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10,000 Iraqis Protest Troop Deal

Hang Bush in effigy

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 21, 2008 6:49 AM CST

(Newser) – More than 10,000 Muqtada al-Sadr supporters gathered in Baghdad today to protest the US-Iraqi security pact that would keep troops in the country for another 3 years. The protesters hanged an effigy of President Bush from the same plinth Saddam Hussein’s statue was once toppled from by US forces, placing a black bag around Bush’s head in reference to Saddam’s execution.

Protesters arrived overnight, ensuring that the Maliki government couldn’t block the central square. They have so far remained peaceful, sitting in rows of 50 stretching a half mile from the square. Sadr himself did not appear, though an aide read a statement from him. “America is and will not be of any use to us,” he said, “because it is the enemy of Islam.” The pact still needs to be approved by the Iraqi parliament.

[Images (8)]

[Quotes (2)]

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn the American flag as thousands converge at Firdous Square in central Baghdad, to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converge on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq for a mass prayer to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, seen in a poster, converge on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr bow in prayer as they converge on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, pictured in the poster, converge on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, pictured in the poster at left, arrive at Firdous Square in central Baghdad to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact on, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr arrive at Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq for a mass prayer to protest a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security pact on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

A protester uses his shoe to strike an effigy of George. W. Bush, as thousands of followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr converged on Firdous Square in central Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

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Today is the day of Iraqi unity among Arabs, Kurds, all communities of Iraq, to reject the security pact. - Hazim al-Araji, senior al-Sadr aide

The government must know that it is the people who help it in the good and the bad times. If it throws the occupier out, all the Iraqi people will stand by it. - Statement from Muqtada al-Sadr, read by Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi

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10,000 Iraqis Protest Troop Deal