IRAQ - TIBET
Swapping One Cause For Another
Wednesday 09 April 2008
The US-led invasion of iraq launched to free their people from a brutal dictatorship; it would be ironic if history showed it instead served to free Tibet of theirs.
Swapping One Cause For Another
Hannah HoexterWednesday 09 April 2008
Today - Wednesday 9 April - marks the fifth anniversary since American troops took Baghdad and with it Saddam Hussein's regime fell.
All week here on France 24 we've been focusing on the Iraq of today - with a series of incredible reports sent by our journalists there.
This a pretty normal day then for modern Iraq: cities under curfew, militias threatening the calm, politicians nowhere to be seen and US troops no closer to going home.
An anniversary, but the country far from celebrating. As if to remind everyone this was a country very much at war - mortar rounds in Sadr City left some 20 people dead, many of the victims reportedly women and children.
The rights and wrongs, successes and failures of this conflict have already been discussed at great length and will no doubt continue to be for years to come.
But for me this day was given added poignancy, ironically, by the other big story we have been covering: anticipated protests to greet the Olympic Torch relay in San Francisco. Free Tibet activists carrying off an impressive media coup - using all the coverage to draw attention to their cause. Pro-Chinese groups similarly rallying the crowds to show their pride that Beijing is hosting the Games.
Which makes me wonder: where are all the anti-war protesters? This torch's route after all going through Britain, the US and Australia - all nations that sent troops to Iraq and saw thousands flock to the streets to show their sympathy for Iraqis.
Five years on, China is today's black sheep of the world. 'Free Tibet' the new 'Stop the War'. This time it seems, Western leaders are more accomodating to the demonstrators - with some apparently considering heeding to their calls and boycotting the opening ceremony.
The situation within China more solveable it seems then that within Iraq. Tibet's nationalists are repressed, Iraq's nationalists are militants.
The US-led invasion of Iraq launched to free their people from a brutal dictatorship; it would be ironic if history showed it instead served to free Tibet of theirs.
