Does this mean we have to invade them, too?

[Undertoad]

Disproving a strawman is conspiracy theory tactics 101. Nobody said it was a huge massively attended event. They said it was an important event. Nobody would have expected a big crowd because at that stage of events it would have been dangerous to be on the streets taking a position. Nobody "promoted" it. Nobody ever said there was a massive crowd and crowd size was never the important aspect of the event. People took long shots like this showing the scope but nobody thought it interesting because that wasn't the point of it.

It was an unusual event because nobody expected military operations to lead to Baghdad in a week.

The piece circles tanks in yellow because it is supposed to be significant... why? They are calling that "sealed off". It looks like a nice defensive position to me. Two days earlier that nearby Palestine Hotel was hit by tank rounds. Would you head out to the street to help knock the statue down?

[Torrere]

Except that in this case the straw man is widely cited by supporters of the war such as UG as evidence of that the invasion of Iraq was welcomed by the Iraqi people.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Disproving a strawman is conspiracy theory tactics 101. Nobody said it was a huge massively attended event. They said it was an important event. Nobody would have expected a big crowd because at that stage of events it would have been dangerous to be on the streets taking a position.

Funny. It was also dangerous to be in Tiananmen Square. Why did so many arrive? It was dangerous to demonstrate for the Orange Revolution. Why did so many arrive? It was dangerous to demonstrate for the Prague Spring in 1958(?). Why did so many so up? It was dangerous to demonstrate for the Velvet revolution. Why did so many so up?

In each case, the people overwhelmingly wanted that liberation. In Iraq - no. That was a fact. So many did not like Saddam. But they also did not want the Americans. So reporters had to carefully find those who so welcome Americans.

As noted in anther post, Iraqi kid would display the thumbs up sign to Americans. Americans then knew the Iraqis were welcoming them. Thumbs up in Iraq is equivalent to the middle finger salute in America. Did you know that? Some reporters were reporting (accurately) that Iraqis were not who heartedly welcoming Americans - as demonstrated by so few people in the street.

UT says there were few people on the street - even though Americans clearly had secured the street. Too many want to believe George Jr lies. Americans were not warmly welcome in Baghdad. After all, if Americans were so welcome, then why did Americans suffer first 'terrorist' casualties in the Shi'ite areas (ie Sadr City) - where Americans should have been most warmly welcome.

Reality - many were lied to by administration spin. Reality - the welcome and hate even between two adjacent neighborhoods was quite sharp. And that was when it was safe for an American to venture on Iraq streets without protection.

At what point do we concede that George Jr is a despicable liar? He was then. He is now. "Mission Accomplished".