Anti-American Iraqis Demonstrate on Anniversary of Baghdad's Fall

While Shakespeare had it right about the serpent's tooth and an ungrateful child, he could have thrown in a liberated nation as well. Two years after US-led coalition forces entered Baghdad and rid the Iraqi nation of Saddam Hussein, the Iraq people gathered in Fidros Square, in that same city. On their lips were the cries of the occupied, not the liberated. "No, no to the occupiers!" and "No America! No Saddam ! Yes to Islam!" The marines are still waiting for the sweets and flowers they were promised.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Tens of thousands of Iraqis were not supposed to protest the continued American presence after January's elections. Democracy was supposed to reconcile the people to the new situation. Instead, the 60% of the population that is Shi'ite and, therefore, co-religionists with the theocrats in Tehran, have discovered that they matter enough to call the shots. Letting the Kurds have the presidency and the Sunnis the defense portfolio doesn't mean anything in a street-fight. In democracy, quantity is the only quality that counts.

Once again, it was the hot-head Moqtada al Sadr and his Mehdi Army that was at the forefront here. If Ayatollah Sistani is playing the role of the aging Hindenburg, al Sadr is the role of the young man waiting for his turn to run the nation as he sees fit. Reuters reported no deaths or violence at the demonstration. One would like to think that the Iraqi security forces kept order, since there wasn't an American in sight, but in fact, the Mehdi Army kept order in its people's ranks.

This demonstration had all the hallmarks of a patriotic outpouring. Iraqi flags (and by the way, does anyone remember the redesigned flag the occupation gave the country?) waved in the sunshine. And there were pictures of President Bush, Prime Minister Blair and Saddam Hussein, which one of the demonstrators referred to as the triangle of death. The liberators and the oppressors have become one in his mind. Another protester, identified by Reuters only as Abbas, said, "The Americans wanted time, and we gave them time, now we want to rule ourselves." Will Mr. Bush tell him his country isn't ready?

The lesson here, which the Bush administration and its apologists have missed, is about democracy. Democracy reflects the will of the people, and if the people wish to live under a certain religious system, their government will reflect that. And it will have the support of the people. Just because democracy in the west is typified by civil rights to dissent, to freedom of conscience, and freedom to argue, that doesn't mean that other cultures will accept those as part and parcel of democracy. If the people are illiberal, the democracy will be as well.

Abbas also told Reuters, "I came to Sadr City [where Firdos Square is in Baghdad] to demand a timetable for the withdrawal of the occupation." The Americans and their allies can either announce such a timetable or Abbas and the others may force one upon them.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home