Thousands of Iraqis rally for Hezbollah

inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
edited August 2006 in A Moving Train
mmmm...that tasty "freedom"...I wonder if this will fall under "democracy" with quotes, or real democracy....either way, the people are speaking out....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/04/iraq.main/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

housands of Iraqis rally for Hezbollah

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Baghdad on Friday, enthusiastically voicing support for Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.

Angry protesters chanted slogans, burned Israeli flags and waved Lebanese and Hezbollah flags in the Iraqi capital's densely populated Shiite enclave of Sadr City. They also held up placards with the portrait of Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah.

The Shiite militant group Hezbollah has been fighting Israel in a fierce cross-border war that so far has claimed the lives of 644 Lebanese and 68 Israelis. (Latest developments)

Sunni-Shiite sectarian strife has plagued Iraq in recent months, but many Iraqis have been incensed over the recent fighting in Lebanon. Of Iraq's 26 million people, 60 percent are believed to be Shiite Muslims.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has criticized Israel over its assault on targets in Lebanon. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- who has a strong following in the Shiite neighborhood -- also has denounced Israel.

Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers sparked the fighting in a cross-border raid July 12.

Baghdad's march came on the heels of Thursday's Senate testimony from the commander of U.S. forces in the Mideast warning that if Iraqi violence is not brought under control, particularly in the capital, the country could descend into civil war. (Full story)

other news

Car bombings, clashes in Mosul

Insurgents and police slugged it out Friday across the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, leaving three police officers and an unknown number of insurgents dead.

The clashes led officials to enforce a citywide curfew until dawn on Saturday.

The violence erupted as 3,500 U.S. troops were being moved from the Mosul area to Baghdad to help bolster security in the capital.

Fighting raged in at least eight neighborhoods in Mosul, the largest city in Iraq's northern tier about 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of Baghdad.

At least 80 insurgents drove vehicles into several neighborhoods and attacked police patrols and checkpoints, police said.

Two car bombs also went off. In one of the attacks, Col. Jassim Mohammed Bilal, a police battalion commander, and two other police officers were slain when attackers targeted his convoy in the eastern Noor neighborhood, said Nineveh province Gov. Duraid Kashmoula.

Police and civilians were wounded in the blast. The bodies of an unknown number of insurgents were strewn on the ground across the city.

South of Mosul, a suicide bomber in a pickup struck a police patrol near a sports field Thursday night, killing 10 people, according to a Mosul police official.

Three police officers were among the dead, and 12 others, including seven police, were wounded in the attack in Hadhar, about 55 miles (88 kilometers) south of Mosul.


Other developments

* U.S.-led coalition forces staged operations in Baquba and near Baghdad in the last 24 hours, leading to the killings and arrests of insurgents, the U.S. military said. Those targeted in the Baquba raid had ties to a senior leader in al Qaeda in Iraq, the military said. Coalition forces killed at least three insurgents in an airstrike and raids southeast of Baghdad. Nineteen people also were detained in raids Thursday near Ramadi and Falluja in the volatile Anbar province west of the capital.

* Six Marines have been charged with assaulting an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniya in April, the U.S. military said Thursday. The case is separate from one involving allegations against Marines in the killing of an Iraqi man in the same town, also in April. (Full story)
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Other stitch emphasing how America has failed miserably in Iraq...get the boys home already....maybe this will give justifcation to shoot civilans beacuse they surround Hezbollah...damn this may give Bush & Co. another excuse to stay in the country.....
  • darkcrowdarkcrow Posts: 1,102
    no surprise there. hezbollah had very little support from the region until this conflict erupted. now its a david and golliath story, hezbollah being david. the lebenease see hezbollah as their saviours as their own army will not engage the israelies. other arabs see them as standing up for the oppressed people lebenon and palastine... israel is seen as the monster butchering children.

    if this conflict continues it will only add to hezbollah's support, even very liberal western muslims will turn to their side. the only way out of this is diplomatic. peace keeprs on both sides of the border to stop israel from attacking and to disarm hezbollah.
  • even flow?even flow? Posts: 8,066
    The same Iraqi people who loved getting capitalism forced upon them? The same Iraqi people with the US led puppet government? Now if Hez can get all the factions in Iraq to unite, is it time for the States to leave and admit that they can sell their arms and ideology to Israel and that is about it in the Middle East?
    You've changed your place in this world!
  • darkcrow wrote:
    no surprise there. hezbollah had very little support from the region until this conflict erupted. now its a david and golliath story, hezbollah being david. the lebenease see hezbollah as their saviours as their own army will not engage the israelies. other arabs see them as standing up for the oppressed people lebenon and palastine... israel is seen as the monster butchering children.

    if this conflict continues it will only add to hezbollah's support, even very liberal western muslims will turn to their side. the only way out of this is diplomatic. peace keeprs on both sides of the border to stop israel from attacking and to disarm hezbollah.


    Nope, it still seems too many prefer to throw gas on a fire to try to put it out. They just can't seem to grasp that they are the biggest reason it keeps spreading larger and larger.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • CosmoCosmo Posts: 12,225
    ... but the good news from Iraq is that they replaced a cinder block wall that the Army had mistakenly knocked down while executing a mid-night raid on the residence of Hassan al Ahmedijaan... seems an ex-girlfriend was pissed off that he had been seen in the company of a rival at a local bombed out Ka-bob cafe. She had reported to U.S. commanders that al Ahmedijaan was a known terrorist, storing a cache of weapons in his studio apartment in Eastern Baghdad.
    Al Ahmedijaan said, "It's okay... sh*t happens, I guess. But, I think one or more of the soldiers walked off with my Pearl Jam CDs and my VFC Poster from Ohio is also missing". Al Ahmedijaan added, "And they didn't do a very good job on the wall... it is 2 feet shorter and is crooked". Al Ahmedijaan stated that the wall was actually contracted to a U.S. firm that paid workers $787,384.92 to replace the 6 foot section of wall. "You'd think I'd at least get a grafitti resistant seal, at that price... but, I don't care, I didn't pay for it, so it'll have to do", said al Ahmedijaan. U.S. command could not be reached for comment.
    ...
    So, see... there are good things happening in Iraq.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    PBS Frontline: The Insurgency

    If I didn't know any better I'd say this PBS video has a conservative spin to it. Of course I know better. ;)
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
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