Lots and lots of Iraqis want the US Military to just go home (sort of like a lot of us, over here):
BAGHDAD (AFP) — People torched a US flag in Baghdad’s Shiite stronghold of Sadr City after weekly Friday prayers to denounce a proposed agreement to deploy American troops in the country beyond 2008.
The protesters also set on fire an effigy of US President George W. Bush and vowed alliegance to anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, as Iraqi troops watched from rooftops, an AFP correspondent said. […]
Friday’s demonstrations in Sadr City and elsewhere in Iraq followed a similar rally a week ago after Sadr called on his supporters to protest and force the Baghdad government to abandon its proposed deal with Washington.
In the cities of Kufa, Karbala and Basra, Shiites on Friday held prayers and demonstrations to denounce the negotiations between Washington and Baghdad.
“The agreement must be rejected because it is synonymous with humiliation and disgrace”, Sadr spokesman Salah al-Obeidei told worshippers in Kufa.
Hey wingnuts! I guess we aren’t liberators anymore. But that’s okay. I hear Bush is all set to “liberate” another country, if he has too. Maybe we’ll have better luck bombing Iran spreading peace and freedom to the free loving peoples of the Middle East in our next war. And maybe the Iranians will let our government pay Halliburton, etc. to build lots of military bases (after borrowing the money from China) to support our troops even if Iraq chickens out on the freedoms we so generously gave them.
And if not them, maybe the Syrians! Hell, there’s a bunch of other places we could liberate if we must to insure peace in our time. Why, this could be just like some sort of — what’s the word — CRUSADE! Yeah! And it could last for, like, ever and ever and ever! USA! USA! USA!
Whoa. That patriotism stuff can really go to your head if you swig it to quickly. I feel all fuzzy headed and my judgment seems slightly impaired. Better not operate any moving machinery or engage my brain for a at least 24 hours until all the side effects wear off. See you tomorrow ya bunch of Islamofascist traitors!
(Sure hope this doesn’t give me a hangover …)
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran
It’s catchy and I can dance to it. I give it an 87!
.
(Los Angeles Times) – On a mission to improve relations between the countries, Maliki is expected to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said the visit was a pragmatic one.
“In the end, the Americans are leaving, but we are staying here and the Iranians are here — we have to work as neighbors, we have to build our relations as good neighbors,” Dabbagh said.
Sadr declared a freeze on the fighting in Basra in late March only after a delegation of Iraqi lawmakers met him in the Iranian holy city of Qom, said Ali Adeeb, a senior member of Maliki’s Islamic Dawa Party who was involved in that meeting.
Hamoodi said tensions between Iran and the United States over Iraq were not likely to ease.
“We are stuck in the middle between Iran and America,” he said. “We want to preserve the existence of both and we don’t want the whole thing to tumble on our head.”
Meanwhile, on a brighter note, Iraq defeated Australia, 1-0, in a qualifying match for soccer’s World Cup. Iraqis celebrated by firing guns into the air.
● Iraq’s PM says wants stronger ties with Iran
● Israeli minister threatens “destruction of the Iranian nation”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."With my jaw on the ground…I’m always stunned at people who are still for the war, who still defend it. There was nothing to defend before we went in and now, it’s just…goodness…Yes, it’s strange to hear the same drumbeats for Iran that we heard for Iraq and the same propagnadists spouting the same lines with no sense of irony. Even on the rare instances when some media-type says, “Well, wait, we believed you before why should we believe you now?” and the reply boils down to: But this time, it’s really, really, really true. :/
Yes, that and they also add “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye” as well.