Protests throughout the Middle East continue/Egyptians demonstrate against Gaza bombings. Will US troops get paid?

More protests in Syria



Protests are continuing throughout the Middle East this Friday.  More  have been killed as the protests against Assad continue. Kurds in the eastern part of Syria are also demonstrating according to Al Jazeera despite major concessions from the Assad regime.  Turkey, with some 15 million Kurds will never allow a separate Kurdish homeland on its southern border; Iraq is and will be a mess for a long time to come.

There are reports of hundreds of Egyptians also protesting the bombardment of Gaza by the Zionists which has killed at least 14 people in the last 2 days.  There are also reports of thousands of Egyptians in Tahrir Square calling for the prosecution of Mubarak.

This is one of the problems that US imperialism has in the region, the public prosecution of any of these figures because behind most of them is Washington and Wall Street and too much would be revealed.  This is one of the reasons that Gadaffi, as hated as he is, gets an echo in the hearts of many people because he has stood up to western imperialism.  In the minds of most people in the world, Gadaffi, like Hussein in Iraq is small potatoes compared to the likes of Kissinger, Bush, Rumsfeld or Cheney.

There are also protests in Baghdad in the aftermath of Robert Gates' visit as he suggests that some 48,000 US troops could stay on in Iraq to maintain "stability".  This is a somewhat silly thing to say as the US meddling in Iraq and its occupation has brought anything but stability.  Al Jazeera interviewed one demonstrator who said of the US occupation:

"They have no credibility. They said, "By the end of 2011 we will be out of Iraq," and yesterday, Gates came here and said that there are hints about keeping the US forces, although they denied this before.They are not going to leave Iraq, and if they don’t leave Iraq by the end of 2011, then there will be no peaceful demonstrations, there will be something else."

Gates also warned a US soldier who asked him how a US government shutdown might affect the troops that they will get paid but he doesn't know when.  There was no problem coming up with an immediate $700 billion to bailout the bankers was there?