Hey! I thought they LOVED us now!
 

Baghdad Residents Protest U.S. Troops
4 minutes ago

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Troops captured about 30 paramilitary fighters north of the Iraqi capital on Friday, and thousands of Baghdad residents demonstrated against the U.S. occupation on the second Muslim day of prayers since the regime's collapse.

In the center of the city, the Ministry of Information was in flames, apparently ignited by looters. Soldiers surrounded the 10-story building as looters tried to carry away a few last prizes. A recording played over Army loudspeakers, warning people in Arabic to leave the area "immediately or there will be consequences."

At morning prayers, Sheik Ahmed al-Kubeisy rejected the troops' "occupation" and said American soldiers should leave the country soon, before Iraqis expel them, Arab news channel Al-Jazeera reported.

His calls for U.S. forces to leave Iraq (news - web sites) drew cheers and chants of "Allah Akbar" (God is great) from worshippers gathered in the Abu Haneefa al-Nu'man Mosque in the Azameyah neighborhood in Baghdad.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis protested the U.S. military presence after the prayers, and called for solidarity between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

North of the city, an armored unit of the 4th Infantry Division attacked an airfield after intelligence data from an unmanned reconnaissance plane showed paramilitary fighters loading ammunition into pickup trucks. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, of U.S. Central Command, said the Army unit destroyed eight vehicles and captured more than 30 Iraqi fighters.

A contingent of five Marines was guarding a looted laboratory near the Ministry of Health for a third day Friday; they said they've been told anyone who enters could catch diseases because of broken bottles. A sign in Arabic warned, "Danger Danger — Keep Out. The ground is infected with HIV (news - web sites), cholera, polio (news - web sites) and other diseases."

"We've been told not to go in," said Pfc. Ryan Welch, 22, of Dallas. "We're here to make sure it's secured and to make sure that nobody else goes in, either."

Also Friday, opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress followers set up makeshift headquarters at two neighboring social clubs in the affluent Mansour district, guarded by U.S. armored vehicles and elements of the new Free Iraqi forces. Ousted President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s sons, Oday and Qusai, once belonged to the clubs.

The lack of basic services such as power, water and police protection has hobbled the city's economy and fueled a mixture of rage and resentment against American forces. Iraqis are angry that U.S. troops rarely assume the role of police and resentful when they do.

Bandits have ransacked libraries, museums, government buildings hospitals and schools. When thieves blasted into a branch of the al-Rashid Bank on Thursday, outraged residents — including many who held accounts there — surrounded them, demanding they hand over the money. U.S. soldiers intervened, firing shots into the air, and a dozen robbers were detained.

Restoring power, the U.S. military has said, is the No. 1 priority for Baghdad. But some residents, weary of guarding their homes and businesses round-the-clock, say they crave law and order (news - Y! TV) even more. Ultimately, electricity and security may be the same thing; water is involved too. Purification plants need power to operate.

"Without power, there is no peace," said Haifa Aziz, manager of a power substation. "For hospitals, for schools, for the people, they need electricity."

Iraqi engineers say they hope to restart the city's biggest power plant by Saturday, which in turn would kick-start the country's largest power plant to the south. If that works, plant workers said Thursday, electricity could be restored to most of the country within 10 days.

Why the lights went out in Baghdad on April 3 is not clear. U.S. Central Command has said it did not target power stations.

Janan Behnam, chief engineer of Baghdad's key power plant, says the problem was breaks in the lines that supply fuel to the plant. Gunshots, not U.S. bombs, shattered the lines — "a mistake," Behnam said without elaborating. U.S. Army officers confirmed line breaks were the key problem reported to them.

Without the fuel, the plant can produce only one of the seven to nine megawatts needed to power up and get electricity surging. Behnam and his team have worked frantically to overcome problems at the plant, which is held secure by soldiers of the Army's 101st Airborne Division.

Hey, Max, are we killing them for protesting against us? Nope. Did they have that ability and right under Saddam? Nope. So why don't you go back to sweeping the floors of your grand exhibits.

you missed the point :(

Becuase I work for the Exhbits department and we contract our janitorial work to Unnico.

You missed my point again. And I try so hard to keep them simple.

I'm merely pointing out that perhaps the joyous celebration so wiodely reported was no more representative than this demonstration. It's pretty hard to tell were we stand with the Iraqi people as 'liberators' right now.

THAT would be my point.

my comprehension and deductive reasoning skills are better than vince's. :)

hooray? :(

Excellent, Glow! We can use you as the normative control group in our study. Now fecth me a sea slug and we can begin.

this one looks like lettuce :)

Is there anyone that did NOT foresee this coming ... :lol not the sea slug. :)

It seems like that in most our nation's attempts at humanitariam missions ... U.N. backed or not ... that the host country's attitude is always "Thank you! Thank you! Now get the &*$@* out of here!"

On a side note: I'm kind of sick of the media's condescending attitude of the Iraqi people (re: looting and rioting). It seems like they've conveniently forgotten the Angeleans reaction to the OJ verdict ... not exactly the actions of rational adults and we're supposed to be the civilized ones. :/ >:

The Iraqis ALWAYS had the right to protest Americans under Saddam.

But this one guy wrote a BOOK about how he was wrong to be against the war!?

@#%$

Someone tell me what to think, please.

Chimp!

Excellent point, sir!

Achimp always has a way of briefly stating what it takes my dumb ass a whole paragraph to communicate. If it wasn't for that olympic hockey thing ... :)

I see your point here Chimp, but I think I'll still have to agree with Vince here, unfortunately.

I think Vince's point was interchangable. Take out the anti-U.S. sentiment, throw in anti-Ba'athist sentiment, and would this have happened even two weeks ago in Iraq???

It's just a bit ironic. The protests do however prove a point I've been trying to make, and one that folks like Vince have been too thick-headed to understand. The Iraqi people (SURPRISE SURPRISE!) are complex, diverse, and opinionated. They CAN be happy to see Saddam gone, AND be critical of the measures that have been/will be taken!!!

Wait a minute, wait a minute, that's not even POSSIBLE!

FASCIST! >: >: >: >:

Well you wouldn't know it from that article. There were protests. Who protested? Iraqis. What kind of Iraqis? Angry ones! Who are the angry Iraqis? The ones who don't like the US now!

I'm glad we brought the Sunni's and Shiites together as one voice in harmony and all that .... but it would be nice if articles such as this one could diferentiate between the two for the few of us who still care. If it was a Sunni cleric, or Sunni led dissent ... then that's really not much of a news story at all.

Sure it is. The argument being made by many is that NOBODY, not even those closest to Saddam, REALLY could've liked the man or supported him if other options were available. They "all" love America, and they're "all" grateful to us.

Whp pulled down the statue? Were they "IRAQIS!", or were they Ahmad Chalabi's people? See, I don't think the media is creating these generalizations intentionally, I think they truly are based on ignorance, and in that case might be slightly excusable (least of all devious).

I agree, it's ignorance, but I also think it's easy to apply an outraged reaction to articles like these due to the same ignorance.

Chalabi's crew pulled down the big Saddam statue, but there were certainly others celebrating, and yanking down posters. Hard to tell if anyone sitting in Iraq can distinguish Chalabi's group from their own. Chances are yes they can. Then again, Iraq is a place where people are used to controlled chaos. This time it's a little less controlled.... but standing in the street firing off a shot gun into the air for no reason, or maybe lots of reasons, is just something that comes natural for a lot of them. To sit here and analyze it before the dust has settled is a little too much like taking the attitude that we've all gone to the Bronx zoo and actually got to see an animal for a change.

AChimp's Reply
 

- Nasty reminder, but so very true. Ever wonder where liberated Iraqis get those U.S. flags they sometimes wave?

The praise heaped upon me in this thread calls for the new pickle hat emoticon.

:picklehat

Re: AChimp's Reply
 

Secret supply, meant for burning at mass rallies. Saddam kept them near his Cubans.

Now it's thos portraits of the Bush girls I find a real mystery.

What about that flag with Rocky Balboa on it??? Who the hell was watching Rocky IV in Iraq...?

"The Iraqis ALWAYS had the right to protest Americans under Saddam."

AND!!???

Aren't you forgetting something.

THEY WERE ALSO PROTESTING SADDAM!!!

DID THEY HAVE THAT RIGHT!!??!!

Really, can you blame them for protesting......

I can't. I'm glad they have the right and the will to stand of and fight for their way of life.

Soon they will have a say in how their govt' is operated.

Soon our troops will be home.

Way to get the point of the thread like a good conservative.




I'm working on getting Ronnie's style down.

But wait a minute, Ronnie. Sure, you say that our troops will be home soon...but Syria is right there and our troops are already over there, you know...