Uh oh....More Iraqi protests....
 

Id be more comfortable if they were protesting SARS.

*********************

Iraqis denounce American occupation

BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of Iraqis hit the streets of Baghdad on Friday to protest against what they regard as a U.S.-led foreign occupation.

The demonstration was spurred on by Ahmed al-Kubaisi, a Sunni Muslim scholar who told Muslims during morning prayer to reject the occupation. He said the U.S. soldiers should leave before Iraqis throw them out.
Worshippers punctuated the harangue with cries of "Allah akbar" (God is great), then spilled into the streets calling for an end to the occupation and for solidarity between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Since the city fell under U.S. military control a week ago, resentment has been building among Iraqis.

The city has been ravaged by looting and lawlessness, which continued apace on Friday as the Ministry of Information building was looted and set ablaze.

U.S. military commanders are reluctant to have soldiers act as police, a policy that enrages Iraqis trying to protect their homes and valuables from roving bandits. But U.S. efforts to enforce order are often met by resentment.

Electricity a priority

The Iraqi capital has been without power since April 3, a situation that has hobbled the economy and efforts to restore order.

The U.S. military says getting the lights back on is the top priority in Baghdad, and officials have been working to restart the city's largest power plant, which they hope to have fully operating by Saturday.

Central Command said it hadn't targeted the power grid. Investigators say the plant's fuel lines had been cut, but by gunfire, not bombing. Officials said the lines had been shattered in a "mistake," but didn't say whose mistake it was.

I predict that in ten years, or less, Iraq will be back to being a dictatorship with torture chambers and secret police.:(

Listen, it will be much easier to bomb iraq next time when the people hate us too. :thumbsup

Do you have any idea what its like to

NOT have Electricity

NOT have Water

NOT have Trash Picked Up

NOT be Able To Flush Your Toilet

NOT be Able To Take A Hot Shower

NOT have Telephone Service

NOT have Medical Services

NOT have Fresh Food

NOT have Anwhere To Shop

NOT have Police Protection

NOT have Television

Hmmmm, not much else to do but protest is there?

Anyone would be losing their cool and going crazy under these circumstances.

Prolly very true :( It seems built into them. Atleast they will have learned not to cross America though :)

Forget it. The middle east is entering a new era of democratization. It won't happen overnight. It won't be an easy painless process. But it will happen and it is beginning now.

One World Order

Yup, went camping last summer :thumbsup

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

One part optimism, one part misinformation.

I'm not sure but I will ask Peaches.

The last time my Dish went out, I went nuts and killed 4 neighbors, looted the exxon station and burned down the police department, that was about the hardest 10 minutes of my life :(

try getting a rain shield

wow people exercising new freedoms

its called 'freedom of speech' something the iraqis forgot about

hahah

is that like a condom?

Ok shit is always fucked up after a war. Go read your history textbooks.

off topic: mr pop up, can you send me a url to Gramma's hosted galleries?

i signed up and looked around but could not find them.

i designed them and want to link them from my portflio. ;)

Occupation? Where the hell did they get this from? The major battles have only VERY recently stopped...small battles are still being fought....and already anger over occupation?

They're simple people, cut 'em some slack. Things will be better in the long run.

Can you imagine the Russian response to a Chechen protest?

Russian response to Afghani?

Rwandan Tutsis to Hutus?

Iraqis to Kuwaitis? [There actually was a protest. The
Kuwaitis were gunned down in the streets].

German to French?

Take your pick.

With as bonus a " religious " agenda...

Doesn't look good.

yes ocuppation.. the battles aren't over and US thinks about reconstruction since the begining of the war...
US planned to institute a regime formed by 23 US ministers first... now the stuff with Chalabi ... why don't you watch other TV news than cnn, fox etc... watch BBC, Reuters and you'll see that "people love alliance troops, they came with flowers...", "hystory in making : saddam's statue humilliated by iraqis people" are plain bullshit, they're all staged.

they're starving, they have thiefs everywhere and the "democracy instaurators" don't care about that, all they want is too put a puppet government to control the country.

Well it seems the corrupt Bush government has no rich ass buddies who can fix water suplies or electricity. I bet when oil filds need fixing they would be right there to help out

the far left is very scary

LOL if you republicans and your leader think you can stablish Democracy in the middle east you got another thing coming.

Unless you send US generals to rule these countries which over time they will be hung in the streets by their balls....


Democracy in their own hands is not going to work..



So keep on killing :thumbsup

It's called camping, & people do it once or twice a year....& deal with it. :2 cents:

Shit thats called freedom of speech,, its a wonderful thing, there getting use to something they never had,

Yeah, it'll never work. The only thing democracy has going for it is that people want it and once they taste it they don't want to give it up.

What happened to all the monarchies of Europe?

What happened to all the empires in the world?

What happened to the Soviet states?

What happened to the USSR?

The number of democracies in the world has doubled in the past 20 years.

What's the matter? Think Iraqi's are too simple to want a voice in their own government?

didn't you say a couple of weeks ago that it was gonna be a long hard war with lots of dead casualties?

One word, Islam.

I saw them protesting on TV today. They want America out, and an Islamic government (one of them said "like Iran") installed.

You cannot have a theocratic democracy. It wont work, although I would like to see some crazy fucker try it. God and democracy dont mix. God already laid down the rules.

Ahh...well...yes. Anyone that has ever served in the Infantry has experienced the above.

Well, that's a good point though there are already secular governments in the region with majority Muslim populations (Egypt).

You just never know when pan-Arabism is going to win out over Islamism.

http://www.buildinganempire.com/imag..._evolution.jpg

;-)

On that note. Amanda just got here. I'm splitting. Adios.

No I did not.

But who ever did is right.

Your only seeing the fall of the regime.

Wait till the ethnic wars start between the Sunis and the shais
and the kurds 2 - 3 - 5 years down the road.


Like in Afghanistan ... the same shit as 5 years ago is going on .
Tribes are killing each other but you dont hear about it.

:thumbsup

He is 100% right.


The other "empires" that fell were not fanatics about their religion.


These people and the rest of the Middle east is.


Democracy will not work in the middle east because like Labrat said, god has already laid down the rules for these people.


number of the Experts interviewd on TV that actually know what the hell they are talking about and have travelled to this part of the world also think the same thing.

Labret,

Even the "chosen people" have free elections now. ;-)

I have to run for real. Later.

Fantastic.

Dont get me started

Ever heard of Turkey? 99.8% of their population is Muslim and they have free elections.

Where are we going to go now? Sunnis vs. Shiites?


Simon called Peter won't let me leave ;-)

Go! Amanda is waiting

:thumbsup

Two months ago any one of those people would have been put to death for protesting.

Today they free to speak their mind thanks to the USA!

We can take the heat.

Excellent point. It will get better. Like it was said above they have nothing right now. All they have is freedom and they are showing it.

I know it's hard not to look for the downside to the likes of poopup, but it will be okay in the long run.

What makes you think we don't hear about that. I don't know if that was a figure of speech or if you think we don't know that the war lords are acting up all over the country.

But believe me, I hear about that all the time.

I bet once we leave Iraq Saddam is gonna come out of hiding and take control again. Leaving all our efforts and lives lost a waste.

Then the world would really hate the US even more.

I think George W would rather get ass raped then let that happen.



Because that would be a spit in the face pretty much.


So I dont think thats going to happen.


He will nuke the entire country in order for that not to happen.

Then maybe their GOD should have protected them.

Ok I will inform them of your solution next time :thumbsup

:eek7

Have you been paying attention?

What? Where? Who ? Where am I!? Did they find Saddam?????

How could any one person come back into power when there whole infrastructer of power has been destroyed?

Not to mention that the Iraqis would rip him/them apart.

The problem the US has as far as I can see is that the war isn't over, it's just moved to a new phase. If you read/watch news stations other than CNN, Fox etc. you see that there is an awful lot of guerilla warfare going on. This means the US can't leave, as it doesn't have control just yet. But, staying builds resentment, pushing Iraqis to join the guerilla fighting. It's a vicious circle.

Can you say 'sucked in' ?

did you protest?