Juan Cole: April 13, 2005 Part 2

Ash-Sharq al-Awsat/ AFP: Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated Tuesday in Samarra, demanding the withdrawal of American troops from their city. Clan elders and school and university students participated in the rally, which came in response to a call from the municipal council and the Association of Muslim Scholars. The demonstrators gathered close to the Malwiyah Mosque, among the most famous and recognizable of Iraq's early Islamic monuments. They carried placards reading, "Leave our sacred city, you strangers!" and "Let the Prisoners Go!" and "No, no to enmity . . . Leave, leave, America!" They burned an American flag. Police and Iraqi army men fanned out around the site of the demonstration. No American troops showed up, and they stayed at some distance from the demonstration.