Listen to: Segment: <http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2004/april/audio/dn20040406.ra&proto=rtsp&start=7:53.87>
. . . AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to As'ad AbuKhalil, professor of political science at California State University, visiting professor at U.C. Berkeley, author of several books, including, Bin Laden, Islam, and America's New War on Terrorism. He runs a news blog called the "The Angry Arab News Service" at angryarab.blogspot.com. Welcome to "Democracy Now!" . . .
AS'AD ABU KHALIL: . . . I have always believed that once the rage and antipathy to the United States occupation sweeps to Shiite areas, the countdown for America's withdrawal from Iraq could begin. If Ayatollah Sistani, the grand Ayatollah of Iraq, is now pressured by the street, as there are indications he is being pressured to give his agreement for some kind of Shiite resistance against the occupation, I think a two-sentence statement from him would read as an obituary for the American colonial adventure inside the country. . . .
AMY GOODMAN: Professor AbuKhalil, what about this idea of the US fighting on two fronts against Sunnis and Shia?
AS'AD ABU KHALIL: Well, in fact, it could very well be one front. Yesterday, I watched detailed coverage on Al Manar TV and Al-Jazeera, and what struck me is that one correspondent for Al Manar TV said that when he was covering the events in al-Sadr City, which is predominantly Shiite, and in al-Azamia, which is Sunni-dominated, he said a lot of the fighters in the streets were insisting on national unity, and some of the slogans being chanted emphasized that Sunnis and Shias fight together. So I would say that the blunders of the United States may do the unthinkable, which is to unite the resistance into Sunni and Shiite alike. Yesterday the coverage I noticed also that we don't hear about the external terrorist conspiracies and infiltration into the country anymore, especially after they sealed the border. Now we know the truth that has been hidden from the Americans for a very long time, which is that the resistance and attacks against the Americans is largely due to a homegrown domestic and indigenous movement inside the country. The reports yesterday indicated that the people of al-Azamia district in Baghdad, for example, were one and the same with the resistance. They were hiding the fighters, feeding them, sheltering them. That is a new phenomena. We are not talking about some little tiny movement that the United States can flush out in a two- or three-day operation. This is really big, and it could very well get bigger. The United States will lose if it stays, will lose if it leaves the country. That's one scenario that the Bush administration did not contemplate when they talked about changing the Middle East. They did change the Middle East into a more messy and bloody Middle East. . . .
<http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/06/1354213> *****
***** Wednesday, April 7th, 2004 Battles Rage Across Iraq As U.S. Comes Face To Face With a Unified Armed Resistance
Listen to: Segment <http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2004/april/audio/dn20040407.ra&proto=rtsp&start=8:01.36>
Resistance to the U.S. occupation in Iraq intensified for a fourth day in cities and town across Iraq bringing the death toll to at least 20 U.S. soldiers and over 150 Iraqis. Hundreds more have been wounded. We go to Iraq to get a report from the ground form Aaron Glantz of Free Speech Radio News and Pratap Chatterjee of CorpWatch.org. Resistance to the U.S. occupation in Iraq has intensified for a fourth day. On Tuesday 12 U.S. soldiers died in a firefight near Ramadi bringing the US death toll in the last few days to at least 20. Over 150 Iraqis have been killed including 26 in Fallujah where US warplanes bombed a residential Sunni area. 16 children and eight women were killed in that attack. . . .
* Aaron Glantz, Free Speech Radio News. Report filed from Baghdad. * Pratap Chatterjee, managing director of CorpWatch.org. Speaking from Baghdad. ***** -- Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>