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posted by martyb on Sunday May 01 2016, @09:10AM   Printer-friendly

Protesters have stormed the "Green Zone" and Iraqi parliament and are camping out:

Protesters stormed Iraq's parliament Saturday in a dramatic culmination of months of demonstrations, casting uncertainty over the tenure of the country's prime minister and the foundations of the political system laid in place after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Security forces declared a state of emergency in the Iraqi capital after demonstrators climbed over blast walls and broke through cordons to enter Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, also home to ministries and the U.S. embassy. Many were followers of Iraq's powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has been urging his supporters onto the streets.

Lawmakers fled the building in panic, with some berated and struck as they left. Others were trapped in the basement for hours, too afraid to face the crowds who complain that the country's political class is racked by corruption.

Also at NPR, BBC, and Reuters.

Update: PM orders arrest of parliament protesters


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  • (Score: 3, Disagree) by moo kuh on Sunday May 01 2016, @09:53AM

    by moo kuh (2044) on Sunday May 01 2016, @09:53AM (#339748) Journal

    Ok, they broke into a building and disrupted government business for a day or two. Now what? What is doing that going to change? What is their end game other than expressing malcontent in a disruptive manner? Are they trying to overthrow the government? If so, do they know what kind of government they are going to install? How much support do they have from the general population? I think the guy leading it is making a power grab, probably a myopic and misguided one. I think the followers are getting caught up in good old fashion mob mentality with no real plan other than "Get em!" Letters, emails, and signs can be used to express disapproval. Iraqis need to be realistic. Things in Iraq are going to be hard considering the Iraq Iran war, US intervention in the Kuwait invasion, 2003 US invasion, and now ISIS. Iraqis need to appreciate that decades of war on their home turf are what is making things shitty for them. I can't blame the politicians from wanting protection. Even the honest ones are going to be hated by someone simply by having a position on an issue. Having a different position on the same issue would be the same result, just hatred from different people.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:14AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:14AM (#339767)

      ... Decades of war perpetrated by the US by proxy.

      Sounds like they just want the US the fuck out of their country (including all of the influence pedaling and "America first" policy making).

      The US has a long history of that sort of shit in the middle east.

      http://www.politico.eu/article/why-the-arabs-dont-want-us-in-syria-mideast-conflict-oil-intervention/ [politico.eu]

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:28AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:28AM (#339776)

        The US has a long history of that sort of shit in the middle east.

        " rel="url2html-28257">http://www.politico.eu/article/why-the-arabs-dont-want-us-in-syria-mideast-conflict-oil-intervention/

        Why Arabs don't want USA?
        TL;DR: Because, "Israel is our greatest ally".

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @06:34PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @06:34PM (#339894)

          TLDR because the US has been engineering coups and been igniting proxy wars since before WWII.

    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:27AM

      by Gaaark (41) on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:27AM (#339774) Journal

      good old fashion mob mentality with no real plan other than "Get em!"

      They should declare "Shenanigans" and get out the brooms

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday May 01 2016, @12:11PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 01 2016, @12:11PM (#339785)

      I think the guy leading it is making a power grab, probably a myopic and misguided one.

      ... accurately summarizing all of known human history.

      What is their end game other than expressing malcontent in a disruptive manner?

      Why won't the little people just starve to death and get out of our way? What do you mean they're not cooperating with the plan? They're just little people they're not allowed to have agency.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Hyperturtle on Sunday May 01 2016, @03:13PM

        by Hyperturtle (2824) on Sunday May 01 2016, @03:13PM (#339837)

        I agree with your sentiment, VLM.

        I can't quite understand the folks that can helpfully marvel, at a distance, how the uneducated masses that have run out of options, have no real means of influencing events, and may not be able to arm themselves in any meaningful way because a drone my blow their brown ass out of the sand with no notice, simply because a remote control pilot saw an arab with weapons who wasn't flagged as friendly on the heads up display -- how can these arm-chair quarterbacks demand to know the "end-game"?

        These people were trying to do things the "right" way for a long time! And nothing changed! If they set about to kill anyone, they would instantly be branded terrorist and their entire cause for change would be lost.

        The only thing they can do is truly hope the pen is mightier than the sword, and this guy is upset that they haven't given him the next chapter yet.

        I think they want the government to operate honestly and attend to their needs. Maybe not 100% of the time for all of their needs, but something better than what they have today. They certainly handled themselves better than many protesters at recent Trump rallies. At least the Iraqi lawmakers haven't taken to Twitter to say they love uneducated people while admonishing them at the same time.

        Often, having no plan other than the Ghostbusters "GET HER" approach... is not helpful. They seem to have adopted that tactic. But it worked. They have a lot of attention. Maybe someone who cares and is in a position of leverage can help them, now that the world community knows that unarmed people can scare the pants off leadership just as well as people who blow themselves up after scaling the same walls. The Iraqi parliment made both concrete and mental walls to hide from their citizens, and that violation of safety should resonate among them for a long time.

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by oakgrove on Sunday May 01 2016, @05:58PM

          by oakgrove (5864) on Sunday May 01 2016, @05:58PM (#339880)

          because a drone my blow their brown ass out of the sand

          I was with you until the dog whistling started. Tiresome.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @06:37PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @06:37PM (#339896)

            Are drone strikes being consistently used against fair skinned or even non-arabic individuals (errr faceless groups) or is it mostly just "brown people" in the middle east?

        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:18PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:18PM (#339988)

          I modded your post Interesting, but you might like to take a look at the history of South Vietnam. There are parallels with what's going on now in Iraq.
          The US has imposed a system of government, and has supported leaders who express pro-US ideals, no matter how corrupt they are. This is exactly what they did in South Vietnam which endured 20 years of military governments and coups before North Vietnam over ran it and ended the whole shambles.
          Iraq is complicated by the tribal nature of the Sunni v Shia v Kurd divisions, but the US are not helping.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:44PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:44PM (#339803) Journal

      Few westerners have any concept of the tribalisic nature of "government" in the middle east. No, they haven't thought of all the angles you are citing. They HAVE, however, thought of all the angles as regards their tribe's position in the grand scheme of things. Naturally enough, if the tribe is Sunni, they are siding along Sunni lines, etc.

      The protestors have kicked the sitting government out of it's seat of power for a day or two. That government has lost credibility. More people, more tribes, are going to get involved, causing the government to lose yet more credibility. The government's credibility was already somewhere between zip and zilch, bearing in mind that a hostile DAESH controls huge swaths of the country. That doesn't even address the Kurds, who have their own autonomous areas.

      What fashion of government do they intend to impose? It will probably be theistic in nature. And, it will reconfirm the ages old power structure of the tribes. And, it will be despotic in nature. This is the mideast we are talking about. The US imposed system didn't take, and it won't take unless we invade AGAIN. The first invasion hasn't been such a hot idea, but if we keep doing the wrong things over and over, then surely it will finally work out for the best.

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday May 01 2016, @07:49PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday May 01 2016, @07:49PM (#339917) Journal

        Stop making sense and being reasonable or your fellow "conservatives" are going to execute you for treason :D

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 02 2016, @03:19AM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 02 2016, @03:19AM (#340062) Journal

          Azuma - you should have connected some dots, and drawn a picture by now. I am "conservative" in the old sense of the word. I am not "republican" or "neoconservative", or a party member, or any of those things that people commonly associate with the word "conservative" today. George W. Bush, for instance, is/was not a conservative. A conservative doesn't wage adventurist wars, among other things.

          That said, I am not a die-hard conservative, unable and unwilling to see change happening. Life happens, life is change. The day you stop changing, the day you stop growing, is the day you begin to die. The only thing that never changes is, that the world is always changing.

          Being a little conservative would be good for everyone in this country. I know the republicans would benefit if they got back to basics, and the "progressive" half of our nation would benefit from it as well.

          • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday May 02 2016, @04:14PM

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday May 02 2016, @04:14PM (#340301) Journal

            Oh, I know :) It was obvious from two or three posts in that you're a paleo-con. Actually I get along better with them than the Tumblrinas and the naive college Communists.

            Now show this to jmorris and see if he calls you traitor, has a heart attack, or both :D

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:26PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 03 2016, @04:26PM (#340914)

        > Naturally enough, if the tribe is Sunni, they are siding along Sunni lines, etc.

        Except that Iraq is majority Shia and so is the parliament. The protestors are also Shia. The disagreements here do not break down along the lines that you imply.

        > It will probably be theistic in nature. And, it will reconfirm the ages old power structure of the tribes.
        > And, it will be despotic in nature. This is the mideast we are talking about.

        Ugh. The "tyrants or religious terrorists" theory of the middle-east is the result of outside meddling. If you go into a restaurant and want to order juice, but they say "all we have is coffee or soda" so you order a soda instead that doesn't mean you prefer soda. It just means that given the choices imposed on you, you are thirsty so you had to pick something.

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 03 2016, @10:30PM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 03 2016, @10:30PM (#341087) Journal

          "Except that Iraq is majority Shia and so is the parliament. The protestors are also Shia. The disagreements here do not break down along the lines that you imply."

          Read again. I've implied TRIBAL lines. My whole post implies that all other considerations are secondary to tribal concerns. After the tribe's position within the scheme of things, they consider religioun among other things. Your observation that Shia are protesting a predominantly Shia government only confirms my position.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @10:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @10:46AM (#339758)

    "Iraqi Leader Spent $175k on SEO and Reputation Management"

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:23AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:23AM (#339772)

      Did they spray the protesters with pepper?
      If not, they don't need to waste money on SEO... anything they do can't be as bad as UCD.

      Is that the line of your sarcasm?

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by aristarchus on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:28AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday May 01 2016, @11:28AM (#339775) Journal

    Reminds me of the Firefly episode where Mal ends up sitting bare-butt naked on a rock on a desert planet and says: "Well, that went well!" American foreign policy run by Republicans. United Fruit, Anglo-British Oil (now BP!), Christian Missionaries in Shanghai, Butto in Pakistan. Gee, why do they all hate Americans?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:26PM (#339796)

      American foreign policy run by Republicans.

      Riiight. Because 8 years of a Democrat as Commander and Chief of the military accounts for zero responsibility at all. Not to mention when Obama actually had democrat domination of congress and did nothing with it. Seems like bi-partisan FUBAR to me.

      • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:49PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:49PM (#339806)

        WTF is a "Commander and Chief"? Come on you illiterate twit - if you're going to use big words, try to familiarize yourself with those big words. It's not that hard. Google breaks it down into individual syllables so that you can follow along with your lips moving, you mouth breather.

        com·mand·er in chief
        noun
        a head of state or officer in supreme command of a country's armed forces.
        an officer in charge of a major subdivision of a country's armed forces, or of its forces in a particular area.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @04:50PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @04:50PM (#339859)

          Typical leftist strawman argument. Nitpick on semantics so that you can ignore the real issues.

          The whole topic on cultural marxism is now missing from Wikipedia because of this tactic. You can't discuss it if you don't know what it's called this week..

          Same thing with "welfare" in the United States. That program has been gone since 1996. So "welfare reform" makes you an out of touch bigot, where have you been for the past twenty years?

          Worked for what used to be KDE as well. KDE 4 sucked, so it became KDE SC 4, then it became something else, now you can't complain about KDE 5 at all because there's Plasma, the apps, and whatever else bullshit title for an arbitrary group of kdelibs-based apps that sucks, and if you don't get the semantics exactly right, your complaint will be driven into the ground by KDE loyalists. It's still KDE, and it still sucks ass after ten years of Aaron Seigo. Congrats fuck, you ran Nokia and Trolltech into the ground.

          • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Sunday May 01 2016, @09:41PM

            by butthurt (6141) on Sunday May 01 2016, @09:41PM (#339954) Journal

            "The whole topic on cultural marxism is now missing from Wikipedia because of this tactic. You can't discuss it if you don't know what it's called this week..

            The topic isn't missing, as these links all work:

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cultural_marxism [wikipedia.org]
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cultural_Marxism [wikipedia.org]
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_marxism [wikipedia.org]
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Marxism [wikipedia.org]

            Unfortunately you will need to skip down to the section titled "Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory" to read about it. Had you expressed disappointment over Wikipedia's use of the biassed, disparaging term "conspiracy theory" I would have agreed with you. The term encourages readers to unthinkingly dismiss unorthodox ideas simply because they're unorthodox. Even so, Wikipedia goes into greater depth than Britannica [britannica.com] or Conservapedia [conservapedia.com] on this subject.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 02 2016, @09:30PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 02 2016, @09:30PM (#340459)

              Wow, thanks for those (that) link. I had never heard of the term before. It is amazing how the conspiracy theory of cultural marxism looks exactly like the conspiracy theories of groups like gamergaters and the sad puppies. I guess when you live in a bubble where you erroneously think you are the majority and the rest of the world moves on it sure can feel like a conspiracy.

              • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday May 02 2016, @11:56PM

                by butthurt (6141) on Monday May 02 2016, @11:56PM (#340514) Journal

                > Wow, thanks for those (that) link.

                I suppose you didn't bother opening the Britannica or Conservapedia links. I don't fault you for that. Rational Wiki has an article [rationalwiki.org] with a leftist bias, which hypothesises that the term is derived from the term Kulturbolschewismus, or cultural Bolshevism, used by the Nazis.

                > I had never heard of the term before.

                I hadn't either, until I started frequenting this site. Perhaps it was a comment from that same AC.

                > It is amazing how the conspiracy theory of cultural marxism looks exactly like the conspiracy theories of groups like gamergaters and the sad puppies.

                A notable difference is that there are activists who rally under the names Sad Puppies and Gamergaters in public forums. That makes them easy to document them as movements. "Cultural Marxism" OTOH is a pejorative applied by others. While it's easy to document that use, documenting the existence of the supposed movement is not so easy.

                > I guess when you live in a bubble where you erroneously think you are the majority and the rest of the world moves on it sure can feel like a conspiracy.

                I'm unsure whether you're talking about the authors of Wikipedia, the people who use the term "cultural Marxism," yourself, or me.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 02 2016, @02:45PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 02 2016, @02:45PM (#340261)

            "Cultural marxism"? Go fucking kill yourself Brevik.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:30PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:30PM (#339800)

      Does it matter? We saved your euro asses, and you hate us anyways.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:51PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @01:51PM (#339808)

        We hate us too, or we wouldn't even be considering Teflon Bill's used up twat for our next president.

      • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Sunday May 01 2016, @02:51PM

        by isostatic (365) on Sunday May 01 2016, @02:51PM (#339830) Journal

        Yes, Britain will be forever grateful to the 9 US volunteers who fought in the Battle of Britain. I didn't realise you were one of them.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @03:03PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @03:03PM (#339833)

          It's a big world, Bubba. Britain got 9, China got thousands. It's a matter of scale, man.

        • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday May 02 2016, @03:07PM

          by tangomargarine (667) on Monday May 02 2016, @03:07PM (#340271)

          Without Operation Overlord I doubt Britain would have fared particularly well in the end. Why the hostililty?

          --
          "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
          • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday May 02 2016, @03:33PM

            by tangomargarine (667) on Monday May 02 2016, @03:33PM (#340288)

            Why the hostililty?

            Oh right. Because GP was being kind of a jerk. I get tunnel vision when reply mode narrows my view to only the parent, sometimes :P

            --
            "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by legont on Sunday May 01 2016, @03:30PM

    by legont (4179) on Sunday May 01 2016, @03:30PM (#339842)

    They stormed the Green Zone - that's interesting. The symbol of modern times. A little island of democracy, freedom, booze and some whores behind double concrete razor wired walls. Remember when Communism hid behind one and what happened? But at least commies were honest enough to surround the whole countries while we have little enclaves here and there with mobs outside craving lynch. Not that the model inside the US is much different.
    Anyway, the embassy will be next.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @04:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @04:02PM (#339851)

      Yep.

      I personally would be really gleeful to see them non-denominationally execute the whole green zone staffing, then just to urinate on America's failure, hold actual democratic elections resulting in a new government with sunni, shia, kurdish, christian and Zoroastran(?) representation.

      The best way to 'fuck you' america isn't replacing it with another system of government, it is showing America that the failure is in its leadership and current culture. It would be eminently embarassing for America if this were to happen. Doubly so if the Iraqis struck down all the US made laws, then did some fun review of the US constitution and legal framework, becoming a better America than America ever did. 14-28 year copyrights, patents not more than 10 years with a working implementation documented, etc.

      Iraq: If you recieve this post, find unity amongst your disparate tribes and humiliate America in the most ironic way possible: By becoming more democratic than it ever has been or will be!

      • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @04:53PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01 2016, @04:53PM (#339860)

        hold actual democratic elections resulting in a new government with sunni, shia, kurdish, christian and Zoroastran(?) representation

        Yeah, because that's exactly what we would expect from modern Islam.

      • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday May 02 2016, @12:51AM

        by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday May 02 2016, @12:51AM (#340022)

        Right, because after a hostile takeover and a bunch of murders, democratic elections are the most logical thing to happen.

        And if you think the sunnis and shia are going to stop killing each other regardless of American presence you are a complete dolt.

        Also you are a pure asshole for hoping people get killed. Fuck that, and fuck you.

        --
        "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 02 2016, @04:38PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 02 2016, @04:38PM (#340311)

        I personally would be really gleeful to see them non-denominationally execute the whole green zone staffing, then just to urinate on America's failure, hold actual democratic elections resulting in a new government with sunni, shia, kurdish, christian and Zoroastran(?) representation.

        Unfortunately, I suspect if that were to happen then the USA would stage a coup to overthrow their government and replace it with a strongman more to our liking. Yeah, they really don't have any reason to hate us.