Baghdad
Did Not Fall - It Was Handed Over
By
Jalal Ghazi
Pacific News Service
15 April, 2003
Arabic media are using the
word "safqa" to explain the sudden collapse of Baghdad and
the Iraqi regime. Translated into English, "safqa" means "a
deal made fast and in secrecy."
Arabic media are speculating
that a "safqa" -- Arabic for a secret deal -- was arranged
between the United States and the Baath regime to hand over Baghdad.
Although nobody can pinpoint the exact terms, there are three clear
outcomes. First, the lives of many American and British forces as well
as most senior Baath officials were spared. Second, Baghdad itself did
not turn into the bloodbath widely anticipated by military experts.
Third, the war was shortened dramatically, saving the region -- especially
Saudi Arabia -- from catastrophic consequences.
The following clues, gleaned
from Arabic and U.S. media, suggest why the fall of Baghdad was premeditated.
None of the seven rescued
POWs was hurt. On the contrary, all seven were found in good condition.
All were found dressed in pajamas rather than the standard uniforms
for prisoners of war, indicating that they were being treated as guests
rather than as POWs. Usually, Arabs give pajamas to guests who sleep
over in their houses.
Arab reports point out that
POW Jessica Lynch was similarly treated; she was kept in the cleanest
room in an Iraqi hospital until she was rescued on April 2.
In both cases, American forces
were tipped off about the location of the POWs by unknown Iraqi citizens.
Kuwaiti prisoners, by contrast, who were captured during the Iraqi invasion
of Kuwait more than 12 years ago, are only now being discovered.
To date, none of the seven
war prisoners has spoken directly to American TV reporters, unlike American
soldiers injured in the fighting, who became instant media sources.
We are told the seven POWs were taken to Kuwait for medical treatment
and intelligence debriefing.
American tanks rolled into
Baghdad with very little resistance while Basra, nowhere near as heavily
fortified as Baghdad, sustained almost three weeks of fierce resistance.
The fall of Baghdad was so
sudden that it left many of the Arab and Muslim volunteers who went
to Iraq to fight the coalition forces in total disarray. Initially given
weapons and uniforms, thousands of these volunteers -- who came from
Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere -- wound up having
no one to tell them what to do. Al Jazeerah reports that some are now
still fighting U.S. forces while others are actually attacking Iraqi
civilians.
Baath forces refrained from
destroying a single bridge in Baghdad, which could have blocked U.S.
tanks access to the city, at least temporarily. Moreover, only a handful
of Iraq's oil fields were set on fire, leaving the vast majority intact
almost in accordance with Bush's demands.
None of the senior Baath
officials has surrendered to date, with the exception of two high-level
scientists. Instead, tens of thousands of Baath operatives managed to
disappear without a sign of internal divisions. This strongly suggests
that the departure of the Baath regime was ordered from the most senior
levels and was highly organized. It also explains why most of the Iraqi
forces, including the Republican Guards, were nowhere to be found when
U.S. forces entered Baghdad.
Iraqi Ambassador to the United
Nations, Mohammad Al-Douri, a high level Baath functionary, was quoted
in both American and Arabic media as saying, "The game is over"
and that he had not been in contact with Saddam Husssein for weeks.
When asked why he used the word "game," the Ambassador replied,
"the war is over." Meanwhile, Al-Jazeerah reported that he
has been allowed to travel to Syria and that he may be asked to represent
the new Iraqi government at the United Nations.
While Arabs all over the
Middle East now routinely talk of the deal that saved Baghdad, they
also speculate that the same deal may have saved Saddam. Unlike the
hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, which preoccupied U.S. forces
for months, the hunt for the dictator no longer appears to be the top
priority for U.S. forces in the wake of Baghdad's fall.
Where could Saddam be if
he is still alive? Some Arab media experts speculate he may have sought
refuge in Mecca, the most sacred Islamic place in the world. No non-Muslims
ever lived in and very few have even set foot in this holiest of Muslim
cities.
If it turns out that Saddam
is indeed in Mecca, it would be one further clue that the architect
of the "safqa" or deal between the Baath and the United States
was Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah -- a trusted intermediary of the Bush
family and the only Arab leader invited to President Bush's Crawford
Ranch.
For the Saudis, as well as
for many other Arab leaders, the deal offers the one hope of sparing
the Middle East the consequences of a bloody and prolonged war of resistance
in Iraq. For the Americans, the deal offers a chance of stabilizing
post-war Iraq and its neighbors, leaving the door open for what Bush
calls the roadmap to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
(PNS associate Jalal Ghazi
([email protected]) monitors and translates Arab media for New
California Media, a project of Pacific News Service, and WorldLink TV.)