Vox populi!

Vox populi, vox dei—”the voice of the people is the voice of god.” Monday will mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s statue in central Baghdad which many believed at the time would herald the end of fighting.

US Marine looks on during the poorly attended PR stunt. They were wrong, and protests are planned all over Iraq to signal just how angry the Iraqi people are at the continued bungling by the Bush Regime that has brought tens of thousands of deaths, a shattered economy, widespread malnutrition and social chaos to Iraq -- and no measurable benefits. Hoping to head off violence in Baghdad on Monday no vehicles except US military ones will be allowed to move in the city that day. This is unlikely to prevent violence, but will cause severe economic hardship for the people, further alienating the Iraqi public towards the US. However, the thinly stretched occupation forces have no ability to prevent protests in other cities, and dozens are planned. It is likely that the biggest demonstration will be the one called by Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to be held in the Holy City of Najaf. Thousands of protesters are descending on the area, and the main road between Baghdad and Najaf has been clogged with buses, cars and pedestrians. Many people are so angry at the US that they have chosen to walk the roughly 100 miles through the desert in order to attend the rally. Last Weeks Demonstration Security for the protests demanding that the US occupation forces leave Iraq and for the protesters chanting “Death to America” will be provided by the US occupation forces. In an interview following the massive anti-US demonstrations last week, Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said: "We say that we are here to support democracy. We say that free speech and freedom of assembly are part of that. While we don’t necessarily agree with the message, we agree with their right to say it.” Recent surveys conducted by the US government have found that more than 80% of Iraqis view the US forces as an occupying power and want them to leave, while some 47% believe that they have the right to kill US soldiers if they do not leave Iraq. The Bush Administration, which has used the pretext of bringing democracy to Iraq as one out of a long list of excuses for the bungled war, have declined to comment on their refusal to honor the wishes of the Iraqi people.