Posted on 02/17/2011 2:33:02 PM PST by Eleutheria5
BAGHDAD -About 2,000 demonstrators attacked government offices in a southern Iraqi province, ripping up pavement stones to hurl at a regional council headquarters in a protest over shoddy public services that left dozens of people injured, officials said.
The demonstration was among the most dramatic since Iraqis began venting their anger about dysfunctional government at all levels in relatively small protests across the country — an echo of the tumult happening across the Arab world. Unlike protesters in other countries demanding democracy or regime change, however, demonstrators in Iraq have focused on unemployment, corruption and a lack of electricity.
The top medical official in Wasit province, Diaa al-Aboudi, said 55 people were injured — including three critically — in the protests in the city of Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad. He said some of them were shot by police while others were hit by stones or suffered burns.
Kut police denied firing on the protesters and blamed the governor's bodyguards and private security guards at one of the buildings. The governor could not immediately be reached for comment. But al-Aboudi said witnesses and ambulance workers reported that police fired on the demonstrators. Al-Aboudi also said demonstrators threw stones at ambulances who came to rescue the wounded.
Protesters threw stones at the provincial council headquarters, set a trailer outside the building on fire and rushed inside the compound, said Sondos al-Dahabi, a spokeswoman for Wasit province. She added that authorities have imposed a curfew in the city as night fell.
(Excerpt) Read more at aolnews.com ...
That must be really bad public services. LOL. What are Kut police, and what does this have to do with Kurds?
Mooselimbs and DUmocrats got their marching orders this week.....convenient?!
I think someone confused Iraq and Wisconsin in this story...
Yes, the poor sentence structure creates that impression, ending as it does with;
Was it the melee of the protest, complete with airborne paving stones that caused the injuries, or was it the shoddy public services?
Its always sumthin.
And $1 trillion and 5000 sons dead 30,000 wounded for this? And we don’t even get their oil? This is crap.
Are you saying that our sons and daughters, who have fought and served valiantly did it for nothing, newbie?
Because of THIS, you say that their sacrifice was for nothing?
You're all messed up, newbie. ALL messed up. SHAME on you!
Baghdad City Government Demands $1 Billion From U.S. for War Damages
Wow, and I thought our public services were bad.
Your American public school education on display. No knowledge of sentence construction, but they can probably name 142 different sexual positions off the top of their head.
As the old editor said, "The panda eats, shoots, and leaves."
SSDD in Islam.
“”...over shoddy public services that left dozens of people injured, officials said.””
I had to read that sentence several times! I gave up trying to figure it out and thought I’d scroll down to see if the FReepers knew more about the shoddy public services that caused injuries to people.
The fact that they were not summarily fed into a plastic shredder.... feet first, means something to ME.
Well I am no noob and I will say it. Iraq was not worth it.
The Bush family obsession with Iraq cost us dearly for little in return.
And don't give me the WMD crap. Saddam couldn't run a garage sale let alone a real WMD program. Now all his stuff is in Syria with people who can and are willing to use it.
I suspect the CIA has been sabotaging the US on this since the first boot crossed over from Kuwait. Too many leaks. Too many things going wrong. They’re like the Templar Knights, grown too big for their britches.
Well I am no noob and I will say it. Iraq was not worth it.
Millions of Americans, including our troops and military families are most certainly not "stuck on stupid."
Leaving aside your dopey ad hominem against me and your baseless, leftist propaganda about the Bush family and Iraq, the newbie's opinion that this violent incident proves that Iraq was "not worth it" is illogical and short sighted.
If we had not had the victory in Iraq that we did; if Saddam Hussein were still in power building his nuclear weapons in addition to Iran's doing so, waging war against the US against UN resolutions, we would be in much greater danger than we are now. We would be without an ally in the heart of the ME, and we would be still be dealing with Iraq's support of terrorism world wide.
The other side of the argument is not stupid. It is a different opinion, and one shared by most of our military.
Deal with it.
Historic fact disagrees with you. I suggest you have a long hard look at the Kurds curled up into a rictus ball from nerve gas poisoning before you come here saying such idiotic drivel again.
I’m an “oldie” and I don’t think that installing a pro-Iran Shi’ite regime in Baghdad (that is dedicated to imposing Shariah), constitutes “liberation.”
But millions of people are now determining their own government, not being tortured, and not living under a cruel dictator, and not being shot for not cheering for him in the streets.
Therefore, I disagree that they have not been liberated. They have been.
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