This is funny. In an attempt to downplay anti-occupation protests throughout Iraq yesterday, conservative bloggers have been cherry-picking news about the protests to describe the turnout as “underwhelming” and “weak” while using this photo as proof that the demonstrations fell far short of their 3,000,000 person goal (via ThinkProgress) as seen here:
To put this protest in perspective, however, let’s look at the same location four years and two days ago when the statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down :
President Bush once said of this photo-op :
“The toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad will be recorded, alongside the fall of the Berlin Wall, as one of the great moments in the history of liberty.”
That’s odd. From the photo it seems a little underwhelming to me.
Here is another photograph of the Iraqis streaming into the square who were cropped out of the above photograph:
