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Iraq
Iraqi Ex-Soldiers Clash Again with Occupying Troops
2003-10-05
EFL/FU
British and U.S. troops clashed on Sunday with hundreds of former soldiers of Saddam Hussein’s army in a second day of violent confrontations which have left at least three Iraqis dead and scores wounded.
Former soldiers = thug losers in most cases
British soldiers fired rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of former Iraqi conscripts who hurled rocks and set tires ablaze in the southern city of Basra.
time to nip this in the bud - real bullets next or they’ll lose some Brits
The protesters gathered early on Sunday after a British soldier shot dead an armed man in Basra the previous day during clashes with Iraqis who had gathered to collect redundancy payments for being laid off from the Iraqi army. Ex-soldiers also clashed with U.S. troops for a second day in Baghdad near a payment center where they are given their $40 compensation for losing their jobs. Around 200 Iraqi men confronted American soldiers, shouting and waving their fists, before being pushed back away from the area.
Hey! That's what they did during the war, too...
Violent protests erupted on Saturday at payment centers in Baghdad, Basra and the town of Hilla. Iraq’s U.S.-led administration said supporters of Saddam fueled the unrest by spreading rumors there was not enough money to pay everyone. The U.S. military said two Iraqis were believed to have been killed in the unrest in Baghdad on Saturday.
Well, that saved 80 bucks...
"Reports to us indicate that there were two killed in Baghdad, and that’s from the Iraqi police, not the coalition," spokesman Lieutenant Colonel George Krivo said. Two U.S. soldiers were also wounded, he said.

IRAQIS DEMAND JOBS
Locals in Basra said five people had been wounded on Sunday by rubber bullets. Iraqi police arrived to help quell the violence and fired in the air, but fled to a nearby university building after running out of bullets, chased by the crowd.
that’s gotta be prevented from re-occurring
Mohammed Jasim Abboud, one of the protesters, said former soldiers needed jobs and money.
Get off your asses - others are learning how to do it
"We’ve had no wages for a while now," he said. "We want our state welfare money rights like everyone else." The U.S.-led administration in Iraq disbanded the country’s army in May, sparking several angry demonstrations by soldiers who said they faced destitution in a country whose economy has been battered by war and years of dictatorship and sanctions. The administration later agreed to make a one-off payment of $40 to around 440,000 former soldiers. Thousands have been queuing daily at payment centers around Iraq to get their cash. The U.S.-led administration says it is doing its best to create jobs and revive the economy. Spokesman Charles Heatly said joblessness before the war was estimated at 60 percent, and the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was trying both to create jobs and to foster the private sector to reduce unemployment. He said hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had been employed in several large-scale public works programs. "All these projects employ large numbers of Iraqis," he said. "And of course we’re taking larger steps to get the private sector going in this country and get this extremely stagnant economy up and running."
Posted by:Frank G

#4  Let's see, there are several thousand buildings that have sustained damage, and need to be cleaned up. There are thousands of damaged and destroyed vehicles that need to be taken care of. There's a million miles of roads that either need to be built, repaired, or cleaned up. There are several tens of thousands of other things that need to be done.

There's a very large religious community that exists in every village and town. Why aren't they working between the coalition and the people that need jobs, to see that things get done? I can't imagine the Baptists, the Methodists, the Catholics, or the Jews having to wait to be asked - they'd be hounding the leaders of the coalition, demanding help in getting these people back to work.

The people still looking for a handout are drones. They've lived so long under a ruthless dictator that told them everything to do, including when and where to squat, that they've forgotten (or perhaps never knew) how to think. There's little they can do, because there's little they WANT to do. The best thing to do with them is to send them to clear some of the millions of mines that exist in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm sure the best of them would learn to clear mines safely. The rest will do whatever they can, but the result will be the same - the mines will be cleared.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2003-10-5 5:53:32 PM  

#3  No Jesseeee is to busy collecting payoffs. I propose Major Sharpton. He's currently on a dead end crusade and will need something to do soon.

dorf
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-10-5 4:46:02 PM  

#2  "We want our rights like everyone else."

Sounds like a job for the Colonel Reverend Jackson.
Posted by: Shipman   2003-10-5 4:03:52 PM  

#1  Demand jobs?

Look around, assholes. See anything that needs fixing? Well, FIX IT!

You find something useful to do and I guarantee somebody will pay you to do it.
Posted by: mojo   2003-10-5 3:13:25 PM  

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