Shiites burn effigy of Bush in protest

November 22, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Shiites oppose the U.S.-Iraqi accord that outlines U.S. troop withdrawal.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A towering statue of Saddam Hussein. A giant effigy of President George W. Bush.

Two targets, one central square in Baghdad.

It was Saddam in 2003, but on Friday, it was a likeness of Bush that drew the ire of Iraqis.

In a demonstration that drew nearly 20,000 supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a black-suited effigy of the U.S. president was hoisted onto the same pedestal that once held the statue of the Iraqi dictator.

Then to chants of “no to America,” protesters pummeled it with their shoes in a traditional show of contempt. The effigy toppled, and the crowds stomped on it and set it ablaze.

Friday’s protest was the latest display of opposition to an accord that could push Iraq into new political turmoil, even though the ruling coalition appears to have enough parliamentary votes to narrowly approve the deal.

Parliament is scheduled to vote on the pact Monday, but presidential spokesman Naseer al-Ani told Iraq’s Sharqiyah television that the vote might be delayed until after the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, which falls in early December.

“It will need more time. Perhaps until after Eid al-Adha,” he told the station. The legislature is expected to go into recess this month ahead of Eid al-Adha, when scores of lawmakers travel to Saudi Arabia for the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

The pact establishes a time line for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from cities by June 30 and the entire country by 2011. It places U.S. forces under tight Iraqi control and gives the Iraqis limited powers to put American soldiers and civilian Pentagon employees on trial in cases of serious crimes committed off-base and off-duty.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said the agreement offers Iraq the only viable option to regain full sovereignty. The alternative would be to seek the renewal of a U.N. mandate that, he said, allows U.S. forces a free rein in the country. The mandate expires Dec. 31.

But none of that mattered Friday at Firdous Square, where protesters waved Iraqi flags and green Shiite banners and chanted: “No, no to the agreement of humiliation!”

Organizers placed an effigy of Bush on the same pedestal where the giant Saddam statue stood before U.S. Marines toppled it April 9, 2003, in what became an iconic image of the fall of Baghdad and the end of the dictator’s 23-year rule. A sign attached to the effigy described the pact as “shame and humiliation.”

After a mass prayer, demonstrators pelted the Bush effigy with plastic water bottles and shoes. One man standing on the pedestal hit it in the face with his sandal.

The effigy fell into the crowd, and protesters jumped on it before setting it ablaze as the crowd erupted with chants of “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.” Several U.S. flags were also burned.

Al-Sadr, who is based in Iran, did not attend. But in a sermon read to the crowd by an aide, he criticized the government and described America as “the enemy of Islam.”