> In the last 24 hours, the AP shiftingly reported that the Sunni
> were told not to participate in what was described as a
> Shia/al-Sadr rally. The AFP, however, reported that the Sunni were
> encouraged to participate by BOTH sides (the Sunni leaders and
> al-Sadr's Shia side). The AP reported in the last 24 hours that the
> Sunni told their people not to go to the Baghdad rally, then it
> reported it was al-Sadr's people who told the Sunni not to go. Such
> crude shifts in the lies make them all the more obvious.
>
> Also, why no zoomed out aerial shots to let us see just how filled
> up the square was with anti-US/anti-occupation protesters. The wire
> services have also reported that the numbers turned out were far
> less than the 1 million called for by al-Sadr. But was al-Sadr
> calling for 1 million in Baghdad or 1 million nationwide? From this
> crappy news coverage (echoed at the captive arab media) we really
> don't know how many turned out for the Baghdad protests or all the
> other protests nationwide. To be sure, al-Sadr is back in a big
> way; and, in terms of insurgency, the Sunni-al-Sard Shia alliance
> holds.
>
> Here is the latest at yahoonews (AFP article better than AP):
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050409/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_050409190711
>
> Note that in complete contradiction of earlier AP articles, the AFP
> ones says:
>
>>> Sunni clerics from the Committee of Muslim Scholars, which
>>> organized a boycott of historic January elections, also urged
>>> followers to join the protest.>>
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20050410/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&sid=84439559
>
> Al-Sadr is back; the Iraqis look upon their country in ruins, and a
> Kurd who wants to break up Iraq is president.
>
> F
I'm keeping some middle east news feeds at my site. Pardon the ugly... it's still under construction. http://news.leighm.net/
Here's one from chinadaily: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/10/content_432782.htm
Also, riverbend posted one to Baghdad Burning today: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/archives/2005_04_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#111307454974312560
She recommended this link: http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5723
Leigh