Iraq protests target occupation, puppet regime

As popular revolts spread across the Arab world, now breaking out in Morocco and Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain, even in Kuwait, it is important to remember one of the nations in this region that faces a special situation: It is forcibly occupied by 50,000 U.S. troops. It is Iraq, which the U.S. and Britain invaded in March 2003 and which the U.S. has occupied since. No one should forget, when considering the crimes of the U.S.-backed tyrants, that U.S. imperialism is responsible for the deaths of a million Iraqis and the displacement of 4 million.

According to people who have been in sympathy with the Iraqi resistance against the illegal U.S.-British invasion and occupation, and the puppet government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, there have been recent demonstrations in Basra, Kut, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Ramadi, Sulaimaniya and dozens of other locations. In addition, anti-occupation forces inside Iraq have called for nationwide demonstrations on Feb. 25, which they call a “Day of Peaceful Anger.”

These protests didn’t get the media attention given to the massive upheaval in Egypt. However, there have been significant protests and uprisings in cities all over Iraq. Demonstrations hit Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, in the south, on Feb. 18, and in Sulaimaniya, in the Kurdish area in the north, where 3,000 demonstrated on Feb. 17. At least two people were killed.

One of the demonstrators, Qais Jabar, a university-educated Iraqi working as a cab driver, said, “We live in miserable conditions, without electricity, in dirty streets filled with mud. We have to make changes. We cannot stay silent.” (elnuevoherald.com, Feb. 18)

In Kut, some 2,000 people demonstrated in front of the offices of the provincial governor. Three of the governmental buildings were set afire. There the protesters complained about corruption, unemployment, lack of electricity and health care, and the high price of necessities. Three people were killed, 30 wounded, and finally the army took control of the city, which lies between Basra and Baghdad. Reports are that the shots that killed people came from private security forces. (Junge Welt, Feb. 21)

While economic deprivation has fueled the popular support for the protests, they are definitely directed against the puppet regime and the occupation. Sympathizers with the Iraqi resistance movements have issued a call to organizations all over the world to sign a petition to support the Feb. 25 mobilization. Organizations are urged to reach out to the media of all types to try to get coverage and media presence in Iraq, especially in Baghdad, on Feb. 25. For more information on this, see www.brussellstribunal.org and look for “Support Iraqi Protests.”