[Vision2020] Protests Against U.S.-Iraqi Security Deal In Baghdad

[Ted Moffett]

Other issues, like the economy and the US election, have pushed the US
occupation of Iraq out of the news somewhat... The UN mandate for the US to
continue the occupation will expire this year.  A new agreement with the
"Iraqi  government" to allow the US to "legally" continue the occupation is
in the works.  The next administration I suspect will be saddled with a
continuing occupation costing billions upon billions of dollars, as US
citizens' standard of living declines in a struggling economy:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/18/content_10215152.htm


  Thousands of Sadr followers protest U.S.-Iraqi security deal in Baghdad


  *www.chinaview.cn* <http://www.chinaview.cn> *2008-10-18 17:05:29*

*Special report: **Tension escalates in Iraq*
<http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/07ylk/index.htm>

    BAGHDAD, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr took to the streets in eastern Baghdad on Saturday to
protest a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement under tight security measures, an
Interior Ministry source and witnesses said.

    The throngs gathered since early morning at the Mudhaffar Square in the
neighborhood of Sadr City and took their way to the Mustansriyah Square in
Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, a ministry source told Xinhua on
condition of anonymity.

    Iraqi security forces cordoned off the area, blocking all the roads
leading to the route of the demonstration, the source said.

    The crowd, mostly young men wearing white robes and carrying green flags
and some carrying Iraqi flags, chanted "go out occupiers" and "no, no to the
agreement."

    Some demonstrators were holding pictures of Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr, while some others were burning effigy representing U.S. President
George W. Bush.

    "We don't want any existence for the U.S. troops in Iraq. We had enough
from those people and now we want them out of our country," Ismael Nahi, a
Shiite protester who came from Iskan neighborhood in western Baghdad to
participate in the rally, told Xinhua.

    Muhammad Mahdi, another protester told Xinhua that "not only Shiites
were joining the rally, but also Kurdish and Sunni people who come from the
Kurdish province of Duhuk and the Sunni city of Samarra from Salahudin
province."

    "We Iraqis from all factions are against occupation," 36-year-old Mahdi,
a Sunni whose family has been displaced from the volatile Diyala province
two years ago and now lives in northern Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab.

    Ahmad al-Masaudi, a Shiite lawmaker from Sadr movement, told Xinhua
"this agreement is only to legitimize the presence of foreign forces in
Iraq."

    Reports said that the controversial pact between Iraq and the United
States will grant the U.S. troops legal status to stay in Iraq after the UN
mandate expires at the end of this year.

    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is facing mounting pressure in Iraq
to uphold national sovereignty and interest.

    The Americans frequently blames Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia for
fuelling sectarian violence with Sunni Muslims.
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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