Shiites March in Baghdad Against U.S.

Associated Press ^ | 05-20-03

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Shiites. So that's how they spell it these days.

[blackbart.223]

"I'm afraid the Shiites are going to be a big problem. How can they be handled?"

This is the paradox of The Middle East. You liberate these backward idiots and they protest you for doing it. And believe me if they gain power they will deny the right to protest to anyone who doesn't cow to them. The whole region is a cesspool of of fanitics not willing to enter the twenty first century.

[CyberAnt]

declare martial law

[Free ThinkerNY]

It seems that whenever we come to the rescue of Muslims (Bosnia and Afganistan vs. Soviets), they show their appreciation by stabbing us in the back. Will Iraq be any different?

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

IMO this is being orchestrated by Iran. The last thing they want to see is a representative secular government in Iraq. Would leave too many in Iran asking for the same. They want the liberalization of Iraq to fail so they can install an Islamic theocratic government there. Left unchecked, there is a good chance that they could succeed. We can't let this happen.

[blackbart.223]

"It makes me wonder about their level of intelligence."

I have long since stopped wondering about that. They're all nuts or worse.

Bart.

[blackbart.223]

"I mean, these people have to learn to all live together in a civil manner. How do we get them to even consider that notion?"

Rome couldn't do it. Many others have tried in the centuries that have ensued. Unless you can shock them out of religous fanaticisim I see little hope short of brute force.

[CyberAnt]

Well ... it took us 7 years in Japan. But ... look at the result. Japan is a healthy and thriving democracy.

Today, a guy named Tom Sullivan was subbing for Rush. He said that he was curious about what we did after the war ended in Japan. MacArthur went there in August of 1945, and we were still there until 1952. Tom said he was very surprised to see that Japan had the very same problems we have now in Iraq; looting, shooting, etc. Plus, as Tom pointed out, we didn't have any such thing as "smart bombs" so all the infrastructure was destroyed.

After ONLY 5 WEEKS - I don't know why people are expecting so much in such a short time. You simply cannot create a democracy in 5 weeks.

And ... our own democracy didn't happen in 5 weeks either.

[noutopia]

I saw them for 9 months in the first Gulf war.They are like small kids in thier thinking.

[MEG33]

This was supposed to be amillion..ten thousand isn't that big a march for Baghdad.Watch Iran..they are culprits in a lot of unrest and are harboring collaborators in SA bombing.

[Hugin]

I wouldn't get too pesimistic. Thousands (how many?) marched. Hundreds of thousands didn't. Just like here, those with a gripe go into the streets and complain, and the media covers it. Those who are happy stay home and are ignored. If you listened only to the media you would have thought the Hate America Firsters were the majority here.

[sheik yerbouty]

With an iron fist.

[Mike Darancette]

Thousands of Shiite Muslims staged the largest protest against America's presence in Iraq since the war's end with a noisy but peaceful rally.

I guess they havne't been paying attention to the mass graves that have been uncovered, graves that resulted from US troops pulling out in 1991.

It seems that the slave mentality is alive and well in Iraq.

[Joe Hadenuf]

We were warned long ago about foreign entanglements......