And things just get worse in Iraq; 60 journalists rounded up, Najaf

[LynnTheDem]

All hell's breaking loose, it appears...registered site, am I allowed to post all?


NAJAF, Iraq — Iraqi police, some with their faces covered by ski masks, fired several shots as they stormed a hotel packed with journalists Wednesday, rounding them up at gunpoint and forcing them onto flatbed trucks bound for the local police station, where they were detained for an hour.

At the station, Najaf Police Chief Ghaleb Hashem al-Jazairi told the 60 or so journalists they were detained because the Dubai-based satellite television channel al-Arabiya had reported that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most prominent Shiite Muslim cleric in Iraq, would arrive in Najaf today to lead a demonstration.

"We were attacked by 14 mortar shells tonight and we expect more, so you're going to stay with us in this room to see what we go through," one officer told the journalists crowded into the chief's office.

The incident underscored how tense and unpredictable Najaf has become after three weeks of fighting between U.S.-led forces and the militia of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sistani's sudden plan to return to Najaf and his call for Iraqi Shiite Muslims to join him there today has unsettled an already chaotic situation.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/nation/9496903.htm

Sounds ominous

[Revolutionary Mama]

1. Are we paying for that?

I was just wondering if that was our tax dollars at work in the Free and Democratic Iraq Bush and friends keep telling us they established since "Mission Accomplished" last year.

Surely, the new Iraqi cops could've politely asked some journalists to spend a day with them and report on the experience.

[LynnTheDem]

2. They didn't sound

in a very good mood tho.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. So is this what freedom and democracy

is supposed to look like?

I know W has a hard time with the English language, but you would think that he at least knew the definition of democracy?

[LynnTheDem]

4. Well yeah but

they're all voting, you see. 20 pipelines voted Kerry... Kufa mosque Kerry...entire city of Najaf, Kerry...Poland, Kerry... Italy, Kerry

Iraq's exercising their democratic right to blow the crap out of everyone.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. Well, democracy isn't tidy, right?

Now that they're free and all... they're just grappling with how to deal with democracy, right?

:shrug:

Swiftboat Veterans for Bush

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