Posted on 04/16/2007 5:26:42 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The nightmare Bush dreads most By Dilip Hiro
Public opinion polls are valuable chips to play for those engaged in a debate of national or international consequence. In the end, however, they are abstract numbers. It is popular demonstrations which give them substance, color, and - above all - wide media exposure, and make them truly meaningful. This is particularly true when such marches are peaceful and disciplined in a war-ravaged country like Iraq.
This indeed was the case with the demonstration on April 9 in Najaf. Over a million Iraqis, holding aloft thousands of national flags, marched, chanting, "Yes, yes, Iraq/No, no, America" and "No, no, American/Leave, leave occupier."
The demonstrators arrived from all over the country in response to a call by Muqtada al-Sadr, a radical Shi'ite cleric, to demand an end to foreign occupation on the fourth anniversary of the end of Ba'athist rule in Baghdad.
Both the size of the demonstration and its composition were unprecedented. "There are people here from all different parties and sects," Hadhim al-Araji, Muqtada's representative in Baghdad's Kadhimiya district, told reporters. "We are all carrying the national flag, a symbol of unity. And we are all united in calling for the withdrawal of the Americans."
The presence of many senior Sunni clerics at the head of the march, which started from Muqtada's mosque in Kufa, a nearby town, and the absence of any sectarian flags or images in the parade, underlined the ecumenical nature of the protest.
(Excerpt) Read more at atimes.com ...
That number seems bogus to me. The Iraqis at the blog IRAQ THE MODEL put the number at about 5,000.
Wasn’t it more like 7,000?
Roger that ... this piece is simply a hit piece. Either that or the writer is in serious need of a good ophthalmologist.
I’ll bet thousand attended and had photos of themselves for insurance in case they hear a loud knock on the door in the middle of the night.
Most probably is lower than a million which would have attracted far more coverage.Hyberbole-an old trick of the media!!
By Omar, Iraw The Model, April 10th:
“Speaking of the Sadrists’ pitiful demonstrations. His aides were hoping to gather a million marchers for yesterday but all they could manage were less than ten thousands, that’s even when they bussed people from Baghdad and Basra.
The Arabic-speaking al-Alam Iranian channel claims the number was “hundreds of thousands” but that’s just al-Alam, other channels and the footage we saw all put the number between 5 and 10 thousand.
I had personally been to a demonstration of 10 thousands once and what I saw yesterday was definitely smaller.”
Asia Times Online has a bad habit of repeating whatever Islamist dreck is placed before it.
1. Popularity no longer matters for Bush.
2. The rally was quite small.
3. Sadr is a coward— out of the country— and everyone knows it
4. Iraqis are more united against terrorism than evere.
The Beeb says “hundreds of thousands”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6537861.stm
I really can’t decide which to believe-million seems sure to be bogus,but anything over 15,000 thousand is worrisome itself.Sadr maybe a coward,& so is Bin Laden,but that hasn’t stopped thousands from being willing to die for them.The worrisome part is what the author supposedly talks about-a reconciliation between Sadr & Al-Sistani.
That's a pretty serious difference. I doubt the military would lowball it that much if the crowd was a million.
Anyway, as far as getting us out, if the duly constituted government of Iraq said Yankee go home, we'd have a pretty hard time staying.
Iranians organized much of the protest, and the protest number in the article is inflated. Also, al-Sadr’s people are resigning from their cabinet positions in Iraq. That piece might be good propaganda for goading our leaders into taking care of business with Iran, though.
Can someone get an accurate number. I heard that it was a few thousand at most...
Any Iraqi government with an iota of common sense will ask that US forces stay for atleast the next 5 to 7 years irrespective of the deterioration or improvement of the situation on the ground.Doing otherwsise is to give a red carpet welcome for civil war.
“Over a million Iraqis, holding aloft thousands of national flags, marched,”
Mr. Hiro must have been the only person who saw this. I wonder what axe he has to grind.
a million or a hundred thousand or 7000...
would have been dead had they tried it with Saddam in power...
and they wouldn't’t have tried it.
There was a picture on the webb of the demonstration. First a tight shot that looked like tens of thousands and then a long shot that showed what a poor turnout it was.
Hiro seems to have consistently been opposed to the war & occupation in Iraq.So that’s one sizable axe.His views on Islamic terrorism,otherwise,seem pretty straightforward.
Hiro seems to have consistently been opposed to the war & occupation in Iraq.So that’s one sizable axe.His views on Islamic terrorism,otherwise,seem pretty straightforward.
Think about it.
If a million people had marched we’d still be hearing about it on the MSM. In point of fact, however, most accounts had the march a failure and the stories were brief and quickly dropped from coverage.
Asia Times has a stable of Islamists and anti-American writers.
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