U.S. Silent on Deadly Iraqi Gov't Crackdown on Protests; 300 Arrested in Sweeps Targeting DemocracyNow.org -
permalinkWhile the United States has sharply criticized
the Libyan government for brutally cracking down on opposition
protesters, it has remained noticeably silent on the recent attacks
against Iraqi dissidents. On Friday, tens of thousands of people
participated in Iraq's largest protest in years. Although the protests
were largely peaceful, authorities fired water cannons, sound bombs and
live bullets to disperse crowds as Iraqi army helicopters buzzed
overhead, killing an estimated 29 people. Then on Sunday, U.S.-backed
Iraqi security forces detained about 300 people, including prominent
journalists, artists and lawyers who had taken part in the rallies.
For
more on this story, Democracy Now! interviews Iraqi-American blogger
Raed Jarrar and Samer Muscati, Iraq researcher with Human Rights Watch.
For
the video/audio podcast, transcript, to sign up for the daily news
digest, for more coverage of the uprisings across the Middle East and
North Africa, visit
http://www.DemocracyNow.org.