Sunni Triangle Doubts Saddam's Capture

Associated Press ^ | 12/17/03 | HAMZA HENDAWI

[TexKat]

FALLUJAH, Iraq - In this restive city and across Iraq's Sunni heartland, many Saddam loyalists refuse to believe that a disheveled and bearded man in U.S. captivity is their ousted leader, whose 23-year rule boosted their position as the country's political elite.

Saddam Hussein's capture Saturday touched off a wave of clashes between insurgents and U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies in Fallujah, Samarra, Tikrit and Mosul.

The cities straddle areas dominated by Sunni Arabs, who had held the reins of power over the country's Shiite Muslim majority until the Iraqi leader was ousted in the U.S.-led war.

The attacks — along with pro-Saddam protests in Sunni areas of Baghdad and other cities — appear aimed at spoiling the major victory scored by the United States when it nabbed the former dictator in a hideout near his hometown of Tikrit.

Sunni defiance showed itself in attitudes as well as actions.

"It is someone wearing a Saddam mask," volunteered Waleed Ibrahim, a 25-year-old tire repairman in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad. "It is a trick to help President Bush get re-elected."

Minutes before he spoke, U.S. tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees carrying dozens of troops roared into the city in a show of force after a night of clashes with Saddam loyalists.

Jet-fighters screamed overhead and two helicopters dived and swerved at low altitude.

"The coalition forces have arrested Saddam Hussein. Reports that it is a Saddam double are false," declared a voice on a loudspeaker fixed on one U.S. Humvee in Fallujah on Tuesday. "The old regime will never come back. This is the end of the Baath party," said the voice, speaking in Arabic.

"Whoever carries a weapon will be killed," the voice said.

"This is terrorism," said Hamed Ali, a shopkeeper, who recounted how jets buzzed the city for most of Monday night. "Even children were cursing the Americans."

The incredulity at news of Saddam's capture was only the latest in a series of reactions that have defined the mood among some Sunnis since Saddam's ouster eight months ago.

Iraq's Sunnis greeted news of the July killings of Saddam's sons Odai and Qusai with similar disbelief. They often dismiss evidence of crimes against humanity committed by Saddam's 1979-2003 regime as fabrications of the United States, Iran and their Iraqi allies.

The defiance is partly a reaction to the loss of prestige and privileges in a new political order that restored the rights of the country's Shiite majority and large Kurdish minority — groups long victimized by the Sunni Arab minority. Between them, they account for about 80 percent of Iraq's 25 million people.

In Tikrit, Saddam loyalists tried to stage a demonstration in support of the former dictator Tuesday, but neither the city's U.S.-backed governor nor the U.S. military were prepared to stand by and watch.

"Any demonstration against the government or the coalition forces will be fired upon," the governor, Hussein al-Jaburi, said on a loudspeaker mounted on a U.S. military vehicle.

"They will not be allowed to go around kissing pictures of Saddam," said Lt. Col. Steven Russell of the Tikrit-based 4th Infantry Division. "We cannot hand out lollypops in this city. It does not work here."

Earlier Tuesday, Russell had a stern warning for the organizer of a pro-Saddam march: "If our ears and eyes see you organizing demonstrations or anti-coalition acts, you will be in jail for a very long time."

In Fallujah, several hundred armed protesters carrying Saddam portraits stormed the mayor (news - web sites)'s office Monday, forcing policemen to flee to the nearby police headquarters, according to witnesses. U.S. troops backed by tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles came to their rescue but were attacked by insurgents. They fired back, killing one guerrilla.

U.S. military sources in the area said insurgents Tuesday attacked an Iraqi train ferrying military supplies with rocket-propelled grenades, setting three of its cars ablaze.

[TexKat]

Okay is it just the Associatejazeera or are the Sunnis that stupid.

[ken5050]

Nah..it was a Bagdad MeetUp.org...

[Sacajaweau]

The insurgents are likely running out of money. This is probably a fund raiser.

[JCB]

"Sunni Triangle Doubts Saddam's Capture"

This is what happens when you rely on Robert Fisk and Al Jazeera for your news...

[MarkeyD]

Iraq's Sunnis greeted news of the July killings of Saddam's sons Odai and Qusai with similar disbelief

Obviously they are democrats.

[mtbopfuyn]

Yeah, no worries. That Bradley plowing through your front door is just a goat with a mask.

[TexKat]

In this image taken from video, people run from tracer bullets Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 during a pro-Saddam Hussein rally in Ramadi, Iraq, west of Baghdad. A statement from the US military on Tuesday, Dec. 16, said that soldiers killed three protesters and wounded two more on Monday, after up to 750 people rallied in a show of support for Saddam. The statement said that US troops were fired upon repeatedly and that one soldier was wounded. (AP Photo/APTN)

U.S. soldier aims his rifle during clashes with supporters of former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein in Mosul December 17, 2003. The U.S.-backed Governing Council said Wednesday that captured dictator Saddam Hussein was still being held in Iraq and would face a public trial in the country. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz

U.S. soldiers look at an Iraqi man shouting anti-American slogans during a rally supporting arrested former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein in Mosul December 17, 2003. The U.S.-backed Governing Council said Wednesday that captured dictator Saddam Hussein was still being held in Iraq and would face a public trial in the country. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz

Iraqis in the town of Fallujah, 50 km west of Baghdad, show a pamphlet distrubuted Tuesday announcing the capture of wanted former dictator Saddam Hussein by allied Iraqi and US forces. A global debate is raging over Hussein, as supporters of the former Iraqi leader continue to attack coalition troops on the ground.(AFP/file/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)

[TYVets]

The Sunni Triangle

A great place for a Hanging!

[MEG33]

I saw Reuters TV video where the mobs in Fallujah were kissing Saddam's portrait and denying his capture.Remember the Baghdad Bob TV they were used to makes it easy for them to deny what they see!

I loved the soldier saying passing out candy wouldn't work.I imagine in those areas if you are glad Saddam is gone,the old guard could take drastic action.

[Steel Wolf]

Or Baghdad Bob. That's the problem when you're spoon fed your information, after a while anything sounds plausible.

I don't know how widely those pictures are circulated, but it is clearly Saddam under that hair and lice helmet. They can verbally deny it all they like, but it is now known that the time of Saddam has passed.

[adam_az]

"It is someone wearing a Saddam mask," volunteered Waleed Ibrahim, a 25-year-old tire repairman in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad. "It is a trick to help President Bush get re-elected."

Sounds like he got the DNC talking points memo.

[JimSEA]

"It is a trick to help President Bush get re-elected."

The above quote comes from:

a. An Iraqi

b. Howard Dean

c. Peter Jennings

c. Madaline Albright

d. All of the Above

[Jim Noble]

They're not stupid at all.

The way power changes hands in that part of the world is that the leader is beaten or stoned to death, and his body dragged through the streets.

We've changed power in Iraq in our way, not in theirs-and until it's changed the correct way (their way), or until we change them (as if) Saddam will remain a force.

Kill him now.

[xp38]

Just one of the stages of grief. This one is denial.

[angkor]

"It is a trick to help President Bush get re-elected."

I thought it was a DU post.

[TYVets]

Post #12

Has to be B, C and C

[gov_bean_ counter]

Denial still isn't just a river in Egypt.

[tbpiper]

Just wondering, now that Saddam is out of the loop, funding wise, will Soros take up the slack?

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

"Even children were cursing the Americans."

EEEeeekkkk!!! Not the children!!!! Now we had better stop and come home.

WHat does one expect the children if dictators to do when their dictatorship has been taken away? Yeesh!!!

[bert]

Like the democrats, including Maddie, these folks are in denial.