from the Juan Cole website (
www.juancole.com)
Muqtada al Sadr's message to the mass demonstration in Najaf
<<"We live at this moment and so far 48 months of anxiety, oppression and occupational tyranny have passed, four years
which have only brought us more death, destruction and humiliation. Every day tens are martyred, tens are crippled and
every day we see and hear U.S. interference in every aspect of our lives, which means that we are not sovereign, not independent and therefore not free. This is what Iraq has harvested from the U.S. invasion."
<<Al-Ra'y quotes the statement as saying, in addition,
America has striven to ignite sectarian turmmoil among the sons of the people. We say to the American people and to that of Europe, we want peace and liberty and independence." He addressed American and European publics, saying, "We urge you, on the basis of simple humanity, to put pressure on your governments to end our torture and the shedding of Iraqi blood."
<<Sadr MP Nassar al-Rubaie said, . . . We are not saying that sovereignty is limited. We are saying that it is absent.">>
<<Sunni clerics and members of the Iraqi Islamic Party, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, were bussed up from the southern city of Basra. Abdul Qadir Abdul Da'im of the IIP said, "The demonstration is a love letter that gathers together Iraqis and unifies them with regard to demanding the departure of the Occupation from this country. We must close ranks so that we can liberate our land from the north to the south.">>
Love letter? Gathering and unifying Iraqis? Geeze, THIS can't be good for anyone! Where's Negroponte when Uncle Sam really needs him?
