Thousands Gather To Support Sadr - Iraqi Troops Fire on Crowd

[Barrett808]

Thousands Gather To Support Sadr
Two Killed as Iraqi Troops Fire on Crowd
By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 11, 2004; Page A13

BAGHDAD, Sept. 10 -- Tens of thousands of people massed Friday in Baghdad to pray and chant slogans in support of the rebellious cleric Moqtada Sadr. U.S. forces, meanwhile, continued attacks in two Iraqi cities that insurgents control.

Religious and community leaders assembled crowds to walk from Sadr City, the Baghdad slum named after the cleric's slain father, to Imam Khadhimain mosque. The crowd, turning out on a Shiite holiday marking the death of a 9th-century imam, was large enough that thousands of worshipers laid carpets across the asphalt on the streets outside and prayed there.

The Reuters news agency reported that violence broke out as people were leaving the mosque. Iraqi police fired into the crowd, killing two people and injuring five; Sadr aides said the people were not armed.

The violence occurred as uncertainty mounted about Sadr's location and intentions. He and militiamen from his Mahdi Army abandoned a shrine in the city of Najaf under a negotiated settlement to end three weeks of fighting against U.S. and Iraqi forces late last month. Officials of Iraq's interim government have been trying to persuade Sadr to disarm the militia and turn it into a political organization, but no deal has been reached.

On Friday, men loyal to the cleric kidnapped four Iraqi policemen in Najaf and threatened to kill them unless Iraqi security forces stopped pursuing Sadr and his supporters, according to a video aired on the Arab television network al-Jazeera. The kidnapping came a day after Najaf police raided and searched Sadr's office.

(more)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10991-2004Sep10.html

[acmavm]

1. Iraqi police fired into the crowd? Smart, real smart, Way to gain support

for the 'new Iraqi government'. (sarcasm off now).

Where the hell is the intelligence in that move? No wonder the Iraqi police are targets in a rather large shooting gallery. They invite it by doing things like this.

Why start trouble when it's so unnecessary? Let these people march. For God's sake, at least they weren't shooting at our troops. They will be in the future, that's guaranteed with actions like this.

[AndyTiedye]

3. We Re-Installed Saddam's Police Force. What Do You Expect?

[chookie]

2. Gotta love the irony

These are the same people who were most brutally supressed under Saddam.

These were the innocent Iraqis yearning to breathe free that we were liberating from Saddam Hussein, who shot them and imprisoned them and tortured them.

One day, Saddam is gone. The next day, Americans are shooting at them. And imprisoning them and torturing them. And calling them "terrorists."

Another day, the Americans are gone. Then their own countrymen start shooting at them. And imprisoning them and torturing them. And calling them "terrorists."

These poor bastards.

I know that the talking point is that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein, but IMHO, I'm not so sure. Yeah, he was a sadistic creep, but to be honest, the tragic truth is that nothing that has followed so far has been even the teeniest bit better.

Sorry Rummy, but this ain't the slightest bit lke the aftermath of WWII. Not even close. I know Mr Rove instructs you to say this, but you're smart enough to know it ain't true. So come on.

The next voice you are going to hear is His Chimperial Majesty saying that because violence is conflagrating out of control in Iraq, it will be necessary to invade and conquer Iran and Syria, who are fomenting this unrest.

They haven't a fucking CLUE about what they are doing. If they only created strategy as well as they lie, the planet would be a paradise of peace and prosperity.

[IndianaGreen]

4. I don't hear anyone calling for an immediate US withdrawal from Iraq

Only the candidates for a handful of minor political parties (Libertarians, Socialists, Green, and Trotskyite) are the ones that are saying that Iraq was a mistake and that the only way to fix it is by a total US pull out. I agree with the Iraq strategy advocated by these candidates because otherwise we will continue to sink in the quagmire, and continue to bankrupt our own country.

[bahrbearian]

5. Were's Dean and why is Kerry keeping him in the basement !