Now how many Iraqis exactly were protesting against the U.S. in Baghdad today? The following news reports all refer to the same incident.
AP:
Thousands of Iraqis demonstrated against the U.S. occupation of Iraq on Friday, the second Muslim day of prayer since the regime's collapseDer Spiegel:
Zehntausende Iraker fordern den Abzug der USAAl Jazeera:
[Tens of thousands of Iraqis demand a US pull-out]
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis demonstrated today...
More interesting -- the Der Spiegel article clarified what the AP story didn't: the protesters weren't nostalgic for Saddam. They were calling for an Islamic state and were carrying signs like this one: "No Bush, No Saddam. Yes, yes for Islam"
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 18, 2003 12:44 PMI think the United States is acutely aware that it is not welcome or liked in the Arab Middle East.
The danger of an Islamic state is there and until countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia [the Bush Administration's holy cow love] have been dealt with, the danger of Islamism remains a high risk.
Islamism will never be eliminated only subdued by deterence. This is because the fundamental irrational ideas of any intellectual movement or religion always reject the right of the individual to their life to a greater or lesser degree.
In the United States it is only the Constitution that protects us. Whether this system will ever be accepted in the Arab Middle-East is open to debate. I would say unlikely because it conflicts with religion. But if governments arise at least along the lines of Egypt then progress will have been made.
It will not be ideal for the people in those countries, far from it, but the issue for me is not that. It is not to have governments that facilitate the Islamists and fund terrorism.
Posted by: David Klotz on April 19, 2003 04:45 AM