Every event in Iraq is a sign of progress
This the original unscrubbed AP article on the massive demonstrations in Iraq on the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
It looks bad for the US here (emphasis added):
BAGHDAD – Tens of thousands draped themselves in Iraqi flags and marched peacefully through the streets of two Shiite holy cities Monday to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad’s fall. Demonstrators were flanked by two cordons of police as they called for U.S. forces to leave, shouting “Get out, get out occupier!”
Security was tight across Iraq, with a 24-hour ban on all vehicles in Baghdad starting from 5 a.m. Monday. The government quickly reinstated the day as a holiday, rescinding its weekend order that had decreed that April 9 no longer would be a day off.
The Najaf rally was ordered by Muqtada al-Sadr, the powerful Shiite cleric who a day earlier issued a statement ordering his militiamen to redouble their battle to oust American forces, and argued that Iraq’s army and police should join him in defeating “your archenemy.”
Some at the rally waved small Iraqi flags; others hoisted a giant flag 10 yards long. Leaflets fluttered through the breeze reading: “Yes, Yes to Iraq” and “Yes, Yes to Muqtada. Occupiers should leave Iraq.”
“The enemy that is occupying our country is now targeting the dignity of the Iraqi people,” said lawmaker Nassar al-Rubaie, head of al-Sadr’s bloc in parliament, as he marched. “After four years of occupation, we have hundreds of thousands of people dead and wounded.”
A senior official in al-Sadr’s organization in Najaf, Salah al-Obaydi, called the rally a “call for liberation.”
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It looks bad: tens of thousands march at the command of Sadr who calls for people to forcibly resist their occupier. The government has to reverse itself on its declaration about a holiday. People complain that hundreds of thousands of people are dead and wounded. It sounds grim, but only if you fail to remember the administration’s and the MSM’s rule of thumb:
“Every event in Iraq is a sign of progress.”
To wit:
Col. Steven Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman and aide to the commander of all U.S. forces in Iraq, praised the peaceful nature of the demonstration, saying Iraqis “could not have done this four years ago.”
“This is the right to assemble, the right to free speech — they didn’t have that under the former regime,” Boylan said. “This is progress, there’s no two ways about it.”
Hmmm. Makes you want to scream, doesn’t it?
April 9th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Actaully it doesn’t make me want to scream. If you look at the photos, there were hundreds and hundreds of Iraqi flags and there were Sh’ia and Sunni in the march. Key point you seem to miss in this is that it was peaceful in the sense that there did not take up arms against the Iraqi Security Forces or the Coalition Forces.
I guess you would rather have them shooting at us vice marching saying that they want us to leave so that they can be united, which is what they were chanting. The sooner they unite and figure this out, the better for everyone.
You also missed the point that under the former regime, they could not have marched as we do back home, they could not have protested anything, like we do back home, etc.
So, what is the issue?
April 9th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Let’s start at the bottom of your reply and work up.
So, what is the issue?
…
Perhaps you missed this point:
The Najaf rally was ordered by Muqtada al-Sadr, the powerful Shiite cleric who a day earlier issued a statement ordering his militiamen to redouble their battle to oust American forces, and argued that Iraq’s army and police should join him in defeating “your archenemy.â€
After ordering his followers and militia to lay low for the past few months, al-Sadr is flexing his muscle and demonstrating his power. He got the Iraqi government to back down. His command to kill Americans is undoubtedly a prelude to increased violence. Your comments were merely a brave effort to put lipstick on a pig.
Tell you what, how about a wager? I’ll donate one hundred dollars to any charity you name that helps U.S. Iraqi veterans acquire prostheses for lost limbs if in six months peace breaks out in Iraq and we see Sunnis and Shi’a marching together and passing …iout flowers. If this rally is not found to be a turning point in the war, you promise to come back to my blog and say you were mistaken.
Please understand, I want you to be right. I hope and pray that you will be right. My heart wants you to be right. But the situation in Iraq is not going to settle down anytime soon.
….
I guess you would rather have them shooting at us…
….
Not a chance Colonel. I don’t want another American to die in this ill-conceived war. The war has been lost and not through any fault of the troops engaged there. It was lost the moment Mr. Rumsfeld put forward a plan that could not work. Many folks seem to think that the war has been lost due to incompetence in carrying out a sound plan for victory. I disagree strongly. Our military leaders and forces have been tasked with something that was never possible. They have no reason to bow their heads nor feel badly that things aren’t going according to the promises made before the war. Michael and an army of angels couldn’t have made Rumsfeld’s plan succeed. Now we are left, four years later, defining victory down from the grand promises of our civilian leaders, to the point that a non-violent parade is seen to be a turning point. We’ve had so many such turning points in the past year that I am dizzy. And despite the assurances made that things are getting better they have continued to worsen. You are undoubtedly aware of Sen. McCain’s stroll through a “peaceful” Baghdad market last week. Peaceful because it had been swept by our forces. Peaceful because snipers had been placed on rooftops. Peaceful because five helicopters and one hundred battle-hardened troops accompanied the Senator. And still he had to wear a flak jacket.
……
…it was peaceful in the sense that there did not take up arms against the Iraqi Security Forces or the Coalition Forces.
….
A fairly low bar to measure peace, isn’t it? How many soldiers did it take for it to be peaceful? This isn’t peace. It’s a stage show.
Get back to me in six months. That would be October 9. 2007.
PS–Thanks for your willingness to serve your country. I greatly admire you. If you’re ever up in my neck of the woods when you return stateside I’ll buy you lunch.
April 10th, 2007 at 9:01 am
The presumptive COL Boylan makes a factual error as well: Iraqis were not only allowed, but encouraged (occasionally required) under the Hussein regime to take the streets and shout “Death to America.” That’s not something new that we’ve done for them.
The difference is that now they actually mean it.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I was going to point out today that freedom to assemble and cry death to America has always been a right in Iraq. Nothing new there. And you’re right–they do mean it. They’re also encouraged to fight. Since we’re there we’re targets instead of abstractions as before.