Iraqi university students riot

[rooboy]

RAQI students at Diyala University outside Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, rioted overnight when US soldiers visited the campus to play a game of basketball, witnesses said.

The soldiers, from the 4th Infantry Division posted around Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, had been invited to play a friendly match with students.

But some 200 people, angered by the US presence, started to demonstrate, said university spokesman Qusay Abdul Khaleq.

Two buildings were looted, with windows smashed and doors ripped off their hinges, he added.

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,8243619%255E1702,00.html

[chasqui]

1. What was the score?

UW-Madison students rioted after the badgers qualified for the Rose Bowl!

[0007]

2. 'Tis not a good sign for American troops.

The Iraqis want to play hardball.

[HEyHEY]

3. Dang guess they should have played floor hockey

[bleedingheart]

4. Why do rioters always seem to destroy their own stuff?

Is it me...or do rioters just go nutty and do really dumb things. Why not just chant and protest..?? Why do you have to loot and damage stuff?

[Gin]

5. I agree...now we have to pay for that too......geez..these Iraqi's are

plucking my last holiday nerve.

[bleedingheart]

6. don't kid yourself...I doubt we will pay for anything that they damage...

we only pay for oil well development and the movement of crude..

[conservdem]

12. I agree they often so seem to do dumb things.

[DS1]

7. Wow, burn your own stuff during a riot, Americanisms are taking off!

Stupid assholes.

[RainDog]

8. this is the third student demonstration since Saddam was found

the first one, according to Juan Cole, had about 200 students, then the second one had about 1000 students and the military was called out.

I wonder if the basketball game was supposed to be a way to be "officer friendly" on campus?

no doubt they were already aware of the other riots in the last week or so.

Riverbend also mentioned it in her blog, Baghdad Burning.

[durutti]

9. U.S. Out Now!

That is all.

[RainDog]

10. student chants in earlier demonstration

http://www.juancole.com/

This was posted by Cole on 12-17

In Mosul, about 1000 students marched through the street waving Iraqi paper money with Saddam's picture on it. The demonstration ended violently in front of the university, when unidentified gunmen opened fire (from the crowd?), killing one Iraqi policeman and wounding another.

and this was posted on cole's blog on Thurs. (the 18th)

For those interested in crowd behavior, I note from al-Hayat the chants of student protesters in Mosul below. They are really quite ugly, like something out of the Chinese cultural revolution, but what is clear is the nationalistic undertone to the protests. By now Saddam is just a symbol of defiance to occupation. He doesn't deserve to be such a symbol.

Ba`thiyyah, Ba`thiyyah
Wa la naqbal al-`ar

Baathists, Baathists,
and we do not accept humiliation!

Na`m, na`m
li'l-Qa'id Saddam

Yes, yes, to the Leader Saddam!

Ma natanazzal `an ithnayn:
al-`Iraq wa Saddam Husayn

We will not back down from two things:
Iraq and Saddam Hussein!

Bush, Bush, isma` zayn
kullna n'hibb Saddam Husayn

Bush, Bush, listen well:
We all love Saddam Hussein!

Namut, numut
wa yahya al-watan
Fa'l-tasqut Amirika

We'll die, we'll die,
but the Nation will live!
And America will fall!

Majlis al-Hukm, Ya Jaban
Ya `Amil al-Amrikan!

Governing Council, you cowards!
Agents of the Americans!

posted by Juan Cole at 9:04 AM

...sounds like we're winning those hearts and minds...

[ParticipatoryDem]

11. They chanted: "We all love Saddam Hussein!"

So much for their education. What are they teaching there?

[htuttle]

13. The US military has a program they are teaching...

...it's called, Learn to Hate Your Occupiers, and Lionize Any Who Oppose Them.

Topics taught to Iraqis by the Bush administration include:
Lies, Chalabi, and Oil
When we say Democracy, we don't really mean 'Democracy'
Your lives don't really matter to us
We don't care about your silly 'honor'


Extra-cirricular classes taught by former associates of the US military are expected to cover:

101 uses for an old propane tank
US military logistics schedules and reaction deployment policies
Petroleum transportation engineering basics

Unfortunately, it's looks like it will be an interesting semester.

[Voltaire99]

14. Hi, we're the infidel invaders! Mind if we use your basketball court?

Oh, I see -- they were "invited" to play basketball. By "good" Iraqis. And so they went along to do a little hearts-'n-minds full court press to show the Iraqis that, yes, we can exterminate thousands casually, but when we put our minds to it, we can play some pretty kick-ass b-ball, too! Then some radical Islamicist spoilsports objected, as radical Islamicist spoilsports will.

Oh, now I understand.