Anti-American Rallies in Iraq

Large "Anti-American" rallies was held in Iraq, marking four years since the fall of Baghdad.

I don't think Jane Fonda or Sean Penn were there. I don't think CODEPINK was involved in organizing the rallies, but I could be wrong.

BAGHDAD -- Thousands draped themselves in Iraqi flags and marched through the streets of two Shiite holy cities Monday to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall.

The rally was called for by powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands an enormous following among Iraq's majority Shiites and has close allies in the Shiite-dominated government.

A day earlier, the renegade cleric issued a statement ordering his militiamen to redouble their battle to oust American forces and argued that Iraq's army and police should join him in defeating "your archenemy."

On Monday, thousands of demonstrators marched from Kufa to neighboring Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, with two cordons of Iraqi police lining the route.

Some at the rally waved small Iraqi flags; others hoisted up a giant flag 10 yards long.

Leaflets fluttered through the breeze reading: "Yes, Yes to Iraq" and "Yes, Yes to Muqtada. Occupiers should leave Iraq."

...Monday's demonstration marks four years since U.S. Marines and the Army's 3rd Infantry Division swept into the Iraqi capital 20 days into the American invasion.

In a statement distributed in Najaf on Sunday, al-Sadr called on Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with America.

"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy," the statement said.

He urged his followers not to attack fellow Iraqis but to turn all their efforts on American forces.

"God has ordered you to be patient in front of your enemy, and unify your efforts against them — not against the sons of Iraq," it said.

Al-Sadr needs to have an It's a Wonderful Life, George Bailey-type experience.

He needs to think abou what life in Iraq would be like for Shiites if the U.S. had never removed Saddam Hussein.

Monday's demonstration marks four years since U.S. Marines and the Army's 3rd Infantry Division swept into the Iraqi capital 20 days into the American invasion.

In a statement distributed in Najaf on Sunday, al-Sadr called on Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with America.

"You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don't walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy," the statement said.

He urged his followers not to attack fellow Iraqis but to turn all their efforts on American forces.

"God has ordered you to be patient in front of your enemy, and unify your efforts against them — not against the sons of Iraq," it said.

Kind of ironic that the "archenemy" Americans freed the Shiites from Saddam's tyrany, isn't it?


It was four years ago that Iraqis were hitting the toppled statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes.

Paul Wood writes, April 9, 2004:

It was hard to maintain journalistic objectivity in those circumstances. It was impossible not to get swept up in the overwhelming joy of a newly free people.

Saddam's 25 year death grip over Iraq had been broken; the suffocating sense of fear had been lifted.

In conversations later that evening, there were the first hints of the troubles the Americans are now facing in Iraq.

In remarkably similar terms one man, a Sunni, and another, a Shia, both thanked the US for getting rid of Saddam, but warned the Americans not to stay too long.

But in the crowd that afternoon, there was another roar of celebration as Saddam's head was broken clean off.

It was wrapped in chains and dragged towards me. I scrambled to get the BBC's expensive satellite phone antennae out of the way. Saddam's head missed it by an inch.

Iraq has turned out to be more complicated than the Americans ever thought. But the final glimpse I had of Saddam's statue was a simple, clear and unambiguous image of the new freedoms Iraqis were enjoying.

Saddam's head was scraping and bouncing across the tarmac of Saddoun Street, dragged in chains by four of five men.

A small boy was bending double to strike it with his shoe every step of the way. Then they all disappeared from sight.

Now, four years later, Iraqis are giving our flag the shoe treatment.

A question for those Iraqis: Who is responsible for ending Saddam Hussein's reign of terror?