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Iraq | ||
Hundreds of Iraqis cheer departure of US forces | ||
2011-12-31 | ||
BAGHDAD -- Hundreds of Sunni Muslims gathered in Baghdad Friday to celebrate the withdrawal of American forces, but in a sign of the sectarian divisions that re-emerged immediately after their departure, Shiite Muslims did not join the event. The celebration took place near the Abu Hanifa mosque, the main house of worship in the primarily Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah in northern Baghdad. To secure the event, Iraqi troops blocked traffic on roads leading to the mosque and searched people approaching the area.
"Baghdad is the castle of resistance," one banner read. "The deeds of the heroes are stronger than the weapons of the occupiers," read another banner. Women threw chocolates to the crowd as a sign of joy. In his sermon, the mosque's preacher, Sheik Ahmed al-Taha, accused the Americans of stirring up sectarian tension among Iraqis. "The occupiers created the sectarian conflict as an exit from the quagmire they found themselves in when they were facing 200 military operations against them every day. By dividing Iraqis, the Americans made Iraqis attack each other instead of attacking them," al-Taha told worshippers. The preacher also called on the government to demand compensation from the Americans for the loss of lives and damage caused during the occupation. The lingering sectarian divisions Iraq faces was clear during the prayer service and rally, which was almost entirely Sunni. Shiites had been invited to join the celebration but did not show up. Shiites have even given the departure of the U.S. forces a different name than the Sunnis have. Sunnis generally call it the "evacuation day," whereas Shiites often refer to it as the "fulfillment day" as a way to show that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who leads a Shiite-dominated government, fulfilled his promise to get all the troops out of the country. In spite of the problems, some Sunnis were optimistic. Omar Abdul-Aziz, 28, said the sectarian conflicts Iraq experienced just a few years ago "won't be repeated because Iraqis now understand that sectarianism was planned by the occupiers."
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Posted by:Steve White |
#8 Glenmore, there are a lot of US allies in SE Asia who got to lose WW-III. |
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-12-31 14:53 |
#7 Everyone 'won' WWIII - because it didn't go nuclear. It helps when enemies are at least both rational. |
Posted by: Glenmore 2011-12-31 14:38 |
#6 I'm from a generation that the old veterans bemoaned how we 'lost' in Korea because we didn't 'win'. I think we 'won' WWIII. |
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-12-31 12:47 |
#5 We too are celebrating all the guys who are back home. Maybe no nation building, but we sure did kick some Sunni/Shia butt. |
Posted by: Creregum Glolump8403 2011-12-31 12:35 |
#4 I'm with anonymoose on this one. The headline should read "Hundreds cheer. Millions worried spitless". |
Posted by: Frozen Al 2011-12-31 10:14 |
#3 There are 30,000,000 Iraqis, of which about 10,000,000 are Sunnis. Of these, they were able to muster "hundreds" to cheer. Big deal. |
Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-12-31 09:26 |
#2 CP, there are many among us who could make the same expression concerning the Europeans or for that matter South Koreans. There are many among us who even though born here have cheered the killers and oppressors. There'll never be a problem for the MSM to find a small group to highlight to promote its own brand of anti-Americanism. I'd think it would be a reasonable bet that after the death of Custer, there were those on the coast who thought it a waste of lives and money to bother settling the Dakotas or with the seemingly unending war with the Apache to waste similar resources on the New Mexico territory. How many could envision what we have today back then to understand the trade offs that are always made. Heck, I'm from a generation that the old veterans bemoaned how we 'lost' in Korea because we didn't 'win'. Anyone who looks at the night imagery of the peninsula today can grasp what has been achieved. However, those results came decade afterward, not in an instant, not in a few years. |
Posted by: P2Kontheroad 2011-12-31 08:08 |
#1
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Posted by: CherryPicker 2011-12-31 06:05 |