More
Troops, And More Violence
By Dahr Jamail &
Ali al-Fadhily
16 February, 2007
Inter
Press Service
BAGHDAD, Feb 13 (IPS)
- Violence and bombings have only increased after the proposed
"surge" of 21,500 U.S. troops in Iraq.
U.S. troops presence has
averaged 142,000 soldiers a month since the occupation began nearly
four years ago. Through this period, violence has increased against
both them and the Iraqi civilian population.
Despite promises of freedom,
democracy and liberation, Iraqis have suffered severe deterioration
in security, services, infrastructure and social unity since the U.S.-led
occupation began.
Many Iraqis believe that
an increased number of troops will actually make the situation worse.
"To increase the number
of troops will definitely improve the situation for the troops already
on the ground, but a lot more than 20,000 soldiers will be needed to
change the situation from defeat to victory," retired Iraqi general
Ahmed al-Issa told IPS.
"There is no argument
that U.S. troops have lost the Iraqi war all over the country, and the
only two solutions left are either an increase of 200,000 soldiers or
a scheduled withdrawal after certain arrangements with local fighters
in order to avoid casualties and tremendous chaos in the country."
According to the Washington-based
Brookings Institution's Feb. 5 report 'Tracking Variables of Reconstruction
and Security in Post-Saddam Iraq', as of January 2007 there were 132,000
U.S. troops in Iraq. Adding 21,500 still does not bring the total to
a previous high of 160,000 during December 2005.
The same report records 14,650
troops from other countries in Iraq, the lowest number ever.
Some Iraqi military strategists
believe that the recent troop increase will be of no value if the goal
is security and prosperity for all Iraqis.
"Their goal is to crush
as many oppositionists as possible," Duraid Aziz, a 46-year-old
lawyer and military analyst from Mosul in the north who was visiting
Baghdad told IPS. "The first step of their security plan was to
raid the Adhamiya Sunni area (of Baghdad) while Mehdi (Shia militia
of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) death squads continue to kill Iraqis under
the eyes of the U.S. army."
Aziz believes that the U.S.
military plans to hand the country over to militias such as the Badr
organisation which is the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic
Revolution in Iraq – a leading Shia party in government that is
supportive of Iran.
"This increase in American
troops is only meant to kill anyone who resists the occupiers,"
added Aziz.
Over recent days U.S. troops
raided several Sunni areas of Baghdad, including the Adhamiya district.
On Feb. 7 the chief spokesman
for the U.S. military in Iraq told reporters that the plan to secure
Baghdad using U.S. and Iraqi forces had begun. "The plan is being
fully implemented as we speak," Major General William B. Caldwell
told reporters.
Many Iraqis remain unconvinced
that this will work, and agree with Duraid Aziz.
"This is genocide, and
anyone with eyes can see it," Muhammad Haddad, a human rights activist
from Baghdad told IPS.
Kamil Abbas, a high school
teacher from Iskandariya, south of Baghdad, told IPS that U.S. and Iraqi
forces "committed another massacre after the slaughter in Najaf
recently" and that it took place "in Samra just south of Baghdad."
"They (U.S. and Iraqi
forces) will keep doing this because they do not accept for any Iraqi
to feel like a free human being," he added.
The Brookings Institution
report listed 185 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi security forces
during the month of December 2006. That is the highest ever, according
to the institution.
More U.S. troops have been
killed in the last four months in Iraq than in any comparable period
since the occupation began in April 2003.
Iraqi authorities announced
Feb. 5 that at least 1,000 Iraqis had been killed in the previous week
in political violence.
"The increase in U.S.
troops only means an increase in the agonies of the Iraqi people,"
Dr. Salam al-Dulaimy, an academic who studied at Baghdad University
told IPS.
"President Bush is just
running forward while waiting for a miracle to take place regardless
of the great number of war victims. I see this increase to be another
factor of disturbance in Iraq and another way of buying time with Iraqi
people's blood."
Sunni areas are facing hard
times with the launch of the new Iraqi and U.S. security plans. People
all over Sunni areas believe that the troops increase and the security
crackdown are both working against them.
The increased military presence
does not seem to have unnerved the resistance. "Let Bush bring
more morons to Iraq," a young man from Fallujah who was visiting
Baghdad told IPS. "We will send them all to hellfire. These people
seem to have not learned enough from previous lessons, and our school
is still open."
But Iraqis are paying a heavy
price for the unrest. One in seven has left home, according to UN officials.
This is the largest movement of people in the Middle East since the
war that followed the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Violence displaces an estimated
1,300 Iraqis every day. More than 1.7 million have been internally displaced
so far. Over 1.5 million have fled the country altogether.
(Ali al-Fadhily is our Baghdad correspondent. Dahr Jamail is our specialist
writer who has spent eight months reporting from inside Iraq and has
been covering the Middle East for several years.)
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