Iraqi anti occupation demonstrations

This video from the USA is called Invasion of Iraq, UK Oil Companies & British Military Making the Case for War, Democracy Now.

From British daily News Line:

Saturday, 18 October 2008

IRAQI MASSES TO MARCH AGAINST DEAL TO EXTEND US MANDATE

US defence chief Robert Gates has been briefing US politicians on the proposal to extend the US mandate in Iraq. This expires this December 31 and the US is seeking to extend it to December 31, 2011.

The plan would see over 100,000 US troops withdrawn from Iraq by that date, but with a number staying behind in some very big US bases which are now under construction.

The Maliki puppet regime is poised to sign this deal.

This is why today hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are marching in Baghdad and in other cities throughout Iraq to demand that the US troops quit Iraq at the end of their mandate on December 31, with no bases and no troops of any kind remaining behind.

US officials say the deal will see combat forces withdrawn from Iraqi towns and cities by the middle of 2009, and that all US combat troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2011.

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed yesterday that a complete withdrawal ‘will only be followed if the conditions on the ground provide for it’, a caveat that implies that there will be an occupation for as long as the US considers that it is strategically necessary for it to threaten the entire Middle East and Iran.

Another Pentagon official confirmed that ‘Any withdrawal dates that are in this – and there are dates in this document, and I won’t get into what those dates are – are entirely conditions-based.’

Senior Iraqi puppet officials involved in the negotiations say that they believe that all the outstanding issues have been settled.

While a number of them have been in London seeking to sell off a number of concessions to exploit Iraqi oil wells for private development, others have been working out an agreement with US negotiators that will allow US troops and the tens of thousands of US contractors to avoid being subjected to Iraqi law.

The chosen formula is that the Iraqi judicial authorities are to be allowed to try US troops and contractors for alleged crimes committed off-duty or off-base, provided that a joint US-Iraqi committee agrees to such a trial.

The vast majority of Iraqis are completely opposed to this kind of unequal treaty between master and servant.

It allows the US occupation of Iraq to continue for at least another three years, during which time the US government is expected to try to purchase much of the Iraqi gas and oil industry.

BBC report on the demonstrations: here. See also here. And here.