Friday, April 18, 2003
Iraqi Muslims Protest Against Foreign Troops (washingtonpost.com)
Tens of thousands of Iraqi Muslims took to the streets of Baghdad after Friday prayers today to demand the departure of U.S. and other foreign troops and the establishment of an Islamic state.
The demonstration was peaceful, news agencies reported, but it provided dramatic new evidence that the ouster of Saddam Hussein's secular government has unleashed pent-up religious sentiment, especially among the country's long-repressed Shiite Muslim majority. In the absence of strong government, Islam often provides the organizing principle, and the civic institutions, of Muslim societies.
Converging from several mosques, the demonstrators carried banners with such slogans as "No Bush, No Saddam, Yes to Islam," and "No to America, No to Secular State, Yes to Islamic State." Organizers said the demonstrators included both Shiite Muslims and Sunnis, who represent the majority branch of Islam is most Muslim countries but a minority in Iraq.[...]
The demonstration was peaceful, news agencies reported, but it provided dramatic new evidence that the ouster of Saddam Hussein's secular government has unleashed pent-up religious sentiment, especially among the country's long-repressed Shiite Muslim majority. In the absence of strong government, Islam often provides the organizing principle, and the civic institutions, of Muslim societies.
Converging from several mosques, the demonstrators carried banners with such slogans as "No Bush, No Saddam, Yes to Islam," and "No to America, No to Secular State, Yes to Islamic State." Organizers said the demonstrators included both Shiite Muslims and Sunnis, who represent the majority branch of Islam is most Muslim countries but a minority in Iraq.[...]
Fresh off the destroyed hope of a long, bloody war, the NGO known as "World Media" are now looking for new negatives. Currently, they are seeking as much traction as possible from the idea that artifacts are more important than human lives, and spinning the meme that "Iraqis are calling for the USA to leave."
I've been withholding comment on the first one as I think it's time to just wait and see what happens as the entire story comes out.
As to the second, yes, some Iraqis want the USA to leave. This should come as no surprise. It should also come as no surprise that, with pre-existing organizational structures in place, the religious fundamentalists will be the first, and loudest, to be heard.
I refuse to believe these zealots calling for an Islamic state represent a majority - at least, there is no way to know whether or not that is the case at this time. How can we know right now what proportion of the population these "protestors" represent? We can't. Obviously, all of Iraq would like to have their country to themselves, run by themselves, but do they want these jokers running things? I doubt it.
Our job is stay in there, steadfast, long enough to facilitate other factions to get their voices together.
In other "people to be ignored" news (or at least placed in proper perspective - the kind you get holding something far, far away):
[...]The foreign ministers of countries bordering Iraq, plus Egypt and Bahrain, “are agreed on the need to uphold Iraq’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Egyptian chief diplomat told reporters.
“This requires the withdrawal of foreign forces in order to enable the Iraqi people to choose their government in full freedom. Moreover, the United Nations must play an essential role” in Iraq, he said. Maher said the countries represented at the meeting — host Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria, all neighbours of Iraq, in addition to Egypt and current Arab League chair Bahrain — hoped US and British forces would pull out of Iraq “as soon as possible”. He said none of the participants at the meeting could live with a military government in Iraq and the Iraqi people should already have been engaged in picking their own government. [...]
“This requires the withdrawal of foreign forces in order to enable the Iraqi people to choose their government in full freedom. Moreover, the United Nations must play an essential role” in Iraq, he said. Maher said the countries represented at the meeting — host Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey and Syria, all neighbours of Iraq, in addition to Egypt and current Arab League chair Bahrain — hoped US and British forces would pull out of Iraq “as soon as possible”. He said none of the participants at the meeting could live with a military government in Iraq and the Iraqi people should already have been engaged in picking their own government. [...]
Yeah, those are all countries I'd take tips concerning freedom and government from.
In other news: A horse was overheard offering a camel advice on how to hump.
Update: Shark Blog emphasizes a few differences in media crowd estimates.
