Thousands of Shiites protest US base in their Baghdad neighborhood

[bigtree]

41 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) - More than a thousand unarmed protesters demanded the removal of a US military base from east Baghdad's Sadr City on Friday, in the first sign of Shiite opposition to a new security plan.


. . . after Friday's weekly prayers, large crowds of Shiite worshippers unfurled banners demanding the base be abandoned and chanted: "No, no to America. No, no to Israel. No, no to Satan."

Armed and uniformed members of the US-trained Iraqi security forces joined in some of the chants, but there was no open display by militia fighters.

Sadr himself was not present -- the US military believes he has gone to ground in Iraq's Shiite neighbour Iran -- but supporters carried his portrait and read out a statement he had apparently sent to them.

"The occupiers wanted to distort the reputation of the city and issued propaganda saying there are talks and cooperation between you and them. I am confident that you regard them as your enemy," he said.

"Don't surrender to them. You are their betters," he added.

The protest and the shooting of Mayor Rakim al-Darraji will be of concern to both the US military and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's beleaguered Shiite-led government, which have been pleased by the lack of violence in Sadr City.

report: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070316/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestshiites_070316140752;_ylt=A9G_RxuJq_pFzBMBKA1sbEwB

[UnyieldingHierophant]

1. Sadr a chickenhawk?

what's he doing in Iran?

[bigtree]

5. you mean while he's visiting the Iraq junta's ally?

kicking back, waiting for Bush to beg him to come back and step up his army's suppression of the Sunnis.

[bigtree]

7. For U.S. and Sadr, Wary Cooperation

After four years of hostility, Sadr and the Americans are cooperating uneasily as the United States and Iraq attempt to tame Baghdad's sectarian violence. American officials, who in recent months described Sadr's Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias as the biggest threat to Iraq's stability, now praise the Shiite cleric.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502447_pf.html

[David Dunham]

2. Okay. We can cancel the base and then the Sunnis kill them all.

[majorjohn]

3. "More than a thousand unarmed"

That figure does not even represent 1% of the Shiite population in Iraq; so why is that part of the news?

[bigtree]

6. why do our protests make the news?

because they reflect the majority of opinion in the country

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. You see any pro-U.S. Iraqis protesting?

[TwilightGardener]

4. This is not good. I am worried for our guys. I'm afraid it's only

a matter of time before it goes from shouts and chants to sniper and mortar attacks and worse, especially if Iraqi soldiers were involved--our guys have to trust them. Not good news.

[leftchick]

9. I am guessing more than "thousands"

in a city of almost 3 million.....



raqi Shiite Muslims wave their prayer carpets and display posters of radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during an anti-US protest following the Friday noon prayers in Baghdad's Sadr City. More than a thousand unarmed protesters demanded the removal of a US military base from Sadr City, in the first sign of Shiite opposition to a new security plan.(AFP/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)

but what the hell, the US population will never hear of this anyway.