Things
Fall Apart
By Patrick Cockburn
18 September 2004
Independent
Where freedom was promised, chaos and
carnage now reign. A suicide bomber in a car blows himself up in the
heart of Baghdad killing 13 people. Air raids by US near the city of
Fallujah kill scores more. And so ends one of the bleakest weeks in
Iraq's grim recent history.
Between them, suicide
bombers targeting Iraqi police and US air strikes aimed at rebels have
killed some 300 Iraqis since last Saturday - many of them were civilians.
The escalating violence throws into doubt the elections planned for
January and the ability of the US and interim Iraqi government to control
the country.
The repeated suicide-bomb
attacks and kidnappings in the centre of Baghdad are eroding whatever
remaining optimism there might be about the success of the government
of Iyad Allawi, the Prime Minister, in restoring order in an increasingly
fragmented country.
Violence and abductions
are ensuring that even tentative efforts at economic reconstruction
have ground to a halt. Earlier in the week, the US diverted $3.4bn (£2bn)
of funds intended for water and electricity projects to security and
the oil industry. Many Iraqi businessmen and doctors have fled to Amman
and Damascus because of fear of being taken hostage. The abduction of
one British and two American contractors this week will make it very
difficult for any foreigners to live in Baghdad outside fortified enclaves.
Yesterday, a car
packed with explosives blew up near a row of police cars blocking off
a bridge in the centre of the Baghdad. Police tried to get the bomber
to stop but he drove on into the middle of the parked cars. "I
saw human flesh and blood in the street, then I fled," said Mouayed
Shehab.
There are big markets
in this part of Baghdad on Friday including a famous book market in
al-Muthanabi Street where booksellers cover the road with books they
want to sell. A few hundred yards away, there are markets selling everything
from spices to birds and guard dogs. Police fired shots into the air
to force shoppers to flee.
The police had blocked
the bridge over the Tigris as part of an attempt to seal off Haifa Street
- a focal point of violence in recent days - on the western side of
the river where US and Iraqi forces were involved in a search operation
and gun battles had been fought earlier in the morning. Haifa Street,
with its modern tower blocks and old alleys, is a notorious Sunni Muslim
neighbourhood where US forces are frequently ambushed. It is also only
a few hundred yards from the Green Zone, the headquarters of the US
and Iraqi interim government.
The security forces
arrested 63 suspects during their sweeps of Haifa Street including Syrians,
Sudanese and Egyptians. They also claimed to have discovered caches
of arms, though that does not necessarily mean very much in Iraq where
almost all families own one or more guns.
Yet the horrors
have spread way beyong the capital. Early yesterday, police found the
body of a Westerner with blond hair which had been pulled from the Tigris
river at Yethrib village, 40 miles north of Baghdad. He was tall, well
built, had his hands tied behind his back and had been shot in the back
of the head. The description does not match any of the Western hostages
known to be held by kidnappers.
And, of course,
Iraqis suffer. The US Air Force has stepped up its policy of trying
to assault insurgents from the air while the army avoids ground attacks
that could lead to heavy US casualties. In this case, the air strikes
were against a compound in the village of Fazat Shnetir 12 miles south
of Fallujah. The US military said they had attacked a meeting of militants
loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi planning fresh attacks on US forces.
The residents of
Fazat Shnetir were later seen digging mass graves to bury the bodies
in groups of four. A health ministry spokesman, Saad al-Amili, said
that 44 people were killed and 27 injured in the Fallujah attacks with
17 children and two women among the wounded. The floor of the Fallujah
hospital was awash with blood. Relatives cried out with grief and called
for vengeance.
The truth about
who is being killed by the US air strikes is difficult to ascertain
exactly because Islamic militants make it very dangerous for journalists
to go to places recently attacked. Bodies are buried quickly and wounded
insurgents do not generally go to public hospitals. But, where the casualties
can be checked, many of those who die or are injured have proved to
be innocent civilians.
The surge of violence
in the past week is making it less likely there will be free elections
in January as promised by George Bush. Elections themselves may not
guarantee a way out of the quagmire. Should they not happen though,
there are likely to be more weeks like these.
* The family of
a British engineer, kidnapped by gunmen from his house in Baghdad two
days ago, pleaded for his safe return last night. Kenneth Bigley, believed
to be 62 and married with one child, was seized with two other US colleagues
by militants during a dawn raid.
His family have
been contacted by the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who explained to
them what is being done "to resolve the situation".