Baghdad demo against occupation

["LouPaulsen" <LouPaulsen@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2003/apr/12/041206703.html

(Long article, worth reading.  Naturally the demonstration, referred to in a
single paragraph in the middle of the article, won't get 1/10000 the press
of "vehicle pulls down statue".  But it obviously opens a new phase of the
struggle against the U.S. occupation.)


Baghdad Seethes With Anger Toward U.S.
By NIKO PRICE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -

At first they cheered, smiled, offered hearty thumbs-ups to the U.S.
soldiers newly in their midst. But across Iraq's lawless capital, that
sentiment is evaporating as quickly as Saddam Hussein's government melted
away.

Baghdad was bursting with anti-American feeling Saturday as residents saw
their city being stripped by its own citizens while U.S. forces stood by,
rarely intervening and in some cases even motioning treasure-laden men
through checkpoints [...]

Elsewhere, the Marines received less enthusiasm. In front of the Palestine
Hotel, an area thick with U.S. Marines, several dozen Iraqis demanded a new
government - now. "We want peace," they chanted in English as Marines looked
on from fighting vehicles.

Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, at U.S. Central Command, says reports of looting
in Iraq are overblown - that many parts of the country are peaceful, and
lawlessness "is already tapering off significantly."