Where are they now: Peter Arnett?

[redman]

Apparently turning as many pirouettes as the NY Times' "Johnny" Apple - from the Daily Mirror of London:

REJOICING MINORITY FREE AFTER 35 YEARS Apr 10 2003

By Peter Arnett

I WAS at the centre of a popular uprising in Baghdad yesterday.

At 10am I drove through the city with two Iraqis I have known for many years. They are both Shi’ites.

We headed to Saddam City in the east of Baghdad, where about million people live in slum areas. It is a hotbed of discontent and Islamic fundamentalism, and yesterday, as we arrived, the lid blew off.

There were no military, no police and no militiamen around. We saw people beginning to walk from their houses, looking about. We saw one group go into the home of a Ba’ath Party official, which had clearly been abandoned.

They brought out chairs and televisions. They were starting to just grab things.

As we watched from our car the crowd grew – 20, 30, then about 100. They started chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) and “Down with Saddam Hussein”.

They surged towards the Al-Ardalea Mosque with an Islamic flag. Closed for five years the mosque was the centre of discontent here.

Now they were pulling the gates open and pouring inside.

I very carefully got out of the car but the mob saw me. They came running over. It was a frenzied crowd. I thought “Hey... this is it”.

They picked me up and held me in the air along with my two Iraqi friends. They started marching us around the mosque. But they were not threatening.

Quite the opposite. They were all immensely friendly. I must have been kissed 1,000 times from my toes up to the top of my head by these men. They were feverish with excitement.

Screaming and embracing they began chanting “Freedom. Freedom. Thank you Bush. Thank you Bush”

There was a tremendous spirit. was in the middle of a real revolution. It was contagious.

After about 10 minutes they put us down and a local leader emerged. They talked of independence.

Rahin Gehup is an Islamic fundamentalist and underground leader.

Right there and then he started proclaiming liberation. He got through to CNN on my satellite phone and proclaimed to the world that popular uprising had begun.

He was grateful to the Americans for bringing them freedom. He was happy Saddam Hussein had gone, but he insisted the people of Iraq wanted to run their own government.

This was the first stirrings of popular uprising but it was also the first stirrings of what America going to face in this country.

They want to be free, but in their own way. The fundamentalists want their own government. There are people all over this country who all want to have their own government.

At the same time there was another crowd. They had started to loot buildings, break into government ware-houses and burn down homes.

But I will never forget the sheer joy of the crowd at the mosque.

They were free for the first time in 35 years. They wonder when the Americans will arrive. I think they’ll be there any minute – if not today, tomorrow.