Shi’ite Marchers Demand US Leave Iraq-Nam

Four years ago, US General Tommy Franks joined Alexander the Great and Tamerlane on the list of men who have conquered Mesopotamia. Indeed, Baghdad fell to US forces four years ago today. To mark the occasion, tens of thousands of Shi’ite Iraq-Namese marched through the holy city of Najaf demanding that foreign troops leave their country. What’s particularly significant is the participation in this march of elected members of the Iraq-Namese parliament. While legislators in Washington debate on whether, when and how to withdraw US forces, many legislators in Baghdad have made up their minds.

Nassar al-Rubaie, head of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s bloc in parliament, said, “The enemy that is occupying our country is now targeting the dignity of the Iraqi people. After four years of occupation, we have hundreds of thousands of people dead and wounded.” In a statement, issued yesterday, the al-Sadr group issued a statement claiming to have come directly from its leader, which read, “You, the Iraqi army and police forces, don’t walk alongside the occupiers, because they are your archenemy.” Salah al-Obaydi, another leader of the al-Sadr group, said that the rally was a “call for liberation,” adding “We’re hoping that by next year’s anniversary, we will be an independent and liberated Iraq with full sovereignty.”

The al-Sadr bloc is a significant part of the ruling coalition holding a quarter of the government’s seats. The situation is amusing and confusing. The US administration says it must keep its troops in Iraq-Nam to protect a “young democracy.” One of the constituent parts of the coalition that governs said democracy has identified US and other foreign troops as the “archenemy.” So apparently, the US is fighting and its troops are dying to preserve a government that, at least in part, views the US and its troops as the enemy. At least during the Vietnamese conflict, the US never fought to support Ho Chi Minh.

The rest of the Iraq-Namese regime has been suspiciously quiet during the last few hours. Its only action in response to this massive protest has been to revoke April 9’s status as a day off. This does not bode well for the future of the regime, and indeed, this journal is on record as predicting Prime Minister al-Maliki will be out of office before the end of the year. The split is now almost inevitable.

America’s current commander in Iraq-Nam, General David H. Petraeus, issued a statement to the people of Najaf which read in part, “On this April 9th, some Iraqis reportedly may demonstrate against the coalition force presence in Iraq. That is their right in the new Iraq. It would only be fair, however, to note that they will be able to exercise that right because coalition forces liberated them from a tyrannical, barbaric regime that never would have permitted such freedom of expression.” The Sadrists seem to think that after four years, “thank you” should be followed by “and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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