BAGHDAD, April 9, 2007
Iraqi Shiites Hit Streets To Protest U.S.
Fourth Anniversary Of Saddam's Ouster Marked With Marches In Baghdad And Najaf
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Play CBS Video Video Iraqis Protest U.S. Presence Four years after the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein, some Iraqis marched in protest against the continued American presence in the country. Martin Seemungal reports from Baghdad.
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Video 4 Years After Baghdad's Fall It has been four years since Baghdad fell to U.S. forces, but Iraq's capital continues to be plagued by unrest. One Iraqi tells CBS News' Martin Seemungal that life has gotten worse.
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Video Iraq: A Reporter's Perspective Veteran CBS correspondent Allen Pizzey reports on his perspective of the situation in Iraq after a five-week rotation there. His idea of the security situation is very different from Senator McCain's.
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Iraqi Shiite supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr step on a U.S. flag during a rally in the holy city of Najaf, April 9, 2007. Thousands of Shiites converged in Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Supporters of Iraq's firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr wave the Iraqi national flag during an anti-U.S. rally in the holy city of Najaf, April 9, 2007. (QASSEM ZEIN/AFP/Getty Images)
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Video still showing a statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled to the ground on April 9, 2003. (CBS)
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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."
Al-Sadr remains in hiding, but today, again, he proved that he commands an enormous following among Iraqs largest religious group, reports Martin Seemungal for CBS News.
Demonstrators marched from Kufa to neighboring Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad. Those marching were overwhelmingly Shiite but Sunnis, who are believed to make up the heart of Iraq's insurgency, have also called for an American withdrawal.
Some at the rally waved small Iraqi flags; others hoisted up 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."
But elsewhere in Iraq, like in the southern city of Basra, people were out celebrating the anniversary but not in Baghdad. Officially, the anniversary of the liberation is a public holiday, but for security reasons, the Iraqi government ordered a 24-hour lockdown — the streets are empty and Baghdad is virtually a ghost town, Seemungal reports.
A senior official in al-Sadr's organization in Najaf, Salah al-Obaydi, called the rally a "call for liberation."
"We're hoping that by next year's anniversary, we will be an independent and liberated Iraq with full sovereignty," he said.
Al-Sadr did not attend the demonstration, and has not appeared in public for months. U.S. officials say he left Iraq for neighboring Iran after the Feb. 14 start of a Baghdad security crackdown, but his followers say he is in Iraq.
Iraqi soldiers in uniform joined the crowd, which was led by at least a dozen turbaned clerics — including one Sunni. Many marchers danced as they moved through the streets.
The demonstration ended without violence after about three hours, but two ambulances could be seen moving slowly with the marching crowd, poised to help if violence or stampedes broke out.
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."
In other developments:
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- That is a good thought Jean. Not to plain either. ha. The only problem is.. If we pull out before the iraq forces are strong enough, Irans and Syria's insurgents will come in and kill all those we've worked so hard to set free. It will be a country easily squashed by those around it. Which may happen anyway if we don't make the whole ME aware of some major consequences. I do agree the locals need to step up and take the initiative in fighting for freedom.
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- It has been more than four years since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime and there seems to be no end to the U.S. Military occupation. Something occurred to me the other day that makes since if you have a lick of common sense. Was there anyone, say the hated British, Spain, Russia, or France, holding the Founding Fathers' hands there at Freedom Hall during the long hot summer of 1787? Seems to me those early Americans did one heck of a job drafting a constitution that the states eventually ratified. Let the Sunnis and Shiites decide how they will govern their country. With Muqtada al-Sadr waiting in the wings I seriously doubt if another 1,000 American lives is going to make much of a difference. If Iraq disintegrates into anarchy so be it. America has done more than its part to make these people see the light. In the name of common sense, "You can lead a horse to water, but you CANNOT made it drink!"
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- there is no peace with fascist nazi islam%u2026.. there never has been in it%u2019s 1400 year existence%u2026
dnc are like john adams and want to give the jihadist their lunch money hoping they will leave us alone....
gop are like thomas jefferson and want to spend their lunch money on weapons and go kick the jihadists in their arses.....
What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad
Thomas Jefferson knew about fascist nazi islam..... he killed plenty of them....
In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:
The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
muslim justifies slavery and piracy%u2026
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c54b0ad7 - Reply to this comment
- [yes no concern about the huge debt laid upon our kids, just as long as they still get tax breaks and oil profits.]
Yes, once again showing your real concern. Not enough money for your poor ole school grants and welfare. Take from those who work and give to those who don't. typical. I know the Pork Filled anti war bill made you proud. You don't care about safety or freedom for your kids. You care about getting your hands on more money. So you can set around playing on your computer all day without exerting yourselves.
Now go off yourselves to save those poor downtrodden, oppressed people from having to do it. - Reply to this comment
- [Troll. Could be a new one but more likely an old recycled one]
More labeling instead of rationalizing. Hmmmm boring...
[Join up and serve your country, We have spread ouselves thin on the fight on terrorism ]
My family and I have sacrificed plenty for this country. Just to enable feeble minded,weak kneed libs to become sympathizers of America's enemies. As far as hind sight on Bin Laden, Clinton screwed that up! Not Bush!. Now ole Bin is probably in a lounge chair in Syria, or Iran, laughing his as off on how people have fallen for their cheap oil stealing propaganda. I do agree we've spread ouselves thin. Most was due to base closures under the Clinton and Carter. If we'd put an end to college grants, goverment sponsored loans, and career welfare, we'd have plent of money to run a well equipped military, instead of having a bunch of over educated,babies, that are only mad about the war because it takes from their education fund, that they use to escape really working. - Reply to this comment
- [Troll. Could be a new one but more likely an old recycled one]
More labeling instead of rationalizing. Hmmmm boring...
[Join up and serve your country, We have spread ouselves thin on the fight on terrorism ]
My family and I have sacrificed plenty for this country. Just to enable feeble minded,weak kneed libs to become sympathizers of America's enemies. As far as hind sight on Bin Laden, Clinton screwed that up! Not Bush!. Now ole Bin is probably in a lounge chair in Syria, or Iran, laughing his as off on how people have fallen for their cheap oil stealing propaganda. I do agree we've spread ouselves thin. Most was due to base closures under the Clinton and Carter. If we'd put an end to college grants, goverment sponsored loans, and career welfare, we'd have plent of money to run a well equipped military, instead of having a bunch of over educated,babies, that are only mad about the war because it takes from their education fund, that they use to escape really working. - Reply to this comment
- If and only If this story is true, which as so many of these reports are so bias and tell so many lies I would have to only take a guess that it is true, then it is time to get out of Iraq and let them continue to slaughter themselves...
Now, what country was it that had the British go in to help stop the feudal tribes, but as soon as the British left many many years later it wasnt long before they were back to their feudal ways again... This hatred of each other cant be stopped, they dont want it to be stopped.. so lets get out of there and let them continue to kill each other... - Reply to this comment
- CBS:'Tens of thousands' protested in Najaf.
BBC:'Hundreds of thousands' protested in Najaf.
Does truth ever come out of Iraq? - Reply to this comment
- IQ TEST May explain 30% who support Bush%u2019s war. Give yourself 100 points. Add 4 points for each year of college you completed. If you have advanced degree do not take, you%u2019re too intelligent to support Bush. Now subtract: 1.Illiterate deduction %u201310 if you didn%u2019t graduate H.S. 2.Trailer trash ded.-4 points if you live in a mobile home 3.Redneck ded.%u20135 pts if you fly or display the Stars and Bars 4. Hillbilly ded.%u20134 pts for having s*x with a cousin %u20138 if you%u2019re still doing it 5. Geo illiterate ded.%u20135 pts if you can%u2019t find Iraq on a world map 6.Pronunciation ded.%u20135 if you STILL call Iraq, I-RACK instead of ear-ROCK 7.Dental work needed ded.%u20132 pts for every missing non-wisdom tooth 8.General ignorance ded %u20134 pts if you didn%u2019t know *** Cheney was CEO of Halliburton: one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Bush/Cheney War 9.Media ignorance ded.%u20136 pts if you think that Bush%u2019s bootlickers at Fox News are either FAIR or BALANCED 10.Buffoon ded.%u20134 points for autographed photo you own of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. Tally score: 95%u2013110 average IQ, why do still support an idiot? 85%u201394 dull normal, there is hope, just stay away from Fox and people who are too dumb to pronounce Iraq properly. 75-84 it will take a lot of work to help you. No Fox/AM radio, go back to school, quit thinking about your cousin. Below 75 you are a hopeless right-wing idiot do the world a favor by jumping off a cliff
- Reply to this comment
- usadvisor101,
"it's better to wrap yourself in the constitution and burn the flag, than the wrap yourself in the flag and burn the constitution"- Unknown - Reply to this comment
Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy 
