Democracy or still the old Saddam regime

[zantac]

I could post over 50 links to show that demonstrations in Iraq will fall on deaf ears but the members of DV will bash me harder than the picture in the link

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-protest-20110226,0,2300792.story

Question to all?

Do you honestly think that the new GOI is clean of corruption & the stained old regime?

In all honesty do you still believe the plan is going to work what ever the plan may be?

There were less than 10,000 protesters in Iraq toady over 5 different regions, it’s hardly going to make the GOI stand up & go to work like the small group asked for.

Once again I do fear or personally believe this will be a year of the may be or nearly RV.

JMHO, let the bashing heart beat once again

Link has been removed i wonder why??????????

Edited February 26, 2011 by zantac

[chuckray]

link not working

[Slaydadea]

Interesting you should bring this up. Been wondering myself. Corruption, scandals, missing funds, foreign investment in Iraq from non US companies? USD in the drink, Etc......Makes me go Hmm. Beginning to think this invading Iraq thing didn't play out as well as planned a few years back. Seems to be a lot of interested outside influence that may not have the US interest in mind. Don't mind me, just an observation. Thanks for bringing it up!

[Soldiering4U]

Link doesn't work and your right that we all know that there is corruption in the GOI that is why they do so much back room dealing.... the hope is that all of this corruption is less than what they had before... remember my friend Rome wasn't built in a day and this will not happen over night that is why the smart money is on this being a long term investment... Have a Great Day

[Slaydadea]

links to LA Times. Article may be gone by now. Not sure.

Link doesn't work and your right that we all know that there is corruption in the GOI that is why they do so much back room dealing.... the hope is that all of this corruption is less than what they had before... remember my friend Rome wasn't built in a day and this will not happen over night that is why the smart money is on this being a long term investment... Have a Great Day

Agreed. It's bad but can't be as bad as it was. Not lost in vane!

[zantac]

Copy & paste works

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-protest-20110226,0,2300792.story

[Soldiering4U]

that link don't work either Z

[puff26]

Don't get me wrong I like you, your are a fighter you made me mad when you were so sure and very right about no RV in 2010 BUT I LIKE YOU THEN AND I LIKE YOU NOW.. But if you think you are the only one that can understand what is going on or should I say wrong...get a grip you ARE NOT!

TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD.....

[bobby_cahill]

Yes Iraq has buttloads of oil, but..........

A currency is only as strong as the government that backs it

Lets hope they get it together and soon

Good luck to all

Semper Fi

[G Zam]

Copy & paste works

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-protest-20110226,0,2300792.story

Protesters across Iraq clash with security forces

A 'day of rage' inspired by movements in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere ends with at least 11 dead and buildings in flames. Demonstrators try to push into the heavily protected Green Zone in Baghdad.

Reporting from Baghdad —

Anti-government protests across Iraq on Friday led to violent clashes between some demonstrators and security forces, leaving at least 11 people dead and many buildings in flames.

Inspired by protests in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Iraqis marched outside official buildings and in town centers calling for less corruption, more jobs and better public services as part of a "day of rage."

Protesters reportedly were killed in the cities of Mosul, Hawija, Tikrit and Kalar.

In Baghdad, witnesses said security forces fired live ammunition and used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Many people were beaten and chased through the streets. No deaths were reported in the Iraqi capital.

As many as 5,000 people, mainly young men, had massed in Baghdad's Tahrir Square in the late morning. They tried to push past a barrier of blast walls over the Jumhuriya Bridge and into the heavily protected Green Zone, site of the parliament and politicians' homes. 


As the protesters toppled part of the barrier, hundreds of riot police officers marched over the bridge to block their path. The officers came under a hail of stones as angry demonstrators chanted that Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was a liar and that they would not leave.

"Most people want to get inside the Green Zone and ask Maliki where the country's money is," said Adel, 33, a taxi driver who did not want to give his last name. "Is it under his bed, or did he send it to Iran to build nuclear weapons to attack Iraq?"

Iraqi police sources said two journalists were arrested.

The demonstrations were launched despite warnings from security forces and officials, including Maliki, that terrorists might target crowds of protesters.

Get dispatches from Times correspondents around the globe delivered to your inbox with our daily World newsletter. Sign up »

Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the leading religious figure for Iraq's Shiite majority, and other clerics urged people not to attend the protests. The anti-Western cleric and politician Muqtada Sadr, who returned to Iraq from his Iranian residence this week, told his followers to give the government six months to improve services.

The day of protests had been planned and discussed on social networking sites and by civil society organizations.

"I'm asking, if the government is saying we can have peaceful protests, why do they stop us?" said Abu Saif, 60, a retired government employee demonstrating in Baghdad. "Are they worried? We voted for them.... Do you see any stick or gun in anyone's hand?"

In Mosul, health ministry officials said five people had been killed. Government buildings were set afire in Anbar province in western Iraq, and three people were killed in demonstrations in Hawija, near the northern city of Kirkuk. Two deaths were reported in Tikrit and one in Kalar.

In the southern oil hub of Basra, where protesters surrounded the provincial building, the governor, Sheltagh Abboud, resigned.

Sajad Kathim, 23, a student at Baghdad University, said Iraqis had been inspired by Egyptians' demand for change and wanted solutions to their problems.

"We don't want to bring anyone down, we voted for these people, we have democracy" he said. "But they have to change."

Hanna Edwar, a lawyer and civil society activist, said she expected more demonstrations.

"People are worried about the situation," she said. "They have to continue."

Fordham is a special correspondent and Salman a staff writer in The Times' Baghdad bureau.

Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

[Doc31]

I'll take choice ( C ) please!

( C ) Saddam Lite

If you can hijack an election, steal, have 4 of the winner of the election party members targeted ... two were killed, not relinquish your FORMER power, continue to steal, stalemate the democratic process and show your whole country that with your secret police and secret jails (amnesty international) that you are more influential than the world powers pressuring you, have a hotel built, own the press, did I say steal yet, thumb your nose at your own people while holding them in poverty while you live large in the green zone all for your good, resist the power sharing agreement that allowed you to survive the elections at all by withholding key security ministry positions, tell your people you aren't afraid of their ability to protest, have your son take a reported 1B IQD across the border, have your aid get caught with $250M (unknown how many trips he made) ... incidentally his son is now his aid ... he was successful ... I wonder if the former aid is still alive, while simultaneously telling the world that he is disappointed with the interference that countries are exerting on him and Iraq (with a straight face he said that!!!!!!!).

Yep, as far as I can tell ... the only thing he hasn't done is have his son(s) beat the soccer team after a loss ... hence ... "Saddam Lite"!

Yep ... choice ( C ) please

Doc31

[holly12]

Wow. Almost 5 months ago, I said the very same thing and got banned. Go figure. Go DV. Go RV.

Posted 17 November 2010 - 12:53 AM

I got banned once before for stating my mind about this whole RV thing. I still think it's funny. All of you sitting around dreaming about your RV's (not ReValue's), are just funny to me. All of you gifting worthless paper to a charity. (If I were a chartiy and received a 1,000,000IQD, I would flush it down the toilet.). Something you all need to realize. Iraq is coming out of 30+ years of dictatorship rule, not counting the last four by Hussein-Maliki, who was one of Saddam's henchmen (in his former life). Iraq will be ruled by a dictatorship, now and forever, along with their sister state of Iran. Ahmadjined, will not allow a "pro-Muslim" state to become "DEMOCRATIC". Read your history books. "Persia", pretty much wiped democracy off the face of the earth for 600 years. What do you think they will do to Iraq, with no US support. PM, POR, POS, POD, POB, POC, any other Presidency of "fill in job title here", is just that. A title. Iran is running Iraq, hence why Israel is so pissed off right now. Oh, did we forget about the non-Islams states in this ordeal? Let's look back to 1981, when Israel sent a flight of F-16's to Iraq to "demolish" a nuclear "power plant" in Iraq. This whole area is so unstable that any/no amount of speculation will ever make a positive return.

Hence. My last rant. Look at the price of IQD lately. Increased almost 150%. Which brings me to this, only the ones selling IQD, are RV'ing.

/regards,

wdsonny

Read more:

Edited February 26, 2011 by holly12

[Nelson0528]

I could post over 50 links to show that demonstrations in Iraq will fall on deaf ears but the members of DV will bash me harder than the picture in the link

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-protest-20110226,0,2300792.story

Question to all?

Do you honestly think that the new GOI is clean of corruption & the stained old regime?

In all honesty do you still believe the plan is going to work what ever the plan may be?

There were less than 10,000 protesters in Iraq toady over 5 different regions, it’s hardly going to make the GOI stand up & go to work like the small group asked for.

Once again I do fear or personally believe this will be a year of the may be or nearly RV.

JMHO, let the bashing heart beat once again

Link has been removed i wonder why??????????

The Year of Living Anxiously... oh wait, that was 2010... Uhmm... how about: " The Year of Living Dangerously?... No, no, that was a movie.... uhhhh..... crap, how about: "The Year"? ... Yeah, that's it... that's the ticket...

[Soldiering4U]

Wow. Almost 5 months ago, I said the very same thing and got banned. Go figure. Go DV. Go RV.

so.... you are back with the same negative attitude.... did ya learn anything.... NOPE you are still the same... hope the banned wagon doesn't get ya again

[BW3]

Q: Do you honestly think that the new GOI is clean of corruption & the stained old regime?

A: Hellz to the NO! Never thought any of them would be...

Q: In all honesty do you still believe the plan is going to work what ever the plan may be?

A: THEIR PLAN OR OURS??? I THINK SCOOTER HAS A VALID THEORY... "The Trifecta Theory" Three Players, Different Goals, Same Game

Read more: http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/56248-the-trifecta-theory/#ixzz1F8RYEMP2

[deenar]

I could post over 50 links to show that demonstrations in Iraq will fall on deaf ears but the members of DV will bash me harder than the picture in the link

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-protest-20110226,0,2300792.story

Question to all?

Do you honestly think that the new GOI is clean of corruption & the stained old regime?

In all honesty do you still believe the plan is going to work what ever the plan may be?

There were less than 10,000 protesters in Iraq toady over 5 different regions, it’s hardly going to make the GOI stand up & go to work like the small group asked for.

Once again I do fear or personally believe this will be a year of the may be or nearly RV.

JMHO, let the bashing heart beat once again

Link has been removed i wonder why??????????

There are only 8 or so reps from the last GOI. Everyone else is new. Since virtually no money has been released to them because of the delay in gov formation and the budget, the new members haven't had a chance to steal. Give them a chance to steal before you accuse them of stealing. They will steal, just give them the chance.

so.... you are back with the same negative attitude.... did ya learn anything.... NOPE you are still the same... hope the banned wagon doesn't get ya again

Zantac is very irratic. He believes one day, then doesn't the next. Kinda like most members here.

[kevnutz]

I'd have to say still the same old regime. Sorry for the long post but this article fits this discussion nicely...

After Iraq's Day of Rage, a Crackdown on Intellectuals

BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces detained about 300 people, including prominent journalists, artists and lawyers who took part in nationwide demonstrations Friday, in what some of them described as an operation to intimidate Baghdad intellectuals who hold sway over popular opinion.

On Saturday, four journalists who had been released described being rounded up well after they had left a protest of thousands at Baghdad's Tahrir Square. They said they were handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with execution by soldiers from an army intelligence unit.

"It was like they were dealing with a bunch of al-Qaeda operatives, not a group of journalists," said Hussan al-Ssairi, a journalist and poet, who described seeing hundreds of protesters in black hoods at the detention facility. "Yesterday was like a test, like a picture of the new democracy in Iraq."

The Iraq protests were different from many of the revolts sweeping the Middle East and North Africa in that demonstrators were calling for reform, and not to get rid of the government. Their demands ranged from more electricity and jobs to ending corruption, reflecting a dissatisfaction with government that cuts across sectarian and class lines.

Yet the protests were similar to others in that they were organized, at least in part, by middle-class, secular intellectuals, many of whom started Facebook groups, wrote and gave interviews supporting the planned demonstrations.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who only recently formed a fragile governing coalition that is supported by the United States, was apparently concerned about the protest billed as Iraq's "Day of Rage." Leading up to Friday, he ordered a curfew on cars and urged Iraqis to stay home, as a government spokesman warned of "terrorists" who might use "sniping and silencer pistols" to target crowds. Security forces raided a prominent journalist watchdog group involved in organizing the protest.

Despite that, tens of thousands of Iraqis turned out for the protests, which began peacefully but degenerated as forces fired water cannons, sound bombs and live bullets to disperse crowds.

The death toll rose to at least 29 Saturday, as officials reported that six more protesters, including a 14-year-old boy, died from bullet wounds. The deaths were recorded in at least eight places including Fallujah, Mosul and Tikrit.

Ssairi and his colleagues had joined the protests in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, some wrapping themselves in white sheets in a sign of peace. As the sun set, helicopters swooped down into the crowd signaling the start of the crackdown.

Around 4 p.m., Aldiyar TV manager Fiysal Alyassiry, who had broadcast the demonstrations, reported that security forces had attacked the station, beat a worker, arrested seven people including a director and an anchorman, and closed the station.

About the same time, Ssairi and his colleages were sitting at an open-air restaurant two miles from the square. According to interviews with him and several others, two Humvees pulled up and about a dozen camoflauge-clad soldiers stormed inside.

They descended upon the table where Hadi al-Mahdi, a journalist and theater director, was sitting with three friends, and began beating them.

"We said, 'What are you doing - we're journalists!' " Mahdi said.

They loaded them into the Humvees, drove them to a side street, where they beat them again. Then, blindfolded, they were driven to a place Mahdi later recognized as the former Defense Ministry building, which houses an intelligence unit of the army's 11th Division.

Inside, they heard soldiers laughing and chanting "Maliki liar!" - mocking a slogan some protesters had shouted. Mahdi said he was taken to a room alone, and soon, he was being beaten with sticks, boots and fists. They took his shoes off, wet his feet and administered electric shocks to them.

In between, the soldiers interrogated him, he said. They accused him of being a tool of outsiders wishing to topple Maliki's government. He told them that he'd been a member of Maliki's Dawa party until he recently became disillusioned.

"They said, 'You're Dawa?' " Hadi said. "Then I realized they were totally stupid."

A soldier accused him of being a traitor and beat him some more. And then Hadi, who comes from a prominent family, was told he and his colleagues would be released, the result of friends who made some well-placed phone calls.

Just before they were freed, however, Hadi was held in a room where about 300 people sat on the floor. They had black hoods over their heads. Many were groaning, their shirts bloodied. An elderly man had passed out.

"This government is sending a message to us - to everybody," Hadi said Saturday, his forehead bruised, his left leg swollen.

Gathered at a house in the afternoon, Hadi's colleagues told similar stories. Many said that despite their treatment, they considered the protest successful.

"It's put pressure," said Raad Mushatat, a filmmaker who was not detained. "The government is scared. But they do not scare me anymore."

[puff26]

Very good read, thank you.