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March 01, 2005
The Arab Street Explodes Again: "No To Terrorism!"
They can kill, but they can't win:
More than 2,000 people demonstrated Tuesday at the site of a car bombing south of Baghdad that killed 125 people, chanting "No to terrorism!"
The article then discusses a kidnapped French journalist for about an hour and a half-- I'm not trying to be uncaring of the journalist's fate, but it does seem the writer wanted to immediately tell you about ongoing bad news after (sadly) reporting the good.
More than 2,000 people held the impromptu demonstration on front of the clinic, chanting "No to terrorism!" and "No to Baathism and Wahhabism!"
I'm not sure what to say about this:
The demonstrators also demanded that interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi step down.
The best spin I can put on it is this: when people are incensed, they will, in a normal sort of country, criticize their politicians and demand change. That is democracy -- even if democracy is sometimes short-sighted and prone to unthinking tumult.
And even better: the demonstrators weren't killed for speaking their minds.