They love us......NOT!
Thousands of Iraqis stream to anti-U.S. protest
Sun Apr 8, 2007 10:22pm ET
By Khaled Farhan
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's call for a big anti-U.S. protest on Monday was answered by thousands of Iraqis who flocked to the southern holy city of Najaf.
Sadr, who blames the U.S.-led invasion for Iraq's unrelenting violence, issued a statement on Sunday urging Iraqis to protest on the fourth anniversary of the day U.S. forces swept into central Baghdad.
"In order to end the occupation, you will go out and demonstrate," said Sadr, who had been keeping a low profile in the last few weeks.
The U.S. military says Sadr, who is popular among Iraq's urban Shi'ite Muslim poor, is in neighboring Iran. His aides say the cleric is in Iraq and have denied suggestions he fled to Iran to escape a security crackdown in Baghdad.
Thousands of Shi'ites traveled in buses or cars to Najaf in response to Sadr's call. The Baghdad-Najaf road was packed with hundreds of vehicles crammed with passengers waving Iraqi flags and chanting religious and anti-U.S. slogans.
"No, no, no to America ... Moqtada, yes, yes, yes," they chanted as they converged on the holy city.
Sadr called on his Mehdi Army militia and Iraqi security forces to stop fighting in the volatile city of Diwaniya so as not to play into the hands of U.S. forces, who he said had stirred up civil strife in Iraq. Continued...
today.reuters.com |
