...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
and cities in the Shiite-majority south of the country on Friday to condemn Bahrain for crushing an uprising a year ago.
| A bit late to be effective, not that the rulers of Bahrain care what a mob of Iraqi peasants -- or even Iraqi bon pensants -- might say or do. |
Moqtada Tateral-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...
, took place in a half-dozen cities in south Iraq with attendance ranging from dozens to several thousand, Agence La Belle France Presse news hounds said.
| "Pay attention to meeeeeeee!" cries Little Tater, recently promoted to something or other terribly impressive by the mullahs of Qom. One hopes they also arranged for the repair of his teeth -- so hard to be taken seriously as an intellectual when one's teeth are visibly rotting in one's head. Such things denote a certain lack of gravitas in a way that, say, uncombed hair does not. |
Jabari also criticized the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
for barring Syria from attending an upcoming summit in Storied Baghdad, but allowing Bahrain to join.
Protesters shouted, "Bahrain! Free, Free Bahrain!" and held banners condemning Soddy Arabia's "interference" in the Gulf monarchy.
Rallies were also held in Sadr's headquarters town of Najaf, the southern port city of Basra, and the towns of Nasiriyah, Hilla, Amara and Diwaniyah.
AFP journalists said thousands of demonstrators attended the Najaf and Amara protests, while hundreds took part in the Basra, Nasiriyah and Hilla rallies. Diwaniyah, however, only say a few dozen protesters.
"All of these protesters have come to say to the Bahraini leaders, 'Stop what you are doing to the people of Bahrain'," said Mohaned al-Gharawi, a Sadrist official taking part in the Najaf demonstration.
Bahrain has complained to Iraq previously of Sadr's "irresponsible statements" about the uprising, summoning Storied Baghdad's envoy to Manama in January.
The Shiite-led opposition in Bahrain demands constitutional changes that would reduce the power of the ruling Sunni dynasty. Tensions have remained high in Bahrain since a deadly crackdown last year after a month of street protests in the capital Manama.
Tensions between Iraq and the six Gulf Arab states have risen sharply since Bahrain secured military support from fellow Gulf Cooperation Council members to smash the month of pro-democracy protests.
In the aftermath of the crackdown, Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
warned that the military intervention risked stoking sectarian conflict across the region.