REJOICING MINORITY FREE AFTER 35 YEARS (Bennedict Arnett changes tune)

Mirror.co.uk ^ | April 10, 2003 | Peter Arnett

[Yo-Yo]

REJOICING MINORITY FREE AFTER 35 YEARS

I WAS at the centre of a popular uprising in Baghdad yesterday.

At 10am I drove through the city with two Iraqis I have known for many years. They are both Shi’ites.

We headed to Saddam City in the east of Baghdad, where about million people live in slum areas. It is a hotbed of discontent and Islamic fundamentalism, and yesterday, as we arrived, the lid blew off.

There were no military, no police and no militiamen around. We saw people beginning to walk from their houses, looking about. We saw one group go into the home of a Ba’ath Party official, which had clearly been abandoned.

They brought out chairs and televisions. They were starting to just grab things.

As we watched from our car the crowd grew – 20, 30, then about 100. They started chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and “Down with Saddam Hussein”.

They surged towards the Al-Ardalea Mosque with an Islamic flag. Closed for five years the mosque was the centre of discontent here.

Now they were pulling the gates open and pouring inside.

I very carefully got out of the car but the mob saw me. They came running over. It was a frenzied crowd. I thought “Hey... this is it”.

They picked me up and held me in the air along with my two Iraqi friends. They started marching us around the mosque. But they were not threatening.

Quite the opposite. They were all immensely friendly. I must have been kissed 1,000 times from my toes up to the top of my head by these men. They were feverish with excitement.

Screaming and embracing they began chanting “Freedom. Freedom.

Thank you Bush. Thank you Bush.” There was a tremendous spirit. was in the middle of a real revolution. It was contagious.

After about 10 minutes they put us down and a local leader emerged. They talked of independence.

Rahin Gehup is an Islamic fundamentalist and underground leader.

Right there and then he started proclaiming liberation. He got through to CNN on my satellite phone and proclaimed to the world that popular uprising had begun.

He was grateful to the Americans for bringing them freedom. He was happy Saddam Hussein had gone, but he insisted the people of Iraq wanted to run their own government.

This was the first stirrings of popular uprising but it was also the first stirrings of what America going to face in this country.

They want to be free, but in their own way. The fundamentalists want their own government. There are people all over this country who all want to have their own government.

At the same time there was another crowd. They had started to loot buildings, break into government ware-houses and burn down homes.

But I will never forget the sheer joy of the crowd at the mosque.

They were free for the first time in 35 years. They wonder when the Americans will arrive. I think they’ll be there any minute – if not today, tomorrow.

[Yo-Yo]

I very carefully got out of the car but the mob saw me. They came running over. It was a frenzied crowd. I thought “Hey... this is it”.

They picked me up and held me in the air along with my two Iraqi friends. They started marching us around the mosque. But they were not threatening.

Quite the opposite. They were all immensely friendly. I must have been kissed 1,000 times from my toes up to the top of my head by these men. They were feverish with excitement.

Obvioulsy these people didn't catch Arnett's performance on Iraqi television...

[Hildy]

What the hell is going on?

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[Beck_isright]

"Screaming and embracing they began chanting “Freedom. Freedom. Thank you Bush. Thank you Bush.”

Do you get the feeling that Arnett's fingers are all bloody after he typed this and chewed them down to the knuckle in frustration?

V

[Arkinsaw]

Do you get the feeling that Arnett's fingers are all bloody after he typed this and chewed them down to the knuckle in frustration?

I think he probably drank two bottles of whiskey and took a fistful of prozac before he wrote this.

[Cultural Jihad]

Obvioulsy these people didn't catch Arnett's performance on Iraqi television...

Lucky for Benedict Arnett that they didn't know what a tyrant-appeaser and apologist he is.

[mattdono]

Is it possible that Arnett is just a dottering old fool and really doesn't "get it"?

I am just opening up the possibility, though I don't think it is true; I personally think that he is a traitor and should NEVER be allowed back in the U.S. I just can't make sense of this article.

[demnomo]

Obviously these people didn't catch Arnett's performance on Iraqi television..

If they had, Benedict Arnold would have suffered the same fate as those Al Jazeera reporters who were chased back to the Kuwait by the Iraqi people in Basra. Possibly worse.

Why do the jerks seem to have all the luck? When I think of what befell Michael Kelly and then see guys like Peter Arnett walking around, it makes me sick.

I'm suprised that Benedict Arnett didn't do what CCN's Craig Nelson & The Mirror's Robert Fisk did--interview (former Ba'athist) Iraqis who say they want the Americans to go home, now!!!

[OldFriend]

Wondering if this has been edited for American consumption.

[Grymskull]

I doubt this even happend.. I think he is trying to inject himself into the middle of this somehow.. he is a fame whore..

[Lorianne]

As usual Arnett is at the epicenter of the story getting the hero's hoist. Somehow I doubt the veracity of that part.

[Polybius]

(Bennedict Arnett changes tune)

Translation: "Far left tabloids and Arab newspapers don't pay squat for my reports. Can I have my old job back?"

[xJones]

I WAS at the centre of a popular uprising in Baghdad yesterday.

I must be getting slow. Didn't this clown get fired because of declaring "what everyone knows" that the coalition attack was bogged down and a failure? His credit with his new employers can't be too high right now.

[Yankee]

Quite the opposite. They were all immensely friendly. I must have been kissed 1,000 times from my toes up to the top of my head by these men. They were feverish with excitement.

"Then two of them held me, bent over at the waste, and the other 998..........."

[Moonmad27]

Someone on another thread noted that Arnett was seen standing in the crowd by the US soldiers. He reminds me of Claude Rains in Casablanca - willing to change sides whenever necessary.

[Leto]

He was grateful to the Americans for bringing them freedom. He was happy Saddam Hussein had gone, but he insisted the people of Iraq wanted to run their own government.

This was the first stirrings of popular uprising but it was also the first stirrings of what America going to face in this country.

They want to be free, but in their own way. The fundamentalists want their own government. There are people all over this country who all want to have their own government.

Earth to Arnett, we want the SAME thing for Iraqi's, we don't want to dictate how they rule themselves. BUT, we do want them to rule themselves.

HE'll never get it.

I just wish Ronald Reagan could witness the scene today. Thanks again to Bush, Cheney, Rummy and Powell for giving with principled leadership.

[Jhensy]

No, the Shi'ites are the MAJORITY in the country you unemployed drunk communist comb-over assclown.

[stripes1776]

But I will never forget the sheer joy of the crowd at the mosque.

Arnett has been kissing the rearend of the Ba'ath party for years. It sounds like he is trying to court someone else's butt to kiss.

This was the first stirrings of popular uprising but it was also the first stirrings of what America going to face in this country.
They want to be free, but in their own way. The fundamentalists want their own government. There are people all over this country who all want to have their own government.

The first accurate reporting from this jerk. There are indeed challenges ahead. But the Bush administartion is aware of all of this. If this administration cannot bring about some kind of government of the consenting, no one can.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Someone needs to gobsmack Peta Arnett with a shoe.