Iraqis Demanding That Foreign Arabs Leave

[Annie]

http://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_...ype=worldNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=7895686

Iraqis hold anti-Jordanian protests over bombing


Mon March 14, 2005 11:24 PM GMT+05:30
By Michael Georgy

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites protested on Monday after hearing reports that relatives of a Jordanian suicide bomber suspected of killing 125 people in the town of Hilla celebrated him as a martyr.

After breaking into the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad and tearing down the flag, protesters called on all foreign Arabs to leave the country and denounced Jordan's King Abdullah.

Anti-Jordanian sentiment has been spreading since Iraqis read newspaper reports that Jordan's Raid al-Banna blew himself up beside people lining up for jobs in the Shi'ite town of Hilla last month in the single bloodiest attack in postwar Iraq.

Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the blast.

The Iraqi government said in a statement it strongly condemns "the expressions of joy" exhibited by the family of Banna, who it described as a terrorist.

"Prime Minister Iyad Allawi spoke to the prime minister of Jordan personally today and asked him for a clear answer regarding the family's activities as the reports are affecting relations between the Iraqi and Jordanian people," it said.

Most of the demonstrators were members of the Shi'ite Muslim majority newly empowered by Jan. 30 elections that stripped minority Sunnis of privileges enjoyed under Saddam Hussein.

Hundreds protested in Baghdad and thousands took to the streets of Najaf, spiritual home of the Shi'ites...

 

[menewa]

They've been wanting these guys out for a while. Even the Iraqi resistance comprised of Iraqis do not like the foreign Arab fighters because they so frequently target innocent, civilian targets.