More Violence Marks Holiday in Baghdad (5 Roadside Bombs/Freedom Day)

[maddezmom]

By VANESSA ARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago



BAGHDAD, Iraq - Five roadside bombs killed at least three people in Iraq on Sunday — the three-year anniversary of the Baghdad's fall to U.S. forces. Iraq police and soldiers bolstered security in the capital to prevent attacks on "Freedom Day."

The holiday marks the April 9, 2003 event in which a huge crowd of Iraqis cheered as U.S. Marines hauled down the statue of Saddam Hussein on Firdous Square, marking the collapse of his regime.

American troops killed eight suspected insurgents in a pre-dawn raid north of the capital. Drivers in the capital were stopped and searched by Iraqi forces at extra checkpoints in the city.

Most Iraqis welcomed the end of Saddam's regime, but the insurgency, militias, rising sectarian violence, electricity shortages and political vacuum have all sapped much of the enthusiasm generated by the collapse of dictatorship.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060409/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_

from our propgandaist at the State Department:

Iraqi Government Declares April 9 "Iraqi Freedom Day"
Iraqis have seen amazing progress in three years, says coalition spokesman


Washington – To commemorate Iraq’s liberation three years ago, when coalition forces removed Saddam Hussein’s regime from power, the Iraqi government has declared April 9 “Iraqi Freedom Day,” says U.S. Army Major General Rick Lynch, spokesman for Multi-National Force - Iraq.

“Sometimes we get so caught up in the events of the day, the struggle to form a national unity government, the most recent , that we forget the progress that has been made in the last three years,” Lynch told journalists at an April 6 press briefing in Baghdad, Iraq.

When the coalition’s final drive on April 7, 2003, ended its rapid, dramatic “thunder run” in the heart of Baghdad two days later, “the people of the world knew that the coalition was there to free the people of Iraq,” Lynch said.

He said April 9 was chosen for the commemoration because it is the anniversary of the date the world watched as the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Firdos Square.


more:http://usinfo.state.gov/dhr/Archive/2006/Apr/07-172892.html?chanlid=democracy

[saigon68]

1. "BRING EM ON"

[xchrom]

2. bushco has to be happy. spreading global chaos

can only be good for ''bidness''.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. They celebrate in strange ways over there, don't they?

[llmart]

4. "Freedom Day"????

Bwaa ha ha ha ha! Never has there been such a misnomer for a holiday.

[acmavm]

5. Oh what liars. There was NOT a 'huge' crowd of Iraqis and everyone

knows it now. We've all seen that picture from the wider view. There were only a handful of people there and I once read where they were Chalabi's people. Jeez, I wish I could find that picture.