Tens of thousands Iraqis had a very clear message, "The United States is not wanted in Iraq." At first I doubted Saddam Hussein would have ever objected to such a protest, but then it occured to me that probably wasn't what the White House was getting at--it's more like, "Look, now your voice is being ignored by our government just like the American citizen's voice is."
, rallies, protest invasion anniversary
Iraq-USA, Politics, 4/9/2007
Iraqi newspapers were not published on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of invasion of the country.
More than 200 Iraqi newspapers refused to publish any article as a show of strong protest to the invasion.
However, the city of Najaf has witnessed one the most expanded public protest rallies against the US invasion of Iraq.
There was sparse traffic on the streets and markets of Baghdad were closed.
The Iraqi government has imposed a curfew on traffic of vehicles in the capital of the country, and all offices and ministries were also closed.
On the occasion of the anniversary, the curfew was implemented on car traffic in Hilla, capital city of Babylon province, on Monday.
The LA times reported that tens of thousands protested the US presence in Iraq, with the call by Muqtada al-Sadr cited as one of the reasons, saying "The crowd set fire to U.S. and Israeli flags in a counterpoint to the jubilant images of Iraqis welcoming U.S. soldiers four years ago and toppling Saddam's statue in central Baghdad."
Gordon Johndroe, special assistant to US president George W. Bush and NSC spokesman, was asked today for reaction to Muqtada al Sadr's urging his followers to rise up against the U.S. forces in Iraq. Johndroe said "You know, the reports I've seen are that Sadr has urged his various militias, who are, again I remind everyone, operating outside the rule of law in Iraq, to not fight Iraqi security forces. And I think this sort of comment is not surprising, given these Iraqi security forces are having some success against the Jaish al Mahdi militias. And so we, the United States, and you heard Prime Minister Maliki say, everyone operating outside the rule of law need to -- will be dealt with."
He added "And I note today that Sadr called for massive protests. I'm not sure that we've seen that, those numbers materialize and the numbers that he was seeking in his call from his hangout in Iran. But Iraq, four years on, is now a place where people can freely gather and express their opinions. And that was something they could not do under Saddam. And while we have much more progress ahead of us -- the United States, the coalition and Iraqis have much more to do -- this is a country that has come a long way from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein."
