|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
|
April 10th,
2007 - Moqtada Rallies Shia to Demand Withdrawal of Foreign Troops |
|
Moqtada Rallies
Shia to Demand Withdrawal of Foreign Troops By Michael Howard The Guardian April 10, 2007 Wrapped in the Iraqi flag
and chanting anti-American slogans, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Shia
snaked into the holy city of Najaf yesterday for a protest rally to mark the
fourth anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein and to demand the
ejection from Iraq of US and British troops. The huge procession of
mainly men and young boys had braved the roads from Baghdad - and towns
across southern Iraq - to march from the holy city of Kufa to Najaf, one of
Shia Islam's most sacred sites. Flanked by hundreds of Iraqi police, they
shouted "Yes! Yes! Iraq. No! No! America" amid a sea of banners and
Iraqi flags. "We were liberated from Saddam. Now we need to be liberated
again," read one placard. "Stop the suffering, Americans leave now,"
demanded another. The march was a show of
strength by the powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who had called for a
peaceful mass protest to express opposition to "Iraq's occupiers".
Ali Hussein, a member of Mr Sadr's al-Mahdi militia from Baghdad, said that
about 1m-1.5 million supporters of Mr Sadr had taken part, though police
estimates gave a figure of less than a million. "The demonstration was
peaceful and we oppose the occupation because the only solution for Iraq and
Baghdad is withdrawal of the Americans," said Mr Hussein as he stood
outside the golden-domed Shrine of Imam Ali. Mr Sadr has not been seen
for months and is widely believed to have fled to Iran to avoid the US-Iraqi
security crackdown, which officially began on February 14. The fiery young
cleric had won praise from Iraqi leaders for ordering his Mahdi militia to
lie low during the operations. But in his absence there were reports that
both his militia and his political wing in parliament were fragmenting. This week Mahdi fighters
engaged in fierce clashes with US and Iraqi troops in the southern city of
Diwaniyah. In an apparent bid to shore up his movement, Mr Sadr broke his
silence two weeks ago with a series of sharp anti-American proclamations,
culminating in a statement on Sunday that urged his fighters to intensify
their struggle to oust American forces, and for Iraq's army and police to
join the effort to defeat the "arch enemy". Despite the hopes of many of
his supporters, Mr Sadr failed to appear again yesterday. But his opponents
both in Iraq and Washington were left in no doubt of the cleric's continued
grass roots support among young Iraqi Shia. Senior aides to Mr Sadr
pointed to a number of Sunni clerics at the head of yesterday's parade as
evidence that the march was "national and not sectarian". Orders
had gone out for marchers to avoid carrying pictures or flags that could
inflame religious passions. Hazim al-Araji, Mr Sadr's
representative in the Baghdad district of Khadimiya, said: "There are
people here from all different parties and sects. We are all carrying the
national flag, which is a symbol of unity. And we are all united in calling
for the withdrawal of the Americans." Despite the hostile
sentiment of yesterday's protest, US commanders in Iraq appeared relaxed.
Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan, a US military spokesman, said the
demonstration had been well-organised and peaceful. "This is the right
to assemble, the right to free speech, they didn't have that under the former
regime," he said. "This is progress, there's no two ways about
it." Meanwhile, in Baghdad and
the rest of Iraq there were no celebrations to mark four years since the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Iraq's government had dithered over whether to
declare the day a national holiday, first decreeing it to be a normal working
day, then declaring it a holiday. But in the capital it slapped a city-wide
ban on vehicles, meaning most residents stayed indoors, many watching the
events from Najaf on television. Additional reporting: Emad
al Sharaa in Kerbala External link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2053327,00.html |