Baghdad Seethes With Anger Toward U.S.
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NIKO PRICE
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - At first they cheered, smiled, offered hearty thumbs-ups to
the U.S. soldiers newly in their midst. But across Iraq's lawless capital,
that sentiment is evaporating as quickly as Saddam Hussein's government
melted away.
Baghdad was bursting with anti-American feeling Saturday as residents saw
their city being stripped by its own citizens while U.S. forces stood by,
rarely intervening and in some cases even motioning treasure-laden men
through checkpoints.
Some still agreed with the United States' assessment of itself as a
liberator. In the middle-class Zayuna neighborhood, friendly people offered
American Marines baths, bread and buoyant greetings - and asked for both
autographs and help against looters.
But for other Iraqis, in dozens of interviews conducted across Baghdad, the
assessment was drastically different: America as conqueror.
"The coalition forces are responsible. Where is the law?" said Safa Hussein
Qasim, 44, a jeweler. "This is the promise of the United States to Iraq?
This is democracy in Baghdad?"
To walk the streets Saturday was to wade through a crazy-quilt blend of
disarray and sadness, rage and jubilation and self-hatred. Though available
booty was running low, looting continued apace, as did citizen resistance to
it. One man carried a purloined tuba up the street. Baghdadis fretted and
argued: What would become of their country?
"Saddam Hussein's greatest crime is that he brought the American army to
Iraq," said Gailan Ramiz, 62, helping a mob that was trying to tear down yet
another Saddam statue at Shorji market, Baghdad's biggest.
It is stories like Hassan Shrawa's that are making them turn their backs on
the uniformed Americans who swept in days ago.
Shrawa, 30, an engineer from Baghdad's Saddam City section, said he and his
neighbors captured a Syrian mercenary and turned him over to U.S. troops
Friday. As Shrawa tells it, the commander flatly refused to take custody of
the man.
"What happens in the future?" Shrawa mused.
U.S. forces say they are doing the best they can under chaotic conditions -
chaos, many Iraqis point out, that the United States itself created. Few
praised Saddam. But at least, they said, he offered stability.
Baghdad lacks that right now. Water, electricity and gasoline are pipe
dreams, and food is becoming almost as scarce.
Impromptu commerce is springing up on the sidewalks. One man made money
stitching moccasins back together. At a nearby stall, another man dished out
bowls of rice and beans from two steaming cauldrons.
On the streets of Zayuna, curious children milled around Saturday, trying
out English phrases and asking for Marines' addresses. One presented Sgt.
Paul Coughlin of Boston with a red flower that he nestled in his grenade
pouch; another played marbles with medic Brent Cook, 23, of Houston.
Elsewhere, the Marines received less enthusiasm. In front of the Palestine
Hotel, an area thick with U.S. Marines, several dozen Iraqis demanded a new
government - now. "We want peace," they chanted in English as Marines looked
on from fighting vehicles.
Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, at U.S. Central Command, says reports of looting
in Iraq are overblown - that many parts of the country are peaceful, and
lawlessness "is already tapering off significantly."
U.S. officials insist the restoration of law and order will become a higher
priority. The State Department said Friday it was sending 26 police and
judicial officers to Iraq, the first component of a team that will
eventually number about 1,200. And on Saturday, the U.S. military and the
Iraqi police said they've agreed to joint patrols to restore order - "sooner
rather than later," one Marine said.
For Iraqis on the ground, such promises mean little until they're delivered.
Residents, fearing looting would move on to private homes, set up
neighborhood patrols to prevent it. One family put a girder across the
street at the end of their block and stood by it with guns. They, too,
denounced America.
"The United States breaks into the palaces and then threatens all the people
who steal from them," said Efil Adnan, a 48-year-old oil engineer guarding
the barricade with two of his sons and his brother. He held a pistol; the
brother wielded a Kalashnikov.
"The United States is a liar," Adnan said. "They are not going to make
anything better."
His son, Forkan Efil, 13, wore a T-shirt that said "Football" and also
carried a pistol. He said all his friends have guns now.
"I don't like the Americans," the boy said, "but this pistol is for the
thieves."
At the market, the dozens of men attempting to tear down the Saddam statue
didn't have the oomph. The chain kept snapping, and finally they turned to
Plan B - pouring gasoline over it and setting it ablaze.
But in doing so, they made sure one important point was known - just because
they revel in Saddam's ouster doesn't mean they're waving American flags.
"The army of America is like Genghis Khan," Fouad Abdullah Ahmed, 49,
snapped as U.S. tanks rumbled by without stopping. "America is not good and
Saddam is not good. My people refused Saddam Hussein, and they will refuse
the Americans."
One young man went even further.
"If this continues in Baghdad, we'll kill any American or British soldier,"
said Rahad Bahman Qasim, 30 and unemployed. For emphasis, he added this:
"All of us - even the women."
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/breaking_news/5620358.htm
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