Iraq War, ebb and flow of success
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OCCUPATION:
SADDAM'S IMMENSE HOLDINGS VIA PILLAGING: 3/03: As the US invades Iraq,
investigators go after his massive pillaged assets. His illicit
fortune, stolen from the Iraqi people he claims to love, exceeds $10
billion. The US aims to recover these moneys and use it to rebuild Iraq
post-Saddam. Saddam and his sons have hidden the money in offshore
accounts, in Switzerland, in Beirut. The money has been used on
weapons, on personal vices, on Saddam's palaces. From the UN's
oil-for-food program alone, Saddam managed to pilfer $6 billion.
Billions have been earned from smuggling, other illegal activities,
protection moeny, skim-offs, shake-downs. Expert accounting devices
have been used to shield and hide assets.
Saddam has used virtually every tool in his arsenal during the US
push of the first couple of weeks-- Shiites in the south were
brutalized to stay in line; fedayeen irregulars in civilian clothing by
the thousands attacked allied forces; Iraqi forces damaged, via
ambushes, dozens of Apache aircraft; Iraqi armor, artillery, and mortar
units pounded British and US combat units and supply lines. To mollify
Arab and world political opinion, the US must take special care to
avoid Iraqi civilian casualties, thus placing US troops in a much more
vulnerable position-- this is how many US Apaches were damaged and
downed. Iraqi use of civilian human shields and placing military assets
in civilian areas or near "no-strike" sites (churches, historic sites,
etc.) has a similar effect.
SADDAM'S LUXURIES EXPOSED: 4/03-- Looters descended on the homes of
Saddam Hussein's inner circle in Baghdad, taking everything from
chandeliers to electrical wiring. Looters, many armed, roamed the
streets of the capital, ransacking offices and breaking into the houses
of Saddam's feared cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali,
and Izzat Ibrahim, Saddam's right-hand man. The crowd carted off wine,
whiskey, guns and paintings of half-naked women from the luxury home of
Uday, Saddam's playboy elder son. Reuters cameraman Khdayer Majid
filmed the looters stripping Uday's yacht, moored in a private marina
on the grounds of the house. They also led away some of his white
Arabian horses. "You could find the seven wonders of the world in there
because Uday thought he was God," said Majid, who personally knew Uday
when Saddam's son ran Iraq's Olympic Committee. A few days ago, Iraqis
were too scared even to look at the house by the Tigris river due to
Uday's reputation for cruelty. Looters drove tractors, pick-up trucks
and trailers -- and even a large bus -- up to a large villa belonging
to Tariq Aziz, Saddam's deputy prime minister. FALL OF BAGHDAD--
SADDAM'S OPULENCE ON DISPLAY: 4/03-- His hometown of Tikrit alone had
35 palaces by the banks of the Tigris, filled with expensive art both
crass and opulent, expensive carvings and appliances, countless gaudy,
vastly expensive touches. As Iraqi children suffered from malnutrition,
marble ballrooms, huge dining rooms, zoos filled with exotic animals,
artificial lakes, dozens of pools, and gold-filled bathrooms abounded.
Sons Uday and Qusay indulged their tastes for women, including by
force, and all stocked vast quantities of expensive booze, even as
Saddam publicly moved to Islam for political reasons.
IRAQ PILOTS TRAINING HARD: 1/03-Iraqi MiG-29s have many pilots who
can sneak into no-fly zones and do some quick damage-the Air Force
relies on Ukraine for spare parts, and most of the planes are not
combat-ready. It is still feared the pilots could strafe allied forces
with chemical weapons or bomb Kuwait.
IRAQIS DESTROY THEIR OWN OIL WELLS: 3/03-- Iraqis upon retreating
sabotage Rumaila oil fields-- Allied forces rush to secure the oil
fields, and pumping stations and oil platforms on Al Faw peninsula,
before Saddam's forces can set them on fire or blow them up. US forces
aim to prevent environmental disaster and generate income for
post-Saddam Iraq's needs. Saddam had already started burning wellheads
and oil trenches. British Royal Marines rapidly secured Al Faw
peninsula, preventing Saddam from (as he had in the Gulf War) spewing
crude oil into the Persian Gulf. US SEAL teams found that explosives
had been placed at many of the wells.
IRAQ, SUPPOSEDLY DISARMED, ACCORDING TO THE APPEASERS, FIRES BANNED
WEAPONS WHICH THE FRENCH, RUSSIANS, AND THEIR ILK WERE CONVINCED IRAQ
DID NOT HAVE: 3/03-- Iraq fired another missile at Kuwait, triggering
air raid sirens throughout the city before being shot down by Patriot
missiles. The Iraqi ballistic missile was destroyed by three Kuwait
Patriot missiles over Jahra, a town of 300,000 people-- an al-Fatah
missile, which is among the banned weaponry U.N. inspectors were
hunting for in Iraq. The solid-fuel al-Fatah is smaller than the Scud
and has a range of about 118 miles, exceeding the 93-mile maximum
allowed by U.N. resolutions. Iraq has fired at least six other missiles
over its southern border toward U.S. troops and Kuwait City since the
start of the U.S.-led campaign to oust Saddam Hussein. Massive
explosions spewed black smoke and metallic debris onto rooftops and
houses below, leaving pieces of metal all over the roofs and the
streets. Four of the missile strikes were believed to involve Scuds -
which Iraq also is banned from possessing. Two others were identified
as Chinese-made surface-to-surface missiles. One missile landed in
Kuwait Bay, about 1,000 yards from a resort hotel 20 miles south of
Kuwait City, where the U.S. military's press center is installed and
hundreds of foreign journalists are based. A second fell into waters
nearby, just off the al-Shuaiba industrial area, where a major oil
refinery is located. Those two missiles were identified by Kuwaiti
intelligence officials as Chinese-made Silkworms. U.S. military
officials said at least two missiles were shot down by Patriot missile
batteries. Another missile landed in the northern desert near a U.S.
military base close to the Iraqi border, the U.S. Army Central Command
said.
Kuwait residents woke to skies darkened to a sooty gray by oil well
fires in southern Iraq. Washington has reported some burning oil wells
at Iraq's southern petroleum center, Basra, with witnesses on the
Kuwaiti-Iraq border seeing flickering flames on the horizon. During the
1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein ordered his retreating troops to set
fires at about 700 oil wells, creating massive clouds of blackened
smoke that covered the entire region for months. The pollution was
considered one of the worst man-made environmental disasters.
Waves of Saddam loyalists emerged from buildings and hospitals,
spraying bullets and pushing young children ahead of them as human
shields. Nasiriyah held out for over five non-stop days, having been
predicted by US forces to fall in six hours. The South was predicted to
have few Saddam loyalists, yet US troops encountered thousands of
disciplined Fedayeen, Baath party, and al-Quds militia, who shoot at
Marines then jump into vehicles with women and children.
BAGHDAD FALLS: 4/03 It was moving to see how joyful, and grateful
to the US-led coalition, the Iraqis were. And the many elitist
naysayers, e.g. the NY Times, other big leftist media outlets, retired
Generals, etc. who were, as Dick Cheney said, embedded in network
studios, were pretty much completely wrong. Looks like the
Administration and its neocon supporters have been vindicated. Sure,
the war isn't over, and the peace may be difficult to win, but one
supporter claimed the past 3 weeks were basically a romp-- Only 7 oil
well fires, no Scuds on Israel, no Stalingrad-like battle for Baghdad,
no Arab street catastrophes, no toppling of moderate Arab regimes,
relatively few coalition casualties. IRAQIS TASTE FREEDOM AS SADDAM
FALLS: 4/03-- When the Atlas Cinema last showed ``Blue Chill,'' people
screamed: ``Yes! Yes!'' every time the actors began kissing, only to
see the scratched reel jump to the next scene. Now, they sat in awed
silence as naked couples writhed on screen. The theater reopened with a
freshly uncensored version of the low-budget American flick. Baghdad
has gone through a revolution in the past three weeks, casting off
decades of censorship and state control with shock and awe. Banned
books, satellite dishes and video CDs are now sold on the street - as
are alcohol and women. Nobody knows how long the permissiveness will
last. Iraq's American governors brought together Iraqi political
leaders to discuss a new government, and many Baghdadis believe that
once it's in place, some of their freedoms will disappear.
Conservatives are counting on it. Horrified by the changes, some Iraqis
blame America for what they call a cultural degradation. If it
continues for long, they promise to rise up in a holy war against the
U.S. forces occupying their country.
``Everything against Islam, everything we hate, has been
imported by the Americans like a disease,'' said a merchant. ``We'll
fight them. We're tired now, but we'll rest up and use our guns to
drive the Americans out.'' For now, Iraqis excitedly discover worlds of
vice - and virtue too - long forbidden by the repressive regime of
Saddam Hussein: Teenagers gape at Christina Aguilera's navel via
brand-new satellite dishes illegal under Saddam. Young lovers smooch in
roadside cars, hidden behind tinted windows that were banned by Saddam
because they prevented police from spying on motorists. Prostitutes
walk the streets in some neighborhoods, beckoning passing motorists.
Bookworms excitedly leaf through political histories that could have
gotten them tortured in years gone by. Shiite Muslim religious leaders
watch grainy VCD images of ceremonies from neighboring Syria, banned
for years out of fear that clerics might challenge Saddam for Iraqis'
loyalties. ``Before, everything was forbidden except the air,'' said a
retiree. ``Now, we don't have electricity, we don't have water, but we
are free.''
Sahad Hashim, manager of the Atlas Cinema, couldn't be more
delighted. Because of the lawlessness, he closes at 3 p.m. instead of
11 p.m. But he's still selling 800 of his 50-cent tickets a day -
double his prewar box office. ``People are hungry for this,'' he said.
``If I stayed open later, I could sell even more.'' Under Saddam,
Hashim cut sexy scenes from his movies to conform with Information
Ministry orders. When the Americans took over, he simply spliced them
back in. A wide selection of titles was available at the VCD market at
Tahrir Square. Before the war, the Information Ministry issued a list
of prohibited movies, and most others were heavily censored. Sellers
offered uncut versions of old standards and some newer ones as well.
Some merchants hawked more serious videos. ``The crimes of Saddam!''
one yelled. ``Executions!'' another called. Their offerings were grainy
images taken by hand-held cameras of atrocities during the Gulf War and
the ensuing rebellions in northern and southern Iraq. Asked what would
have happened if he sold those CDs under Saddam, vendor Majid Jabbar
drew his finger across his throat and smiled. At a book market, one
sold ``The Diaries of Seki Kheiri,'' which chronicles the life of a
leader of the Iraqi Communist Party. In 2001, he was imprisoned for
selling the book. ``I feel much better, but I hope the coalition forces
won't repeat the same tragedy and arrest people for selling books,''
said a religious bookseller, who said he was tortured for three months
for selling a banned religious text.
Also for sale on street corners were cases of Amstel beer and
bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey. In recent years, alcohol was
forbidden from public places in Iraq. ``Now I am free to do anything I
want,'' said one selling looted bottles of Dewar's scotch by the
roadside. ``Maybe I'll be free to leave Iraq.''
POST-WAR COSTS, DIFFICULTIES LOOM: 4/03-Iraq has huge debts to
address, particularly to Russia and France-in the range of $60-130
billion. Iran and Kuwait have huge claims vs. Iraq. Rusia, France, and
China signed contracts with Saddam in the tens of billions, and seek to
have those contracts enforced. Yugoslavia's debts were largely
written off postwar, and the same is hoped for Iraq-though France,
Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia, the big creditors, opposed the war but
would be asked to swallow and write off huge debt-and the world is in
the midst of writing off tens of billions of other third-world debt.
Political debts-Bush owes Tony Blair and the British in a big
way for his war support. Leftist political pressure is intense on Blair
regarding Israel, and this pro-Palestine element seeks imposition of
the "road map," which in turn pressures Bush to support it, which
in turn results in Bush pressuring Israel-which is also perceived as
owing a debt for the US-British elimination of Saddam, and the closer
cooperation with Israel vis-à-vis Gulf War I.
VICTORY'S DIFFICULT AFTERMATH-RESISTANCE TO THE US: 6/03--
After days of intense searching by ground and air, U.S. forces found
the bodies of two soldiers missing north of Baghdad, as the toll of
American dead since the start of war topped the grim milestone of 200.
British forces were greeted peacefully as they returned to a southern
Shiite town where six of their troops were killed in clashes. And the
U.S. military announced small rebuilding projects, ranging from the
delivery of school and medical supplies to the restoration of power and
water in several Iraqi towns. The day's events highlighted the pattern
of progress and setback that has bedeviled the U.S.-led occupation,
facing daily attacks that distract from the mission of reconstruction.
In other violence, attackers lobbed a grenade at a U.S. convoy making
its way through the predominantly Shiite Thawra neighborhood of
northeast Baghdad, killing one American soldier and wounding four
others. Another soldier, shot in the neck as he shopped at a Baghdad
market, was listed in critical condition. The deaths bring to at least
63 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since major combat was
declared over on May 1. The military has confirmed the identities of
138 soldiers killed before that date, for a total of 201 so far. In
addition, some 42 British troops have died in the current conflict. The
American death toll was still far below the 382 U.S. troops killed in
the 1991 Gulf War.
The persistent drumbeat of guerrilla-style attacks and sabotage
also has raised doubts about the coalition's mission in Iraq. Senate
Democrats in Washington have called for an inquiry into the credibility
of prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its
links to the al-Qaeda terror network.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld blamed the violence on
scattered, disorganized remnants of the ousted Saddam Hussein
government. Secretary of State Colin Powell pointed to a combination of
leftover Baath Party members, Fedayeen fighters and criminals who loot
and steal in Iraq ``taking it out on soldiers.'' As attacks increased,
so has fear that anti-American resistance was becoming more organized.
The U.S. military brushed off those claims, although there were signs
that larger-scale military operations might kick off soon to eliminate
armed resistance.
A fire broke out at one of Baghdad's largest textbook printing plants,
sending thick, black smoke billowing over the capital, viewed by the US
as an act of arson. Saboteurs have been attacking Baghdad's power grid
and oil pipelines, foiling coalition efforts to restore basic services
like water and electricity, a source of frustration for ordinary
Iraqis.
The setbacks have overshadowed progress made since the fall of
Saddam's regime. The vital oil industry has resumed, if only at a
fraction of its prewar output, and will be pumping much-needed dollars
into state coffers. Police and court systems are also coming back on
line, providing hope for improved law and order despite an overwhelming
crime wave.
Thereafter, U.S. forces launched a massive operation to crush
insurgents and capture senior figures from the ousted regime in a show
of force designed to stem a wave of deadly attacks on U.S. troops. The
operation, dubbed ``Desert Sidewinder,'' is taking place in a huge
swath of central Iraq stretching from the Iranian border to the areas
north of Baghdad, and is expected to last for several days. In Dojima,
an upscale town where Sunni Muslim residents recently cleaned the
still-standing portrait of Saddam Hussein, police raided the homes of
alleged Saddam loyalists they suspected of hiding caches of arms,
including rocket-propelled grenades - the weapon of choice in many
recent ambushes. The operation, named after a rattlesnake, kicked off
at about 2 a.m. Sunday, with officers simultaneously raiding as many
sites as possible. ``We go in with such overwhelming combat power that
they won't even think about shooting us.''
Iraq remains a worry-- I'm sure a lot of progress is being made,
but this talk of a five-year commitment is a bit unnerving. Taking out
Saddam, spending a number of months putting new Iraqis in charge, and
diverting much of the aftermath to Europeans and Arabs, seems like the
intended game plan. I realize Iraq may not be able to hack it by then,
but there is only so much we can do if the decapitation of a horrible
regime does not yield steady improvements. If Bush is not implementing
an exit strategy by next fall, the continued return home of body bags
will be a huge electoral drag.
Baghdad's streets are again clogged with cars, and items banned
under Saddam are sold in great quantities: satellite dishes, dozens of
lively newspapers, consumer electronics no longer burdened by heavy
taxes. Under Saddam, however, street crime was minimal, even late at
night, but now street crime, random violence, kidnappings, carjackings,
explosions are rampant. Iraqis are uneasy with US military occupation,
and nations capable of making sizable troops commitments, such as
India, Pakistan, and Turkey, remain unwilling. Saddam Baathists and
continually arriving Jihadists-through the Syrian border-fuel the
violence. Blow-ups of major pipelines continue, including the main
northern Iraq pipeline to Turkey just days after vital shipments
resumed. Pipelines, pumping stations, and oil reservoirs are in poor
shape after a decade of neglect under Saddam. Cultural
misunderstandings between American troops and Iraqis on treatment of
those arrested or detained have fueled deep resentment among Iraqis vs.
troops who liberated and are protecting them, even as US troops face
vital dangers. The occupation has gotten much more expensive than
predicted, and sabotage prevents progress in electricity, water, and
sewage. Mosques can't be entered, even when terrorists escape into
them, and local translators must be relied upon. In Baghdad, a Shiite
sheikh called for a ban on alcohol sales, and liquor stores and their
owners have been attacked or forced to close throughout Iraq. Reports
abound of armed thugs harassing and even abducting girls and women.
Guns and criminals abound, few govt. workers have been paid, telephones
lines are down, and surprising numbers voice opinions sympathetic to
the Saddam regime. Wide swaths of the populace believe that plundering
of buildings throughout Iraq was done by US troops and seethe at the
lack of water, electricity, and security since the US arrived. Govt.
buildings were ransacked and burned, hospitals were stripped of beds,
critical machinery and IVs, and the National Museum was pillaged.
WAR SUCCESS AS OF 8/03-Afghanistan is no longer a terrorist base, and
is an ally, and the Coalition continues to pursue terrorists.
Two-thirds of al-Qaeda leaders are locked up or dead. Saddam no longer
runs torture chambers or has control of catastrophic weapons, 42 of the
55 leaders in the deck of cards are killed or captured, US forces have
seized 8,200 tons of ammunition and thousands of weapons, and have
detained over 1,000 hostile Iraqis. Thousands of Iraqi troops have been
trained as troops and cops, and 31 countries have placed 21,000 troops.
Schools are open, teachers are getting paid more, and the oil industry
is growing.
BAGHDAD POST-WAR CRIME: 8/03-- Baghdad is at the height of a summer
that is long, hot - and violent. As police return to the war-shattered
streets to try to restore order, they are finding themselves in the
middle of an unprecedented crime wave. While the state-sponsored
violence of Saddam Hussein's regime is gone, so is the iron fist of the
police state it used to keep Iraqis in check. Police have no crime
statistics yet, but Baghdad's morgue handled 47 times as many gunshot
deaths in July as in the same month a year ago. Officials attribute the
violence to a variety of causes: looting and robbery; the settling of
scores from the Saddam era; the release of many criminals just before
the war; and gunfire by American soldiers, who many Iraqis accuse of
opening fire randomly when they feel threatened. ``We had some
criminals before the war, but after the war everything changed,''
Baghdad's acting police chief, Maj. Gen. Hassan Ali al-Obeidi, said.
``The reasons are social, psychological and economic. Even the weather
makes people nervous.''
Crime was much worse in the days immediately after the war when there
were no police on the streets. Looters stripped government offices -
including police stations - then set them ablaze. Enemies took
advantage of the lawlessness to kill one another. Robbery, kidnapping
and rape were common. But at that time, residents who could stay off
the streets did, treating their city like the war zone it was. Now,
people are returning to work as U.S. and Iraqi authorities strive to
restore a normal life. Some 5,000 police officers are back on the
streets of Baghdad, says Bernard Kerik, the former New York police
commissioner overseeing the rebuilding of the police force. He says
Iraqi officers are handling 80 percent of cases, with Americans taking
care of the rest. But police officers complain about their equipment.
Although the Americans have given them radios and a few bulletproof
vests, there aren't enough pistols and ammunition is scarce. At one
station responsible for an area with a population of 700,000, officers
have one working vehicle - a bus.
Neither Kerik nor al-Obeidi had crime statistics. Perhaps the best
gauge lies in the courtyard of Baghdad's central morgue, where families
arrive with foul-smelling wooden boxes, presenting bodies of loved ones
for autopsies and death certificates. The morgue, which handles all
violent or suspicious deaths, recorded 10 gunfire deaths in July 2002.
This July it handled 470, said the director, Dr. Fa'aq Amin Bakr. In
normal times, Bakr said, gunshots account for less than 10 percent of
Baghdad's unnatural deaths, with the bulk coming from traffic
accidents, drownings, burns and asphyxia. In July, more than half of
the 702 bodies brought in had died from bullets, he said.
Many Iraqis blamed US troops for the death of their relatives and vowed
revenge.