Basra: Why they are not cheering

BBC ^ | 3/25/2003 | Paul Reynolds

[a_Turk]

They were supposed to be cheering in the streets as the American and British tanks rolled in, just as they did in France in 1944.

On 18 March, the New York Times reported: "Military and allied officials familiar with the planning of the upcoming campaign say they hope that a successful and 'benign' occupation of Basra that results in flag-waving crowds hugging British and American soldiers will create an immediate and positive image worldwide while also undermining Iraqi resistance elsewhere."

The fact is that Basra is not undergoing a benign occupation. It has just been declared a military target by British forces which have come under attack from inside.

This was a city which the British spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said early on was not of military importance.

In the scheme of things, it still isn't. But it has become a problem.

'Under threat'

What has happened?

The explanation, according to British and American officials, is that Saddam Hussein's forces are still oppressing the people who cannot therefore show their true emotions.

Dr John Reid, the British Labour Party chairman compared the irregular Saddam forces dressed in black - known as Saddam's Fedayeen - to the SS in Nazi Germany.

The US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of those who wants Iraq to be a the start of a democratization process across the Arab world, told the BBC: "I think that when the people of Basra no longer feel the threat of that regime, you are going to see an explosion of joy and relief, but right now they're still under threat.

"Saddam is still maybe alive and his goons and his assassination squads are still there."

Bad memories

The people remember, it is said, what happened in 1991 when on 15 February, President George Bush senior urged "the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters in their own hands and force Saddam Hussein the dictator to step aside".

The people did try, both in the Kurdish areas of the north and the mainly Shia areas of the south, including Basra.

They were cut down. The Kurds fled into the mountains of southern Turkey, but the Shias (and others like the communists) in the south had nowhere to go.

The London-based organisation Indict, which seeks to put Iraqi leaders on trial for war crimes, has accounts of mass executions in Basra and other southern cities as the Ba'ath party and the Republican Guard re-imposed their control.

Not cheering

However, it might not be as simple as that.

Consider what happened in Basra last Saturday when there were air raids. The Qatari television channel al-Jazeera had a team in the city and it sent back graphic pictures of dead and wounded civilians which were widely shown in the Arab world.

But these images have been all but ignored in the West, which seems more interested in pictures of the American prisoners of war.

People do not take kindly to being bombed, even by "friendly forces".

British forces, if they enter Basra to counter resistance there, will have to follow the advice of Colonel Tim Collins of the Royal Irish Regiment who told his men before the war started: "Tread carefully".

There is an interesting article in the Guardian of 25 March from its correspondent, James Meek, who has been with the US Marines in Nasiriya. He shows how hostility to Saddam Hussein is not necessarily converted into support for the invasion.

He managed to talk not just to marines but to locals, one of whom Mustafa Mohammed Ali was a surgical assistant at the Saddam hospital in the city.

He said that in fighting on Sunday bombs were dropped on civilian areas, killing 10 people.

That day, two dead marines were brought to the hospital and he made this admission: "When I saw the dead Americans I cheered in my heart."

And yet he did not support Saddam Hussein: "We don't want Saddam, but we don't want them [the Americans] to stay afterwards."

Meek quoted another man, a farmer named Said Yahir, as saying that the marines had come to his house and had taken his son, his rifle and 3m dinars (£500; $800).

"This is your freedom that you're talking about? This is my life savings," he said.

Said Yahir himself had taken part in the uprising of 1991. He is not cheering in 2003.

Effect of sanctions

There are two other points: the effect of years of sanctions and the effect of nationalism.

Although the sanctions regime allows for the provision of food and medicine, this is not always delivered to the poor.

Saddam Hussein is not blamed but the United Nations and the United States are.

The sufferers from sanctions may take time to be convinced that the invaders are bringing them relief.

Iraqi nationalism is another powerful influence.

Those who know the country say that it can hold people together, whether they are Kurds, Sunnis or Shias.

It appears to be a factor in the current phenomenon.

A coming together often happens to a people under siege, and a siege is what the Iraqis are now experiencing.

[a_Turk]

This is a BBC article. I just posted it. No need for your BS at this time.

[dirtboy]

Basra: Why they are not cheering

They're not cheering, they're just uprising against Saddam's goons. The media, yet again, has their spin overtaken by events.

[elhombrelibre]

BBC is OBE and it's because of Brits on the ground.

[MattAMiller]

I thought from the begining that the notion that Iraqis would take to the streets for a lovefest was incredibly overblown. As awful as Saddam is and as bright the future of Iraq may be it's just arrogant to expect people to run out and hug you after you just finished dropping bombs on their city.

It might happen here and there, but it's entirely understandable if Iraqis are suspicious.

[El Gato]

They're not cheering, they're just uprising against Saddam's goons

Indeed and with Brit Marine Artillery support too. It seems to have been facilitated or encouraged by the Brits raiding a local Baath Party HQ, snatching the head thug and shooting up the Special Republican Guard and Saddamn Feydeyeen guarding him and the place. :) Way to go Bootnecks!

[a_Turk]

>> but it's entirely understandable if Iraqis are suspicious.

I agree, especially after 12 years of sanctions. Can't expect the average Iraki to understand American politics..

[VOA]

Basra: Why they are not cheering

Because there isn't much time for cheering as a BATTLE is going on RIGHT NOW
(March 25) with UK and Shi'ite (sp?) forces joining to neutralize about 50
Iraqi tanks.

Check back in a couple of days. If there is no cheering then, it might be time for concern.

As for other liberated locales in Southern Iraq...even mainstream media like NBC
has show plenty of grinning, waving civilians clutching food-aid packages.
And they didn't get those aid packages from Saddam.

[capitan_refugio]

You may have gotten a little bit ahead of yourself. They are "not cheering" in Basra, because the secret police and the other oppressors are still there. What will happen is going to be an open, popular revolt when the Shi'a become convinced we are there to fight with them. The Basra "kessel" will fall within a day or two, and then watch.

[hattend]

I may be mistaken but when I was in Saudi Arabia in 1991-92 I was told the "thumbs up" sign is the same as flipping you the bird.

Can anybody confirm or debunk? Thanks!

[The Duke]

If any Arabs share the sentiments reflected in this article then they need to understand that they, too, are the enemy ... and should expect to be treated as such.

At the same time, I can think of no legitimate reason for our troops to be confiscating money from the people ... particuarly small sums of money that are not consistent with nefarious activities.

[a_Turk]

I'm just posting a damned BBC article which hadn't been posted yet.. Those are pretty hard to come by, you know...

[a_Turk]

>> I was told the "thumbs up" sign is the same as flipping you the bird.

I believe that is true in Australia.

[taxed2death]

Gee, I don't know, if that were my daughter with her god damned leg blown off, I'd probably be cheering too.



.....winning the hearts and minds all over again......

[taxed2death]

just a note too. This picture has been cropped. If you look around the web a bit, you would see that her right leg is completely gone below the knee. Her bone is sticking out about 6 inches and all of her blood vessels and muscle are shredded and hanging off her stump.

Maybe this web site really needs a dose of reality to the horrors of war. Maybe we should show these pictures FROM BOTH SIDES, before we all get caught up in this GUNG-HO bullshit.

Anyone care to contribute to her ballet lessons.....or maybe buy here 1 roller blade?

[SouthernFreebird]

Oh get off your high horse...... I'm very sure Iraqis have seen and lived much worse. Besides I was commenting on the fools who cheer when our men are killed. Perhaps you can identify with those who do but I sure as hell don't!

[a_Turk]

You know, most of the cool heads on this site are totally quiet?

That makes it seem as though the population here consists of heartless knuckle-heads..

[SouthernFreebird]

Go buy some kleenex and get yourself together man....

Did you happen to catch the pics of our soldier with his bloody crotch....care to guess what happened to him?

[a_Turk]

>> bloody crotch

One is a soldier, the other a civilian kid. No diff?

We used to send soldiers home with ther sacks stuffed in their mouths, missing ears and what-not..

Civilian casualties deserve a bit more compassion, IMO.

[seahawk]

Yes it's true - also when you cross you leg - never let them see the bottom of your shoe- it's considered an insult as if you are above them and that they are beneath you.

[SouthernFreebird]

accidental and intentional.....you see no difference?