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Peace protests follow the sun
20/03/2004 18:05 - (SA)
Baghdad - Anti-war chants rippled through cities around the world on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, but in the nation scarred by occupation the dawn of a new era went largely unheralded.
The protests moved with the sun, starting in Australia, then through Asia, into the Middle East and on to Europe and the United States where the main demonstrations were expected. Organisers however were not forecasting the huge turnouts that filled city streets at rallies before the war was launched.
In Iraq, most people were too preoccupied with the struggle for daily life and the fear of violence to mark the start of the war seen live on television sets around the world as missiles and bombs lit up the dawn sky over Baghdad.
We will not celebrate
"We would probably celebrate on April 9 because on that day, we got rid of Saddam and his evil regime, but we will not celebrate the launch of a war that has left us with nothing so far," said former government employee Adnan Saad.
"We are happy that Saddam is gone, but what have we got instead? I am unemployed and I stopped sending my five children to school mainly because of the catastrophic security situation," he said.
US President George W Bush stuck to his defence of the invasion, saying in his weekly radio address that it had removed a major cause of instability in the Middle East.
"One year ago this week, ground forces of a strong coalition entered Iraq to liberate that country from the rule of a tyrant. For the Iraqi people, it was the beginning of their deliverance," said Bush.
"The liberation of Iraq was good for the Iraqi people, good for America, and good for the world. The fall of the Iraqi dictator has removed a source of violence, aggression, and instability from the Middle East.
It was a view shared by few in restive Iraq.
The anniversary followed a week of heavy violence, including a suicide bombing and rocket strikes on hotels in Baghdad, and other attacks on US troops, police and civilians, including journalists.
In the latest incidents, an Iraqi police officer was shot dead early on Saturday at a checkpoint near the northern oil centre of Kirkuk while a local Turkmen community leader there survived an assassination attempt.
On Friday, Iraq's US civilian administrator Paul Bremer said he expected that in the run-up to the June 30 deadline for a return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people "we will have some really bad days".
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Saturday also differed, describing the situation in Iraq as "unstable politically and security-wise".
His comments on the political situation were echoed by a member of the US-installed interim leadership.
"The members of the Governing Council and the cabinet think they represent 70% of the Iraqi people. How can they be sure? We have been imposed on the Iraqi people by America," said Ayham al-Samarrai, one of five Sunni Arab ministers in Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein government.
"Of course, most of the members are known in Iraqi society ... by their opposition to the former regime and also by their democratic thinking," he said, speaking on the sidelines of an economic symposium on Iraq in Beirut.
We don?t represent the people
"However, we don't represent the people. No one chose us. Saddam was not chosen by anyone and neither were we."
Samarrai added that there was "divergence and discord" within the Governing Council and that its members "don't apply the vote."
Saturday's protests - often recalling the failure of the invaders to find the weapons of mass destruction Saddam Hussein was supposed to possess - were largely peaceful and low-key.
At rallies in Australia, speakers called for the country's troops to be brought home from Iraq and attacked Prime Minister John Howard's conservative government's strong ties with the United States.
About two thousand people marched in Sydney and three thousand in Melbourne, far short of the hundreds of thousands who protested in the lead-up to the war.
In the Philippines, riot police used water cannons to disperse about 100 demonstrators who tried to march on the US embassy.
Thousands of people marched through central Tokyo to call for peace in Iraq and to demand the United States and Japan withdraw from the country.
In London, where the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair was Bush's main ally, police estimated 25 000 anti-war activists were marching through the city to protest against the occupation of Iraq, shouting "Anti-Bush! Anti-Blair! Anti-war!
High turnouts were expected in Spain, still in turmoil over the Madrid bombings which killed more than 200 people on March 11, and in Italy - both of whose governments had supported Bush despite massive public opposition.
In the United States, large demonstrations were planned for later on Saturday in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well San Francisco where protests took place on Friday. Organisers were hoping for large turnouts in up to 200 cities.
Bush still faces international criticism over the war and its rationale.
In the past week, South Korea has said it will reconsider its commitment to deploy troops, and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said his country had been "taken for a ride" about Iraq's banned weapons, a remark he later withdrew.
Last week, Spanish prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also placed conditions on Spain's 1 300 troops.
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