• Als Spam markieren
• Beitrag melden

• 
  Diese Gruppe Alles

• Archiv
• RSS-Feeds

• Kontakt
• Hilfe
• Impressum
• Datenschutz

Re: Iraqis Protest Against US Presence In Iraq

On Sep 7, 9:22 am, Thaddeus Stevens <thaddeussteph...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Published on Saturday, September 6, 2008 by Reuters
> Iraqis Protest Against US Presence In Iraq
> by Reuters
>
> BAGHDAD - Thousands of Shi'ites protested against the U.S. presence in Iraq,
heeding orders from
> anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for a peaceful show of force on the first Friday
of the Muslim
> holy month of Ramadan.
>
> [Demonstrators chant slogans during a protest in Baghdad's Sadr City September 5,
2008.
> Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites protested the U.S. presence on the first Friday of
Ramadan, the
> Muslim holy month, heeding orders from anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
(REUTERS/Kareem
> Raheem)]Demonstrators chant slogans during a protest in Baghdad's Sadr City
September 5, 2008.
> Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites protested the U.S. presence on the first Friday of
Ramadan, the
> Muslim holy month, heeding orders from anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
(REUTERS/Kareem Raheem)
> Crowds of people waved photos of the reclusive cleric, dancing and shouting,
following Friday
> prayers in Sadr City, a Shi'ite stronghold in northeastern Baghdad.
>
> Several men burned a red, white and blue flag as they pledged support for the
reclusive Sadr.
>
> "We all support you, Sayyid Moqtada! We are your soldiers!" they shouted,
addressing Sadr by a
> title of respect.
>
> In the southern holy city of Najaf, several hundred protesters turned out for a
parallel
> protest. "No, no to occupation!" read one banner.
>
> Late last month, Sadr extended indefinitely a ceasefire for the Mehdi Army, the
feared militia
> that until a government crackdown earlier this year controlled Sadr City and
swathes of southern
> Iraq.
>
> The cleric, who is believed to be holed up in the Iranian city of Qom, has asked
the bulk of his
> followers to dedicate themselves to helping poor Shi'ites and countering western
influence in
> Iraq. He also ordered Friday's protests.
>
> The question as violence drops sharply across Iraq is whether the bulk of Sadr's
militia will
> obey orders to put down their arms.
>
> In Sadr City, Imam Muhenned al-Moussawi addressed the thousands of men and boys
gathered for
> prayers under the blistering summer sun.
>
> "Everybody knows that the goals of American wars are commercial. They use war
to drain desperate
> nations economically and socially," he told the crowd.
>
> The protests came as attention focused on the future of the U.S. troop presence in
Iraq, and the
> Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought assurances from
Washington about
> gradually reducing its military activities in the country.
>
> Pentagon sources said this week they were recommending the withdrawal of one combat
brigade,
> 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers, in early 2009, a move that reflects both improving
conditions in Iraq
> and growing needs in Afghanistan.
>
> Reporting by Sattar Rahim in Baghdad; writing by Missy Ryan
>
> Article printed fromwww.CommonDreams.org
> URL to article:http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/06
>
>         -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Our failing grade on maintaining school facilities
>
> by Ethan Pollack
>
> Back to school season is always a nervous time for parents, but there is one thing
they
> shouldn't have to worry about: the condition of the school buildings themselves.
Unfortunately,
> school infrastructure spending, after being adjusted for increased construction
costs, has
> decreased dramatically since 2001. While student enrollment has increased 3% since
2001,
> adjusted spending on school maintenance and construction has dropped by 42%, from
$34.9 billion
> in 2001 to $20.3 billion in 2007. In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers
recently
> graded U.S. schools a "D.
>
> Inadequate facilities can have a negative effect on academic achievement and
student health.
> According to a Department of Education survey, 43% of schools indicated that the
condition of
> their permanent facilities "interferes with the delivery of instruction,"
with heating and air
> conditioning being the most common complaint. Furthermore, both the Department of
Education and
> the Environmental Protection Agency have found that "poor environments in
schools due primarily
> to effects of indoor pollutants adversely influence the health, performance, and
attendance of
> students."
>
> If we expect our children to compete in the global economy, the least we can do is
provide them
> with adequate
facilities.http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20080903
>          __________________________________________________________________
>          - - - -> More political discussion continues
athttp://www.usaliberalism.com/
>          - - -> View pictures of Michigan's Rouge River
athttp://epitomephotos.com/rougeriver/
>         __________________________________________________________________
>
> A reasonably just and well-ordered democratic society might be possible, and . . .
justice as
> fairness should have a special place among the political conceptions in its
political and social
> world. . . [M]any are prepared to accept the conclusion that a just and
well-ordered democratic
> society is not possible, and even regard it as obvious. Isn't admitting it part of
growing up,
> part of the inevitable loss of innocence? But is this conclusion one we can so
easily accept?
>         The answer we give to the question of whether a just democratic society is
possible and
> can be stable for the right reasons affects our background thoughts and attitudes
about the
> world as a whole. And it affects these thoughts and attitudes before we come to
actual politics,
> and limits or inspires how we take part in it. . .
>     If we take for granted as common knowledge that a just and well-ordered
democratic society
> is impossible, then the quality and tone of those attitudes will reflect that
knowledge. A cause
> of the fall of Wiemar's constitutional regime was that none of the traditional
elites of Germany
> supported its constitution or were willing to cooperate to make it work.  They no
longer
> believed a decent liberal parliamentary regime was possible. Its time had past.
>
> The regime fell first to a series of authoritarian cabinet governments from 1930 to
1932. When
> these were increasingly weakened by their lack of popular support, President
Hindenburg was
> finally persuaded to turn to Hitler, who had such support and whom conservatives
thought they
> could control.
> ~ John Rawls "Political Liberalism" pg. lx
>
>          __________________________________________________________________
>
> "Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the
progress of human
> liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of
earnest
> struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the
time being,
> putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there
is no
> struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet
depreciate agitation,
> are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without
thunder and
> lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters."
>
> "This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be
both moral and
> physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It
never did and
> it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have
found out the
> exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these
will continue
> till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of
tyrants are
> prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light of these
ideas, Negroes
> will be hunted at the North, and held and flogged at the South so long as they
submit to those
> devilish outrages, and make no resistance, either moral or physical.   Men may not
get all they
> pay for in this world; but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get
free from
> the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must
do this by
> labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of
others."http://www.buildingequality.us/Quotes/Frederick_Douglass.htm
> Frederick Douglass, 1857
>
>        This post contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been
specifically
> authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my
efforts to advance
> understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy,
scientific, and
> social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such
copyrighted
> material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with
Title 17
> U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to
those who have
> expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational
> purposes.
>          For more information go to:http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.
If you wish
> to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond
'fair use',
> you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

But Russia going in for 2 weeks to protect 2 small regions was just
absolutely awful. In the meantime we are still  pretending that we are
liberators.

Antworten