Iraq Is
Burning With Wrath ,
Anger And Sadness
By Dahr Jamail
13 November, 2004
Dahrjamailiraq.com
Leaving
the hotel is always an adventure. Last night, with a full beard and
a kefir draped around my shoulders, Abut Talat wisks me out into the
chaotic streets of occupied Baghdad.
As we traveled around
the capital, we took side roads, winding varying routes towards our
destination, never daring to take the direct, most obvious path. Aside
from the obvious threat of kidnapping which is my greatest concern,
we travel accepting the fact that anywhere, anytime, we could be in
the wrong place at the wrong time. Whether that take the form of a car
bomb like the one yesterday which detonated near a US patrol on Saadoun
street, killing 17 people and engulfing 20 cars in flames, or a full
scale battle between occupation forces and resistance fighters like
that which occurred in al-Adhamiya today.
The damp night air
appeared as a haze which exaggerated the ever-present of smog in the
capital. Driving around Baghdad always provides an assortment of smells-from
beef kebobs cooking on the roadsides as vendors stoke their fires, or
more commonly, as the stench of raw sewage as one passes through yet
another un-reconstructed sewage infested area.
One of our stops
is at the home of Dr. Wamid Omar Nathmi, a senior political scientist
at Baghdad University. An older, articulate man who vehemently opposed
the regime of Saddam Hussein, he is now critical of the US policy which
is engulfing Iraq in violence, bloodshed and chaos.
He told me that
during the buildup to the siege of Fallujah, he had sent John Negroponte,
the current so-called ambassador of Iraq, a letter which, along with
several other points, asked him, Do you think that by occupying
Fallujah you will stop the resistance?
Of course his letter
was ignored, and now we watch in fear as the resistance is spreading
across Iraq like a wildfire, fanned by the pounding of Fallujah.
Dr. Nathmi added,
Certainly the US military can eventually suppress Fallujah, but
for how long? Iraq is burning with wrath, anger and sadness
the
people of Fallujah are dear to us. They are our brothers and sisters
and we are so saddened by what is happening in that city.
He asked what the
difference was between what is occurring in Fallujah now to what Saddam
Hussein did during his repression of the Shia Intifada which followed
the 91 Gulf War. Saddam suppressed that uprising and used
less awful methods than the Americans are in Fallujah today.
Dr. Nathmi is a
brilliant man and certainly a warehouse of informative analysis about
the events in Iraq. He was quick to point out another flaw in the US
policy here, of how the US disbanded the entire Iraqi Police force in
Ramadi the day before the siege of Fallujah began.
He held up his hands
and asked, Who will provide security in Ramadi now, angels?
I can assure
you, it is well over 75% of Iraqis who cannot even tolerate this occupation,
he said a little later when discussing the Bush administrations attempts
to whitewash the situation in Iraq. The right-wing Bush administration
is blinded by its ideology, and we are all suffering from this, Iraqis
and soldiers alike.
After our interview,
we stopped by Abu Talats home for a coffee and so I could say
hello to his family. His son Hissan somberly asked me, When will
the Americans leave, Dahr? I had no response. I dont
know Hissan. I really dont know. He then said, I dont
think they are ever going to leave Iraq.
I snuck back into
the car and we wound our way across Baghdad, noting that most of the
city sat in darkness. Baghdad is running on the generators Dahr,
said Abu Talat, Even my home has been without electricity since
9am this morning. It was after 8pm.
He insisted we stop
for ice cream, which I most certainly did not refuse, then he dropped
me back at my hotel.
Today dawned a grey,
windy day, with fighter jets scorching the sky en route to Fallujah.
Of course the flames
of resistance have now engulfed other parts of Baghdad and Iraq alike.
Here in Baghdad, the Amiriyah, Abu Ghraib and al-Dora regions have fallen
mostly under the control of the resistance.
A friend of mine
who lives in al-Dora said, The resistance is in control here now,
they are controlling the streets.
What few US patrols
still roam the streets are attacked often. This fact underscored earlier
as several large explosions nearby shook the walls of my hotel this
afternoon.
Abu Talat was once
again trapped in his neighborhood and we were unable to conduct an interview
when fighting broke out nearby his home. He called me and said, The
Iraqi Police found a car bomb, and when they were warning people about
it US troops showed up and were immediately attacked with RPGs.
The fighting raged for at least half an hour, and several soldiers were
wounded and taken away. Now fighter jets are flying so low over our
neighborhood, using their loud voices to terrorize people.
Huge areas within
the cities of Ramadi, Fallujah, Baquba and Mosul are now controlled
by the resistance. Will the slash and burn tactics of the US military
in Fallujah be applied to those areas next?
Meanwhile, over
near the Imam Adham mosque a huge demonstration organized by the Islamic
Party (which just withdrew from the so-called interim government and
recently called for a boycott of the elections), broke out. It was comprised
of well over 5,000 angry people denouncing Ayad Allawi and demanding
his resignation.
They also demonstrated
to show that they were unafraid of the US military.
And they called
for jihad against Allawi.