The men in the photo above may not look all that enthusiastic, but according to this news account from Iraq’s Azzaman newspaper, they were part of the largest demonstration held in Iraq for the past five years. And what was the demonstration for? It was, believe it or not, in favor of passage of the Status of Forces Agreement with the United States held in none other than Saddam Hussein’s home town of Tikrit.
Apparently however – not everyone favors the agreement for the same reasons. While some hope and expect that the deal will lead to better ties with Washington, many were there to push for the agreement because, as it is presently written, it will lead to the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces by 2011.
“A mass demonstration in support of the American-Iraqi security agreement, which includes a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, got underway on Wednesday morning in Tikrit [95 miles north of Baghdad]. The protesters set off on foot at 9am from the headquarters of the Public Union for the Farmer’s Cooperative in the downtown part of the city. They marched toward the Salah ad-Din Province Administrative Building, declaring their support for the security deal and demanding amendments to the Constitution. The demonstrators also called for a release of detainees held in American prisons and for Iraqi legal sovereignty all prisoners.”
By Mazin Abdul Hamid
Translated By Jenny Oliver
November 19, 2008
Iraq – Azzaman – Original Article (Arabic)
Tikrit: A mass demonstration in support of the American-Iraqi security agreement, which includes a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, got underway on Wednesday morning in Tikrit [95 miles north of Baghdad]. The protesters set off on foot at 9am from the headquarters of the Public Union for the Farmer’s Cooperative in the downtown part of the city. They marched toward the Salah ad-Din Province Administrative Building, declaring their support for the security deal and demanding amendments to the Constitution. The demonstrators also called for a release of detainees held in American prisons and for Iraqi legal sovereignty all prisoners.
[Editor’s Note: Tikrit is the 1937 birthplace of Saddam Hussein and was a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency. According to U.S. forces, after the fall of Baghdad Saddam was captured in a hole in the ground some 15 miles away].
READ ON AT WORLDMEETS.US, your most trusted translator and aggregator of foreign news about our nation.
Founder and Managing Editor of Worldmeets.US