Now
The South Erupts
By Ali al-Fadhily
12 April, 2007
Inter
Press Service
BASRA, Apr 11 (IPS)
- The eruption of demonstrations in the south of Iraq this
week could rob the occupation forces of what was considered a critical
bastion of support.
The southern areas of Iraq
have long been said to be secure, and people there peaceful towards
the occupation forces. Iraqis living in the south were also believed
to be cooperative with the occupation to the extent that they supported
administrative steps taken by successive Iraqi governments.
The majority of the population
of the south are Shia Muslims, and Iraq has had Shia- dominated governments
under the occupation.
But demonstrations against
the occupation and the United States by hundreds of thousands of angry
Shias in Najaf, Kut and other cities across the south Apr. 9 mark a
sharp break from a policy of cooperation. Protesters demanded an end
to the U.S.-led occupation, burnt U.S. flags and chanted "Death
to America!"
Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim al-Mayahi,
a police commander in Najaf, told reporters that at least half a million
people joined the demonstration there.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver,
a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters, "We say that
we're here to support democracy. We say that free speech and freedom
of assembly are part of that. While we don't necessarily agree with
the message, we agree with their right to say it."
Clashes after the demonstration
left at least one U.S. soldier dead and another wounded in Diwaniyah,
180 km south of Baghdad.
"We have been patient
and we have sacrificed a lot thinking the situation would be better
one day soon," Hussein Ali, a teacher from Diwaniyah told IPS.
"The result we see now is that we were dragged into a swamp of
hatred between brothers, and that all the bloodshed was for the sake
of war leaders to get more power and fortune."
Fighting is continuing in
Diwaniyah between the occupation forces and the Mehdi Army led by Shia
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Additional U.S. and Iraqi troops have been brought
into the city to make arrests and carry out door-to-door raids in search
of illegal weapons and wanted militiamen.
Muqtada al-Sadr, quiet for
a considerable period after clashing with U.S. troops early on in the
occupation period, publicly called on his militia to attack occupation
troops.
So far this month, five occupation
troops have been killed every day on average, according to U.S. Department
of Defence figures.
The new Shia armed uprising,
which appears to be in its early days, is a further blow to occupation
forces that are already stretched thin.
"Four years of patience
and what do we get?" Ali Hashim, a merchant from the southern city
Basra told IPS. "We got nothing but the loss of our country to
those who spoke a lot but did nothing. The United States failed us and
sold us cheap to those who would have no mercy on us."
Mahmood al-Lamy, a historian
from Basra told IPS the situation there was critical.
"Basra is the biggest
southern city and the only Iraqi city that has a port near the Gulf.
It is now controlled by various militias who fight each other from time
to time over an oil smuggling business that is flourishing under the
occupation."
Lamy said residents fear
that "the situation here will be a lot worse in the coming months
due to disputes that are appearing between major parties."
Lamy was referring to the
withdrawal last month of the al-Fadhila Party from the Shia Islamic
Coalition Parliament Group, and the dismissal of two ministers from
the al-Sadr movement as a punishment for contacting U.S. officials in
Nasiriyah in southern Iraq.
The Shia political group
is increasingly divided over many issues, and it seems unlikely that
it will hold together. But many of the groups are increasingly opposed
to the occupation.
"We were late to realise
that we were wrong about U.S. intentions," Salman Yassen of the
Basra city municipality council told IPS. "We waited four years
while U.S. and Iraqi authorities kept us busy fighting each other while
they were setting the plan of stealing our oil and tearing our country
apart so that their allies would feel safe."
Four years of the occupation
of Iraq have seen many changes in U.S. strategies, ambassadors and tactics,
but the changes may be too little, too late.
"The delay in moving
politically has cost Iraq, the U.S. and many other countries a great
deal," former Iraqi police colonel Ahmed Jabbar told IPS in Baghdad.
"The least to be said is that the world would have been better
off without this occupation and the catastrophic security disturbance
it has caused."
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