Baghdad Under Curfew as Iraq Marks Saddam's Fall

[Hissyspit]

Source: AFP

Baghdad under curfew as Iraq marks Saddam's fall
by Jay Deshmukh
22 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq on Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's iron-fisted regime with the nation still wracked by violence and the capital under curfew.

Baghdad's streets were empty of cars and trucks after the authorities declared a 5:00 am to midnight (0200 GMT to 2100 GMT) vehicle curfew to prevent car bomb attacks by Sunni insurgents on the anniversary of Saddam's ouster by US invading forces. Saddam's hometown of Tikrit was also under a day-long curfew, an AFP correspondent said.

Sadr City, the eastern Baghdad bastion of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was also calm following three days of clashes between his Mahdi Army militia and the security forces which killed dozens of people and wounded scores. Sadr had last week called for a million-strong anti-American demonstration in Baghdad on Wednesday but cancelled it on Tuesday "to save Iraqi blood."

- snip -

More than 700 people have been killed in a fortnight of clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and US forces in Baghdad, the southern port city of Basra and other Shiite regions. Fears of an uptick in the violence are running deep after hardline Sadr, angered by attacks on his militiamen, threatened on Tuesday to end the truce his feared Mahdi Army militia has been observing since August.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080409/wl_afp/iraqwar5years_080409071254

[truthisfreedom]

1. Because freedom is dangerous.

And the kind of "freedom" that can be delivered that the end of a gun can only be supplied by a totally corrupt rethuglican party.

[saigon68]

6. BUT BUT BUT FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH

[jimshoes]

2. And as only a bloodsucking ghoul like donald rumsfeld

could put it, "freedom can be untidy" ...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Declaring that freedom is "untidy," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday the looting in Iraq was a result of "pent-up feelings" of oppression and that it would subside as Iraqis adjusted to life without Saddam Hussein.

"pent-up feelings" of oppression"???? I guess they just won't get over it, eh rummy.

How can any group of people be so wrong about so many things and still not be held accountable?


The rest of that article from 2003 is here, http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/11/sprj.irq.pentagon/

[Barrett808]

3. That's Bush brand liberation

Just as Saddam was a Bush brand dictator.

[Winterblues]

4. More than 700 people have been killed in a fortnight of clashes

Good thing that "Surge" thingy is going on......:shrug:

[Selatius]

5. Predictably, the Repubs will say the surge is working despite the 700 body death count. n/t