April 09, 2009News & Politics
Six years ago today, coalition forces defeated Saddam Hussein’s regime and watched the toppling of the dictator’s statue in Firdos Square. President Bush called the day “one of the great moments in the history of liberty.” However, today many Iraqis are marking the day with anti-American protests rather than celebrations. “Tens of thousands of followers of anti-American Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr thronged Baghdad” to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. Protestors shouted, “Down, down USA” and “No, no occupation,” and burned American flags and an effigy of Bush. The AP notes that the demonstrations also coincided “with an uptick in bombings of Shiite targets around the city.”
