Protests, Unrest Continue on the Streets of Baghdad

Sheik Ahmed al-Kubeisy, a Baghdad religious leader, spoke to worshipers during morning prayers at the Abu Haneefa al-Nu’man Mosque, protesting the American “occupation” and calling on U.S. troops to leave before they are expelled by Iraqis, according the Associated Press.

Following the morning prayers, thousands of people rallied in the streets, some calling for Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni populations to unite, the AP reported.

The protesters converged from several mosques shouting “No Bush, No Saddam, Yes to Islam,” and “No to America, No to Secular State, Yes to Islamic State,” Washington Post correspondent Thomas Lippman reported.

U.S. Central Command spokesman General Vincent Brooks said in a briefing Friday that the protesters in a new, “free Iraq” have the right to demonstrate.

“While there will be some that want to see a departure of the coalition, some would like to have that so they can try to return power to the way it was,” Brooks said. “Others may want to [protest] just to remind us that this is Iraq for the Iraqi people. And we really don’t need a reminder on that. We’re quite aware of that and we respect that.”

The Associated Press reported a general unrest among Baghdad citizens due to lack of security and power outages.

“The lack of basic services such as power, water and police protection has hobbled the city’s economy and fueled a mixture of rage and resentment against American forces. Iraqis are angry that U.S. troops rarely assume the role of police and resentful when they do,” reported AP correspondent Ellen Knickmeyer.

The U.S. military is reportedly working with Iraqi engineers to restore power to the city, which American and Iraqi officials say is their first priority.

“Without power, there is no peace,” said Haifa Aziz, manager of a power substation. “For hospitals, for schools, for the people, they need electricity.”

Some Iraqis have taken security measures into their own hands and young men with automatic rifles are patrolling some neighborhoods, according to reporters in the city.

“Organized by local sheikhs, they are guarding hospitals, businesses and housing estates in an effort to halt the rampant looting that followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s rule. Where U.S. forces fear to tread, they are there, un-uniformed, armed and mean,” reported Reuters correspondent Rosalind Russell.

National Public Radio reported Friday that U.S. forces are beginning to regularly patrol Baghdad in an attempt to restore order and prevent looting. NPR correspondent Eric Westervelt reported that Iraqi citizens approached U.S. patrols demanding that they provide more security and services, while the Americans tried to explain their limitations.

“There’s a lot of soldiers, but not enough. I mean there’s five million people in Baghdad, that’s a lot of people, so we’re doing what we can with what we have. We have more people coming. So help’s coming the aid is coming, security is coming, one day at a time, we’re trying,” Sergeant First Class Eric Olsen said to an Iraqi Red Crescent employee who implored the soldiers to do more.

“We don’t think that ‘security is coming,’ is enough, we need security already here, not coming,” the employee responded.