe not -- Why are none of the 22 Arab nations a democracy?

Maybe we don't fully understand the Arab mindset.

[IndianaGreen]

30. We are not offering democracy to Iraq

If we did, the Shias would be in control of the government, which would be an Islamic Republic, and Iraq would have cancelled all the contracts that were signed under Bremer.

We did the same thing in Vietnam in 1954. A free election would have given Ho Chi Mihn a major electoral victory. We were not about to hand over Vietnam to the Reds as we are not going to do the same to the Shias.

BTW, the US is not a democracy either, if it were, the candidate with the most popular votes would be in the White House today.

[Danieljay]

31. this is the small faction Bush was talking about (yahoo)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=2&u=/ap/20040410/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iraq

Ya, looks like a small faction to me. They are Uniting against us across the middle east. I thought Bush was a Uniter not a Divider. I pray for the safety of our troops...

[tedzbear]

32. Rumsfield says these Iraqis are a small faction of rebels...

...then how come his army has to use bombs and missiles to "arrest" them? Under this type of enforcement, for every rebel we kill, we kill 2 innocent civilians.