Thousands marched on government buildings and clashed with security forces in cities across Iraq on Friday, in the largest and most violent anti-government protests here since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world several weeks ago.
In two northern Iraqi cities, security forces trying to push back crowds opened fire, killing six demonstrators. In the capital of Baghdad, demonstrators knocked down blast walls, threw rocks and scuffled with club-wielding troops.
The protests, billed as a "Day of Rage, were fueled by anger over corruption, chronic unemployment and shoddy public services.
I had riot control training when I was in the National Guard. We had it drilled into us that our job was to move people if necessary or contain them, and not to hurt them. Indeed, we trained without rifles in order to prevent accidental shootings from the chaos of a confrontation. Only a select number of troops--held to the rear--carried firearms.
We were even explicitly told that killing a fellow citizen to protect some random building was not our job. Of course, being told to defend some objective is another matter, the point was that looting a party store is not a crime punishable by death so we shouldn't carry out that sentence.
(As an aside, I didn't like having to hold my night stick right-handed in order to make a uniform phalanx and to keep movements synchronized. I'd have had to waste a second switching hands if it came to having to use the weapon. Another reason left-handers reportedly have shorter life spans trying to use the devices of a right-handed world. Have I mentioned that a hand grenade is a right-handed weapon? Have you seen how I learned to use a computer mouse?)
The Iraqi security forces seriously need to understand that confronting protesters unhappy with the government's performance needs to be carried out far differently than when fighting enemies massing on the streets trying to topple a legitimate government. Don't tell me we aren't needed in Iraq for years to come.
