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| Iraqis protest American presence; both Sunnis and Shiites | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 23 2005, 10:20 AM (197 Views) | |
| Dr. Noah | May 23 2005, 10:20 AM Post #1 |
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Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0520Iraq20-ON.html Thousands of Iraqis protest U.S. occupation Associated Press May. 20, 2005 07:10 AM NAJAF, Iraq - Thousands of Shiites, many waving Islam's holy book over their heads, protested the U.S. presence in Iraq on Friday after the detention of several supporters of a radical cleric, while Sunnis shut down places of worship elsewhere in a show of anger over alleged sectarian violence against the minority. The U.S. military also launched what it said would be an aggressive investigation into how a British newspaper got pictures of an imprisoned Saddam Hussein clad only in his underwear, saying the photos violated military guidelines and possibly the Geneva convention on the humane treatment of prisoners. The photos, which appeared on the front pages of the British tabloid Sun and the New York Post, were expected to fuel anti-American sentiment among Iraqi supporters of the former dictator who are believed to be the driving force behind the country's insurgency. advertisement The Shiite protests in the southern cities of Najaf, Nasiriyah and Kufa, came as Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced that he will visit Syria, which has been blamed for harboring insurgents bent on starting a civil war in Iraq. The protests, which drew an estimated total of 6,000 demonstrators in the three cities, followed radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's call Wednesday to reject the U.S. occupation of Iraq by painting Israeli and American flags on the ground outside mosques to be stepped on in protest raids against holy places. In violence elsewhere, a suicide bombing targeting the house of Iraqi national security adviser, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, killed two civilians and wounded three in the Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah, police said. After the explosion, gunmen in the nearby Azamiyah area opened fire at a U.S. base in Kazimiyah on the western side of the Tigris River, witnesses said. The gunmen later fled, they added. Witnesses reported seeing U.S. Apache attack helicopters firing rockets into the neighborhood. A U.S. soldier also was killed early Friday in a vehicle accident caused by roadside bomb attack near Taji, 10 miles north of Baghdad, the military said. The soldier's identity was withheld pending notification of relatives. At least 1,628 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. A roadside bomb also destroyed a U.S. military truck and wounded an unspecified number of American soldiers on a highway in southeastern Baghdad, said a military spokeswoman and police Lt. Mazin Saeed. A rocket attack on Abu Ghraib prison, western Baghdad, meanwhile, wounded five detainees, three seriously, the military said. Al-Sadr's call for protests was made a day after U.S. and Iraqi forces detained 13 of his supporters during a raid on a Shiite mosque in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad. Iraqi troops confiscated weapons from the mosque. Al-Sadr, a burly, black-bearded cleric, launched two uprisings against U.S. forces in Baghdad and Najaf in April and August last year. After the last uprising he went into hiding until surfacing Monday demanding an end to the U.S.-led coalition occupation of Iraq. "From this platform, we warn the government not to fight the al-Sadr movement because all the tyrants of the world could not beat it," Hazim al-Araji, the imam of a mosque in Kufa during Friday;s sermon. "We say to the government do not be a tyrant like Saddam or (former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad) Allawi." In the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Kufa, al-Sadr followers painted American and Israeli flags on most streets near mosques before stepping on them. "Down, down Israel; down, down USA," chanted protesters following midday prayers at a Kufa mosque. In Nasiriyah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, al-Sadr supporters clashed with guards at the headquarters of Dhi Qar provincial governor, Aziz Abed Alwan. The fighting broke out before noon as about 2,000 members of al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Amy marched toward the cleric's local office, which is near the governor's headquarters. Armed men guarding the headquarters shot toward the crowd in an apparent bid to disperse it, prompting retaliatory fire from al-Sadr supporters. Four policemen and four civilians were wounded, as were nine al-Sadr supporters, said Sheik al-Khafaji, an official at al-Sadr's Nasiriyah office. Around Sunni mosques on Friday, clerics repeated a call from three of Iraq's most influential Sunni Muslim organizations for the places of worship to be shut for three days to protest alleged Shiite violence against them. One of those organizations, the influential Sunni Muslim Association of Muslim Scholars, on Wednesday accused a Shiite militia of allegedly killing Sunni clerics - a charge the group denied. Shiites, who make up 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people, were oppressed under Saddam, then emerged from the Jan. 30 elections with the biggest bloc in the National Assembly. They have allied with Kurds, who also were oppressed by Saddam, but have included Sunnis in the government in an effort to ease the minority's discontent over losing power. Tension also was palpable Friday throughout Baghdad, where both Sunni and Shiite Muslims have accused each other of fanning sectarian hate. Two children were killed and their mother was injured in a bomb blast late Thursday outside a Shiite Muslim mosque in Baghdad, an army official said Friday. Targeting mosques and clerics, both Sunni and Shiite, has been a routine practice for insurgents. In Turkey, al-Jaafari said Iraq would not tolerate foreign fighters crossing the porous desert frontier that separates his country from Syria. "There are some armed groups infiltrating from Syria..... How much of this infiltration is related to the Syrian government, we will discuss this issue directly with Syrian authorities," he said. "We will visit Syria some time soon, and one of the issues that will be taken up will be the security file and the prevention of such infiltrations." The Syrian government has not commented on allegations that foreign fighters are slipping into Iraq across the border and holding clandestine planning meetings in its country. But in February, Syria captured and handed over Saddam's half brother in what Iraq called a gesture of goodwill. A U.S. official said Wednesday that Syria was the site of a key meeting last month in which lieutenants of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were ordered to carry out more attacks in Iraq. More than 520 people have been killed since the country's new Shiite-dominated government was announced April 28. |
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| Dr. Noah | May 25 2005, 10:21 AM Post #2 |
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Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
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It's a little disappointing that after all the Americans who died to bring democracy to Iraq that the people of Iraq are uniting to ask us to leave. |
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| somerled | May 25 2005, 10:48 AM Post #3 |
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Admiral MacDonald RN
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On topic : That's their perogative, it is their country, and they are the ones who are suffering the results of the USA army being there. Daily bombings, dozens being killed every week. |
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| gvok | May 25 2005, 10:50 AM Post #4 |
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Unregistered
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Agreed. |
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| Minuet | May 25 2005, 10:55 AM Post #5 |
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Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
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Official Administrative Comment Since others here have done it as well I believe ONE bump might be ok. However - more then one bump will result in a thread being closed. For anyone, not just the starter of this thread. End Official Administrative Response |
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| Darthsith | May 25 2005, 10:57 AM Post #6 |
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Ensign
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I disagree, I think its a testament to what these men and woman died for. They died to give the Iraqi people a chance to unite and chose a path for their country. The elected government of Iraqi will have to now weigh in one hand these protests, the wishes of those who want Americans to say, the possible political, economical and social benefits of booth out comes and choose the direction bets for their people. |
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| Wichita | May 25 2005, 11:14 AM Post #7 |
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The Adminstrator wRench
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Administrative Clarification Since I've closed a number of threads on people who have bumped threads just once, I can't agree with the statement that bumping in and of itself is ever OK. What we have allowed is the thread originator to "add on" to their original statement with additional information within a reasonable period of time. Since this thread went two days withoug response and since the additional comment provided no new information, it looks like a "pure bump" to me. End of Administrative Clarification |
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| Swidden | May 25 2005, 11:16 AM Post #8 |
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Adm. Gadfly-at-large; Provisional wRench-fly at large
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OKay, my read of the article indicates that the thread title is a bit of a misnomer. All references to Sunni protests in this article indicate that they are protesting against Shiite violence towards the Sunni's. The rest of the article is a mish mash of a round up of recent events.
References two completely different protests, not a united protest.
References only Shiite action in support of Al-Sadr, though one cannot rule out that there may be some Sunni's present since no one is wearing a sign that identifies their branch of the Islamic faith...
Sounds like the Sunni's are more upset with the Shiites than the US at the moment. Frankly, I am not going to go all out and say that these two groups never see eye to eye on anything, however this article is not what it is purported to be. It does not indicate any sense of unity between the Shiite's and the Sunni's, rather it makes very clear that there is continuing tension between the two native factions. |
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| who | May 25 2005, 11:30 AM Post #9 |
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Have light saber. Will travel.
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I think when the new Iraq government wants the US to leave, the US would be more than happy to leave. Protests are a good sign of a free nation. |
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| Dr. Noah | May 25 2005, 11:35 AM Post #10 |
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Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
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Does the bump rule count only for Politics or Trek forums as well? |
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| 24thcenstfan | May 25 2005, 11:35 AM Post #11 |
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Something Wicked This Fae Comes
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While I am disappointed that people are protesting against us, I do support the notion that it is a sign of a budding democratic form of government in Iraq. I do think ultimately we should leave when the people/gov't of Iraq mandate that we leave. That is the right thing to do IMO. |
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| who | May 25 2005, 11:37 AM Post #12 |
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Have light saber. Will travel.
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What exactly is the bump rule? |
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| Minuet | May 25 2005, 11:40 AM Post #13 |
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Fleet Admiral Assistant wRench, Chief Supper Officer
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Clarification on Clarification Ok by me Boss. My comments were made because of a specific thread yesterday that was bumped with comments made solely to insult those who had chosen not to respond. I told the bumper that was unacceptable but did not close the thread. I believe the person who complained on this thread participated in the insults on that thread although they were not the initial bumper. I was just giving Noah the same opportunity. Next time the other bumper bumps I will shut them down immediately. End Clarification on Clarification |
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| Dr. Noah | May 25 2005, 11:44 AM Post #14 |
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Sistertrek's Asian Correspondant
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Thanks for showing me a measure of fairness Minuet.
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| Wichita | May 25 2005, 12:39 PM Post #15 |
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The Adminstrator wRench
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You would have been perfectly justified in closing it immediately. As I recall, both Bill and Dwayne were told not to bump threads and had threads closed down immediately when they did. I'm sure that there are others. I can't say that it is applied perfectly across all forums, but it is especially crucial that it is in the politics forums. If there is no interest in a topic, it will die a natural death. We already are getting multiple complaints because people open the forum only to see most of the threads started by a couple of people. If we allow bumping of all threads - that apparently garnered no interest the first time around - it just serves to push out threads of interest to other posters. It's the fairest thing to do for ALL posters. |
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2:06 PM Jul 11