Shiites call for U.S. to leave Iraq
By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer



BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of Shiites — a sea of women in black abayas and men waving Iraqi flags — rallied Monday to demand that U.S. forces leave their country. Some ripped apart American flags and tromped across a Stars and Stripes rug.


The protesters marched about three miles between the holy cities of Kufa and Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. In the capital, streets were silent and empty under a hastily imposed 24-hour driving ban.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered up the march as a show of strength not only to Washington but to Iraq's establishment Shiite ayatollahs as well.

Al-Sadr, who disappointed followers hoping he might appear after months in seclusion, has pounded his anti-American theme in a series of written statements. The most recent came on Sunday, when he called on his Mahdi Army militia to redouble efforts to expel American forces and for the police and army to join the struggle against "your archenemy."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070409/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

While I think the march was certainly important and did send a message to the Bush admin that the Iraqi people want the United States out of their country, it would've been so much more effective if Muqtada E-S had shown himself and spoken to the marchers in person rather than sending little written messages. How cowardly!

"When President Bush was asked how long the war will last, he said: 'We will be in Iraq as long as the Iraqi people want us there.'

http://moran.house.gov/apps/list/press/ ... 0323.shtml

Apparently what he meant was, "We will be in Iraq as long as the Iraqi people want us there, and for a long, long time after that!"

"We will be in Iraq as long as the Iraqi people want us there, and for a long, long time after that....and as long as Halliburton is making tons of money....and as long as my mama tells me I have to do what Dickie says."