Re: Second day of demonstrations (was: Re: Baghdad demo against occupation

["LouPaulsen" <LouPaulsen@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From english.aljazeera.net (this has been quite accessible in recent days):

Anti-US protest in Baghdad

A noisy crowd of Iraqis gathered around Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel and raised
anti-American slogans on Sunday, signaling that the popular mood in the
besieged capital was fast turning against the US troops.

Fed up with the anarchy and looting as also the breakdown of essential
services ever since the start of the war, the protestors yelled that the US
troops were doing nothing to help restore normal life in the city.

“They are guarding oil facilities, but have not done anything as yet to
restore essential services like power and water, “ alleged Ali Zuhair.
Another of the protestors said that the “Americans were interested only in
oil.”

Stung by the pitch of the protests, US soldiers quickly set up barricades
round the hotel to keep the protestors at bay.

But the US soldiers could do little to silence the protestors. They shouted
slogans in praise of Iraq and warned against any attempt to thrust upon the
Iraqis a military of a “foreign” government.

“Iraq, you are our beloved country and your sun will never set,” they
chanted.

As everyone in the crowd expressed their collective dismay over the anarchy,
one university teacher said he had witnessed some US soldiers encouraging
the looters to plunder a university.

“I saw for myself how the US troops goaded Iraqis to loot and burn the
University of Technology,” claimed the professor Shakir Aziz.

Elsewhere too, Iraqis both inside and outside of Baghdad poured scorn over
the US and British troops for having done precious little to prevent the
country from spiraling into lawlessness.

The dean of Basra university, Abdul Jabar al-Khalifa was gripped with rage
as he surveyed the charred remains of what once used to be his office. “Is
this freedom of Iraq or the freedom of thieves,” he questioned.

Southern Iraq’s prestigious university has suffered terrible losses in the
anarchy that followed the war. Looters over ran it and computers, air
conditioning units and furniture were carried away before the mobs set large
parts of the campus on fire.

The disconsolate University dean was convinced that the British were to be
blamed.  “They didn’t do anything to stop the looters. I hold them therefore
responsible,” he said.

Other Basra residents were equally bitter of the British troops. “They did
not make any effort for the first few days. They did not move until too
late,” alleged Al-Habib, a US-returned academic.

As in Basra, many in Baghdad have begun to eye the foreign troops more as
villains than “liberators.”

“The last few days have been worse than all my days under Saddam,” insisted
Ahmed al-Khatib, an elderly resident.

Many also suspected sinister designs behind the lawlessness.  In between
patrolling his neighborhood of Al Mansura against looters, Ahmed Aziz
al-Hadithi alleged that “the looters were spies bought off by those who
wanted to destroy Iraq.”

“One day or another, honest Iraqis are going to force out the Americans, not
for the sake of Saddam Hussein, but for the sake of Iraq,”  Hadithi
said. --- Al Jazeera with agency inputs

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>From an AP story:

But anger still simmered at U.S. troops for allowing four straight days of
pillaging.

New graffiti, scrawled in English, appeared on a Baghdad wall: "Bush
supports looters."

Outside the Palestine Hotel, where foreign journalists are staying, a crowd
of at least 60 people vented their anger at the Americans. They carried
banners that read: "Bush Down," "American Forces must leave immediately" and
"Bush + Saddam One."

The Al-Jazeera television network showed live footage of police officers
demanding they be allowed to go back to their duties and restore security.
Scores of people surrounding them held banners and cheered.