Anti-War Protest in Iraq: Sunni & Shiite Together Protest the 2yr Occupation

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press

Saturday April 09, 2005 14:20

by redjade

This is what Democracy looks like(?)

"Tomorrow will be the second black anniversary of the Iraq occupation," he said during the sermon. "We have seen nothing but bloodshed, destruction, pillage and thievery before the very eyes of the Iraqi people, who are looking on as their sons are butchered, detained, and the state funds looted and taken outside the country by the thieves who have taken over."

Two Clerics Call for Protests in Baghdad
- Sunni, Shiite Decry 2-Year U.S. Presence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38385-2005Apr8.html

Two militant Muslim clerics, one Sunni and one Shiite, have called for demonstrations here Saturday to protest the continuing U.S. military occupation of Iraq two years after the toppling of President Saddam Hussein.

If the protests materialize, they will be the first large-scale rallies to occur under Iraq's new government, whose most senior leaders -- President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari -- were formally installed this week. Jafari is now forming his cabinet.

[....]

[Harith Dhari, chairman of the Association of Muslim Scholars] maintains that the new Iraqi government is illegitimate because it was elected under military occupation, and he is widely seen as sympathetic to the predominantly Sunni insurgency that targets U.S. forces and Iraqis who work with them.

"Tomorrow will be the second black anniversary of the Iraq occupation," he said during the sermon. "We have seen nothing but bloodshed, destruction, pillage and thievery before the very eyes of the Iraqi people, who are looking on as their sons are butchered, detained, and the state funds looted and taken outside the country by the thieves who have taken over."

He added: "I call on the Iraqi people to wake up from their sleep and to say with one united voice, 'No to occupation!' and to go out tomorrow in demonstrations in all parts of the country -- in Basra, Baghdad, Mosul, Dahuk and everywhere."

There are indications that the Sunni and Shiite anti-occupation forces are collaborating. In Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, spokesmen for Sadr and the Association of Muslim Scholars said in interviews Friday that they supported each other's calls for a U.S. withdrawal.

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photos by REUTERS/AFP's Ali Jasim
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050409/ids_photos_wl/r1557048258.jpg
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050409/ids_photos_wl/r1306355167.jpg