Posted on 10/18/2008 12:29:18 PM PDT by austrian
Supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have staged a mass demonstration in Baghdad in protest against plans to extend the US mandate in Iraq.
An estimated 50,000 protesters chanted slogans such as "Get out occupier!".
Iraqi and US negotiators drafted the deal after months of talks but it still needs approval from Iraq's government.
Under the agreement US troops would withdraw by 2011, and Iraq would have the right to prosecute Americans who commit crimes while off-duty.
The UN mandate for US-led coalition forces expires at the end of this year. About 144,000 of the 152,000 foreign troops deployed there are US military personnel.
Political battle
Chanting slogans and waving banners, tens of thousands of Shias, mainly young men, marched on the eastern suburb of Sadr City towards the centre of Baghdad. The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says Moqtada Sadr's militant opposition to the US presence has strong grassroots support among many Shias - and this was a physical manifestation of that opposition.
He says leaders of the 30-strong Sadr bloc in the Iraqi parliament will have expressed that rejection at a meeting of Iraq's Political Council for National Security late on Friday.
The meeting of top political leaders and the heads of parliamentary factions was convened to discuss the draft agreement covering the US military presence after its mandate expires.
No decisions were taken but the Council is to meet again to hear back from military experts on what is a very complex and detailed document.
Our correspondent says its passage through parliament may follow naturally if it is approved by the Council, but this is by no means assured and a tough political battle is already shaping up.
In Washington, US defence chief Robert Gates has been courting support for the deal from key members of Congress...
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I wonder if Al Sadr is looking at the American Presidential polls and betting that help is on the way from Obama?
There fixed it.
This will be the only Iraq story to make the news today.
i guess iraq is a No win situatian right now. if the troops stay they will be seen more and more as occupiers. if they leave civil war will break out
No question at all.
Guaranteed. The last thing islamo facist want is McCain elected.
Exactly. This is the Obama effect kicking in early.
“i guess iraq is a No win situatian right now. if the troops stay they will be seen more and more as occupiers. if they leave civil war will break out”
Iraq became a no-win situation when we decided to nation-build with our military instead of doing what our military does best.
They should have started, on day one, to shoot looters on the spot. That would have made an enormous difference in the entire relationship.
snip “An estimated 50,000 protesters chanted....”
50,000? In whose estimate? I don’t believe any numbers these people put forward.
Show me an aerial photograph.
Where are the pix of Green Helmet Guy and Saddam’s old information minister?
hit the link to the bbc page.
there is a short video of the protests
Why have we not gotten Mookie yet....?
“They should have started, on day one, to shoot looters on the spot. That would have made an enormous difference in the entire relationship.”
It would have been a good idea, to be sure, but in the end, it’s the whole concept of nation-building - that somehow, some way (and with enough money) we can pull an Arab democracy out of a camel’s @ss.
“Iraq would have the right to prosecute Americans who commit crimes while off-duty.”
Just before our troops submit to sharia law, Hillary will sign on as a `Victoria’s Secret’ model.
My question exactly. (Well, not quite. My language was a little more um, colorful...?)
Iraqis stage mass anti-US rally
Correction:
Some Iraqis stage mass anti-US rally
There. That’s better.
STFU, Sadr and your little Iranaian thugs. Go back to Iran where you belong.
Some Iraqis stage mass anti-US rally
There. That’s better.
Here, I'll take it one step further.
A few Iraqis and a bunch of Iranian scumbags stage mass anti-US rally.
Thank you.
That is MUCH more accurate.
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