Gun
Rule In Basra
By Judit
Neurink
Al-Ahram
14 May, 2003
Shops are slowly
starting to reopen in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, children have
returned to near-empty schools, but the city remains an unsafe place
at night.
"It really hurts to
see the lack of security," says a former Iraqi police officer,
who wished to remain anonymous, outside a shop selling arms in Basra.
"I don't see the British doing anything about it."
The police station where
he worked was first looted and then taken over by a homeless Iraqi family,
as was the prison, and the British troops in control of the city did
nothing to prevent it.
Law and order in Iraq has
completely disappeared, with lawlessness and impunity flourishing in
their stead.
This is evident in all sectors
of society, starting with the streets where traffic police are absent
and traffic lights are completely ignored. For weeks people have been
engaging in indiscriminate looting; first the bombed buildings of the
government secret service and Ba'ath Party, then hotels, shops, schools
and universities -- nothing is sacred.
The elegant Sheraton Hotel
not only lost its contents, but the external wood panelling as well
as doors and windows.
At the Technical Institute
lecturers tried to prevent a man -- obviously poor -- from removing
a lead pipe from the grounds. He put up a fight and managed to make
off with his prize.
The staff asked the British
troops to send a tank to guard the gate to discourage looters, but a
tank positioned at the gate of Basra University made no difference at
all. Many people say they even saw British soldiers encouraging looters,
addressing them with "Ali Baba, come on!"
Looted goods are on sale
at the street markets in the centre of town where some of the city's
many poor try to make money to survive; nobody checks where the chairs,
desks or building material came from.
And nobody stops people from
cutting down trees and bushes along the roadsides of the town for wood
for cooking -- few can afford to purchase the few bottles of gas that
are available.
The number of people grouped
around the former policeman in front of the gun shop has grown and plastic
chairs have appeared. Stories abound about car accidents which were
"solved" when drivers brandished their kalashnikovs, and about
robbers who entered the back of a bank while British troops guarded
the front. Stories about girls being abducted and expensive cars changing
hands at gunpoint. Gunshots can still be heard in the dead of night
in this city, and almost nobody ventures out after nine.
"There are far too many
guns around," said the former policeman.
Fear of secret service agents
was always deeply ingrained in Iraqi nature, and remains so to this
day. The number of guns in the country is estimated at seven million
where the population is approximately 25 million. Saddam Hussein distributed
guns to members of the Ba'ath Party, and some are said to still have
many guns in storage.
"Disarming should be
the first priority," said the erstwhile policeman, and he himself
is willing to make a start by conducting house-to-house searches. However,
he is unwilling to assume his former post under the conditions imposed
by the British. They wanted to employ only 34 of the former 6,000-strong
Basra police force, who would patrol alongside the British dressed in
white shirts and black pants -- without proper uniforms -- armed with
only a stick. "Thieves and thugs have kalashnikovs, and the police
have to carry out their job armed with just a stick," he complained.
While hundreds of Iraqi men
started policing the streets in conjunction with American troops in
Baghdad, only a few former policemen have joined the British policing
operation in Basra.
Some citizens of Basra made
it clear they did not want the old police force to reform because of
their affiliation with Saddam's regime. Many have no respect for the
old force which, they say, was as corrupt as the rest of the system.
In a city devoid of law and
order, one gun shop owner, while disliking the former leader, wishes
for the return of Saddam saying he, at least, managed to obtain law
and order.
Cries of "You fool"
greet this exclamation, continuing with "Saddam was the biggest
thief of them all!"
Not everybody is so openly
critical, out of fear of the former regime -- which not all believe
has really disappeared. These people want to see the former leaders
imprisoned with their own eyes. And they have every reason to be fearful,
according to Professor Riad Al-Assadi.
Al-Assadi is a professor
of international politics at the University of Basra, and he received
threats on his life after openly opposing Saddam Hussein and his regime
at a meeting last week. The threats were made via postcards, which he
received a day after the meeting, and which he takes quite seriously.
"Saddam's military and
Ba'ath members have gone underground and are still working for him,"
he maintains, which is why he insists on the coalition taking control
of policing tasks, as is required of an occupation force according to
the Geneva Conventions.
But not only the lack of
security is driving Basra citizens to the brink of despair. Drivers
waiting for hours in a queue at the only functioning petrol station
almost explode with anger as it shuts up shop for the night.
"I have to take my sick
child to a doctor," shouts one angry man. "How can this happen
in a country which has so much oil?" retorts another. Guns then
appeared, and the near- explosive situation is defused with the appearance
of British tanks.
Despair has taken hold because
people have run out of money; what little they had is now gone. No salaries
have been paid for two months and many people have been condemned to
the ranks of the unemployed after the looting of their place of employment,
be it bank, shop or government office. Worry about the immediate future
abounds, and for those who have been paid, there are additional problems.
Professor Al-Assadi was paid last week, but in 15,000-dinar bank notes,
which no shopkeeper will accept. These notes have been forged in the
past and none of the banks in Basra are open for business. This money
is effectively worthless.
"It is such a mess,"
he sighs.
And so say all of the other
good citizens of Basra.