Iraq's Seething
With Rage
By Dahr Jamail
23 May 21, 2004
The New
Standard
Iraq
is sitting atop a volcano, says a school teacher in Haditha. The
Americans are aggravating people here, trying to get a reaction. Everyone
in this province is against them now!
Most Iraqis I speak
with nowadays are seething with rage towards the occupiers of their
country. With their mosques being raided, damaged or destroyed on what
has become a nearly daily basis, they have had enough.
Then, as if the
unremitting stream of horrendous photographs documenting the widespread
torturing of Iraqis within Abu Ghraib prison (among other detention
facilities throughout Iraq) are not enough, the recent wedding party
massacre has brought the fury to an entirely new level.
The continuing cultural
insensitivity and unwillingness to take responsibility for the slaughter
by the U.S. military is not helping ebb the rage felt by Iraqis about
the incident.
While Arabic media
has shown footage of the mangled bodies of the 25 women and children
killed by U.S. helicopters, Marine General James Mattis in Fallujah
responded:
"Ten miles
from Syrian border and 80 miles from nearest city and a wedding party?
Don't be naïve. Plus they had 30 males of military age with them.
How many people go to the middle of the desert to have a wedding party?"
Someone should inform
General Mattis that most of Iraq just happens to be located in a desert,
and that celebrations of all kinds in the desert are not uncommon here.
On the banks of
the Euphrates River inside a humble home in Haditha, Mr. Tahrir, a manager
of one of the local schools, is unable to contain his anger while discussing
the countless atrocities committed by the U.S. and British militaries
as of late.
So a few soldiers
get court-martialed for abusing Iraqis. They get a fair trial, then
maybe a year in jail. Is this fair? Iraqi civil rights lawyers, human
rights organizations, and released detainees who were tortured werent
even allowed inside of the show trial!
Mr. Tahrir, and
all of the other men and women I am drinking tea with, is unable to
accept the incongruity of justice as applied to soldiers vs. detained
Iraqis. Most detained Iraqis have never been charged with anything,
have no access to a lawyer or their families, no phone calls, and as
we can see every day now, are being treated horrendously.
How would people
in the US react if shown pictures of Americans imprisoned by a foreign
military that showed the detainees being forced to simulate degrading
sex acts, being covered in feces, ridden like animals, handcuffed to
their beds with underwear on their heads and being attacked by guard
dogs?
The signs of continued
violent resistance to the occupation are obvious even as one drives
out of the quiet town of Haditha, beautifully set amidst palm trees,
green fields of vegetable crops and the mighty Euphrates flowing past.
For the road just outside of the city has huge craters along the sides,
blasted by Improvised Explosive Devices detonated while U.S. convoys
passed.
Iraqis arent
the only people suffering. Just in the last two days, five more U.S.
soldiers have been killed, and at least twice that number wounded. Heavy
fighting rages throughout southern Iraq, which of course is claiming
even more civilian casualties than fighters on either side.
Driving back to
Baghdad finds the usual delays from military convoys and checkpoints.
Iraqis are not getting used to being delayed by the foreign militaries
in their country, as cars honk and tempers rise with each passing minute.
In Baghdad, according to General Kimmitt, currently 76 roads are blocked
for security reasons. Snarled traffic in the capital is
a daily fact of life, people sitting in their cars, their anger rising
along with the 100 degree temperatures.
West of Fallujah
on the main highway, while racing towards Baghdad alongside the setting
sun, there are countless military vehicles sitting sporadically along
the sides of the road.
We pass a few small
cemeteries, which oddly enough have Humvees and soldiers sitting beside
them. Not good PR with the Iraqis.
Even though the
military claims that an attacker fired on the patrol from a cemetery
north of Baghdad in Miqdadiya recently, most Iraqis are unaware of this;
only seeing Humvees parked atop the bodies of their dead; Humvees from
the same military that is regularly damaging and raiding mosques in
Baghdad and southern Iraq. Humvees from the same military which just
slaughtered 40 people at a wedding celebration.
Shortly after passing
these, Fallujah is on our right -- along with the token US checkpoint
on the main street that enters the city from the highway. While members
of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps actually operate the checkpoint, a
few Humvees are parked off to the side under camouflage netting, discreetly
incognito.
The checkpoint maintains
the US military illusion of control over the one truly liberated city
in occupied Iraq, as their patrols no longer enter inside.
Recently Mr. Bush
said, And I believe the Iraqi people don't want to be dominated
by anybody. They want the United States to be a friend, but the United
States to not dominate.
His quote reminds
me of something Mr. Tahrir told me earlier in Haditha whilst speaking
of the US occupation of his country. They promised prosperity,
yet they have destroyed everything. They said theyd bring real
freedom; but we see our people in prison, tortured, looted and homes
raided.
Tassin Awad, sitting
nearby, nodded in agreement and added, I would like to see Mr.
Bush and tell him that Saddam is better than he is.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dahr Jamail is Baghdad
correspondent for The NewStandard. He is an Alaskan devoted to covering
the untold stories from occupied Iraq. You can help Dahr continue his
crucial work in Iraq by making donations. For more information or to
donate to Dahr, visit The NewStandard.
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