Let me get this right: since only 1,000 out of 24 million came out for a very vocal demonstration, that shows how cowed they are; therefore, 10,000 in the U.S., keeping proportions constant, shows the same thing?
I don't think the issue is whether you can protest in the streets in Iraq. Obviously you can. This is not exactly Pinochet's Chile, although down the road it might come to that.
It is really more a question of determining what Iraqis think about the occupation, etc. As long as you shut down newspapers (even though not murdering the editors as routinely happened in Colombia), the citizenry is forced to rely on a limited menu. This will color polls.
Furthermore, the USA is forced to deal more delicately with Shi'ite protests since they are the main social base of the occupation besides the Kurds. If people marched down the streets of Baghdad demanding freedom for Saddam and a return of the Baathist Party to power, their treatment might be less gentle.
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