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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Iraqis march during a protest in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, March 27, 2008. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

this impresses me. I don't know what it is these people are marching about, but it's impressive to me that, in a city in uproar, full of foreign soldiers, uncertainty at every turn, explosions possible at any time for varying reasons, so many people would get together and march down a street like this.

what's the story behind this gathering?

By r8r, at 1:36 PM
This is the "peaceful" side of Sadr's current push. They are marching in protest of the Sadr/Mahdi perception that the government and US are targeting the Mahdi for raids arrests in an effort to degrade them before the fall elections.

In the Mahdi presentation, they bound themselves in a ceasefire, only for Maliki, the US, and SCIRI/Badr to take advantage to go after their group.

That's the underlying conflict in the current violence in Basra.

This protest in Sadr City is a peaceful show of strength, and an implied threat, that Baghdad could quickly rebecome the city of violence it was.

(And, yes it's impressive, but understand this is within Sadr City in Baghdad where the Mahdi Army has been running security quite successfully. Being Mahdi supporters, these people are in about as secure a place as they can be in Iraq.)

By mikevotes, at 2:21 PM
Excellent summary mike.

By Anonymous, at 2:28 PM
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By Anonymous, at 5:26 PM
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By mikevotes, at 9:16 PM