Jaffar

Draped in Iraqi flags and chanting anti-American slogans, tens of thousands of Iraqis swept into the southern city of Najaf on the call of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to mark the fourth anniversary of the ouster of President Saddam Hussein, calling for U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq. (www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl)

"No, no to the occupier. Yes, yes to Iraq," they chanted, as demonstrators burned and ripped apart American flags. "Get out, get out occupation."

Others carried banners proclaiming their loyalties to the influential cleric. They had traveled by bus and car to march through the center of one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites.

"We came today raising this flag, our flag, the flag of Iraq, as a show of unity," said Ali Hamza, 26, from Sadr City, the cleric's Baghdad stronghold. Hamza wore the trademark black uniform of the Mahdi Army, al-Sadr's militia, and an Iraqi flag covered his back. "I would like to show the world we are united. We reject the occupation and we will fight the occupation."

Al-Sadr has not been seen in months, leading critics to speculate that his grip over his followers has weakened and that he has fled the country to neighboring Iran. But Monday's protest underscored the immense power al-Sadr still wields even as an eight-week-old U.S. and Iraqi security offensive to quell violence in Baghdad has targeted many of his commanders and advisers.

The protests came a day after al-Sadr called America "the great evil" and urged his militiamen and members of Iraq's security forces to unite against the U.S. occupation. But he stopped short of calling for a violent uprising, which would almost certainly complicate current efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Monday, al-Sadr's men said they were itching to fight U.S. and Iraqi troops and that al-Sadr's commands were the only thing stopping them. "We wish as much as the distance between heaven and earth," said al-Kufi. "When he asks us to fight, we will fight and hope for martyrdom."

The demonstrators began Monday morning at the Kufa mosque and headed toward Sadrain Square in the center of Najaf. Some carried signs that read: "Four hard years and Iraq is from bad to worse."

The protesters were largely Shiite, but included Sunni politicians and clerics. As they walked, they held hands with black-turbaned Shiite clerics.

"We came to participate in this great patriotic national demonstration to denounce the occupation and say to them, 'Get out, so we can build our country with our own hands,' " said Ala Adin, a leading Sunni imam from Basra.

Source: Washington Post