Iraqis demand US exit
Chanting "No, no, USA," protesters converged on Firdus Square, where US troops helped Iraqis pull down a huge statue of ousted president Saddam Hussein two years ago -- an act televised around the world that symbolised the end of the old regime.
The rally, organized by radical anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, is believed to be the largest demonstration since US troops entered the country.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "O God, cut off their necks, the way they are cutting off our necks and terrorising us," said Sadr representative Sheikh Nasir al-Saaidi, reading a speech from his boss. "There will be no peace, no security, until the occupation leaves."
Iraqi flags fluttered in the sea of demonstrators, many of whom were dressed in black, the uniform of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. Many wore green and black Islamic headbands.
Sadr followers said the rally was the first of many to pressure the new Iraqi government to demand that US troops withdraw, but they stressed Sadr was not calling for a resumption of armed struggle against the US military.
"We've organised ourselves now to continue these demonstrations until we force the government and national assembly to take our demands seriously and carry them out," Moayad al-Khazrajy, a senior aide to Sadr, told AFP.
"We've received strict orders from Sayed Moqtada not to carry weapons and even if we're fired at by occupation forces not to respond. For the time being, our position is peaceful."
Khazraji read Sadr's demands to the crowd. They included a quick trial for Saddam; the Iraqi government making Thursday the second day off in the week not Saturday, due its association with the Jewish Sabbath; the Iraqi government strengthening border security and the government respecting the resistance and bringing it into the political process.
Some waved the notorious picture of a hooded naked Iraqi detainee, with wires attached to his body. It was released during the Abu Ghraib prison scandal last year that blemished the US record in Iraq.
Sunni clerics from the Committee of Muslim Scholars, which organised a boycott of historic January elections, also urged followers to join the protest.
"The war has been finished for two years. What did we get? Nothing. Our country has become the centre of terrorism," said Ali Hussein, 30, from Sadr City, who was dressed all in black. "There is no electricity, no services, no nothing."
A shopkeeper from Sadr City, Baqr Mussa, vented frustration at the continuing US presence and the failure by the Americans to execute Saddam. He was dressed in white religious robes, symbolic of martyrdom.
"We are very angry. We don't believe we've just lived two years since the war. All the buildings are still burnt and destroyed," Mussa said. "Saddam is still in the prison and they have not even judged him yet for all his crimes. We are very angry, and we want all the world to hear our voice."
Sadr rocketed to prominence in the power vacuum after the fall of Saddam two years ago. He quickly founded his thousands-strong Mehdi Army militia and delivered vitriolic sermons demanding US forces exit the country.
In continued violence Saturday morning, a roadside bomb killed 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounded several others in Latifiyah, 40km south of Baghdad, a defence ministry official said.
An attack on a truck convoy killed four drivers and wounded four others as they drove from Kut, 172km south of Bahgdad, to the capital, an interior ministry source said.
A Sadr deputy was killed and a colleague wounded in Baghdad as they were driving to attend the anti-US protest, a Sadr official said.
Jaafari, meanwhile, continued working formation a new government.
His party, the United Iraqi Alliance, will have the important ministries of finance, interior and oil, said senior aide Jawad al-Maliki. A quarter of the 30 or so cabinet posts will go to women, he added.
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