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PART 3
The locals
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"You need an understanding of the situation on the ground to see what you need
to do. Each area has its own distinct terrain, and the terrain in this
environment is the people. It's not a one-size-fits-all thing. It takes a
tremendous amount of thought. It consumes me." -
Lieutenant-Colonel Greg Reilly |
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 Interrogation
"Why do they come with their Bradleys in front of our houses,
and put their boots on our people's heads? Why don’t they wave back when our
children wave to them? They just keep their guns pointed at us."
- customs office manager Ayman Aftam
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AL-QAIM, western Iraq - Ayman Aftam, a portly young customs office manager on
the Iraqi al-Huseiba border with Syria, owes his position and salary to the
American soldiers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) who took control of
the western region of Iraq and re-established a customs service, in addition to
police.
He explains that World Food Program rations are smuggled from Iraq and sold in
Syrian markets. Cooking oil, sold at 1,500 dinars (less than US$1) for five
liters in Iraq, costs the equivalent of 6,000 dinars in Syria. Smuggling
weapons from Iraq to Syria is also common. "Everything is so cheap here," he
says. "Rocket-propelled grenade [RPG] launchers, grenades which cost about
2,000 dinars, even the engines from abandoned Iraqi fighter planes. Syrian
traders load their trucks full of weapons from the local arms markets to take
back." Iraqis smuggle benzene out of the country into Syria by building large
tanks beneath their cars and raising the chassis.
Aftam, 26, who studied law at Baghdad University, saw hundreds of foreign
mujahideen, or holy fighters, enter Iraq through the al-Qaim crossing before
the war. "We welcomed them because they were here to defend our country," he
says. As for the Americans, "We don't welcome them. They are occupying forces.
We haven't seen anything good from them, only an occupation." He conceals his
resentment from the American soldiers he cooperates with, but in Arabic he
demands, "Why do they come with their Bradleys in front of our houses, and put
their boots on our people's heads? Why don't they wave back when our children
wave to them? They just keep their guns pointed at us." Aftam also refers to
the many innocent people he claims the Americans have killed, including a man
who drove up to their checkpoint but did not understand the instructions and
was shot.
Ayman maintains, like most Iraqis, that "the fighters are not Saddam [Hussein]
loyalists - those were killed in the war. There are only very few
mujahideen here. We don't want mujahideen here. We accepted them when they were
defending Iraq; now Saddam is gone. We gave the Americans an opportunity to
help Iraq. The people attacking are just normal Iraqis angry at Americans."
"They hate us," soldiers often say about the Iraqis they believe they
liberated. In the town of Huseiba, 25 kilometers from the 3rd ACR's Tiger Base,
it is not viewed as a liberation. "Any night we go there we get shot at," says
Captain Chris Alfeiri. Huseiba's 150,000 residents live comfortable lives,
benefiting from a thriving centuries-old smuggling route as well as the normal
trade of a border town. Large mansions owned by successful smugglers and tribal
leaders sit on the fertile river banks.
Huseiba's market street is crowded with stalls selling vegetables, cows, radios
and, more discreetly, AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and RPGs, Russian grenade
launchers. Seated outside a cafe by the Great Mosque of al-Qaim, one young man
who works as a trader is willing to admit "the American occupation is better
than the old regime". His friend disagrees. "This is an occupation. They don't
respect civilians, they laugh at us and insult us."
The man answers: "It's true that the Americans give us more freedom, but they
don't respect us, searching our houses and treating us improperly." The owner
of the cafe interjects angrily, "We have no dignity now because of American
soldiers. We are very angry that American soldiers don't respect civilians. Now
we are all mujahideen. Any man who can't fight will give his money to fighters.
Even Saddam was better to us and gave us more respect." A passer-by agrees:
"It's not freedom, it's an occupation."
Sheikh Mudhafar Abdel Wahab Alani can be heard giving a sermon to his
congregation of 1,200 devout from the city's biggest mosque. The 40-year-old
religious leader berates his audience for what he says is their sinful behavior
since the foreigners occupied their country. Loudspeakers atop the mosque make
his furious
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"It's true that the Americans give us more freedom but they don't respect
us, searching our houses and treating us improperly."
- Huseiba cafe patron
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opprobrium audible throughout the city. As he completes his khutba , or
sermon, and the noon prayer ends, he emerges wearing a white robe and white
turban, a thick black beard on his reddish brown face and an aquiline nose
defining his distinguished features. He walks swiftly past the departing
devout, smiling, greeting passers-by warmly and wishing everyone peace and
God's blessings, and he is happy to share his views with a stranger.
"We reject this occupation, as I said in many of my sermons," he begins. "No
country would accept an occupation. We have lost our dignity." Of the Americans
he says, "Until now we have not seen anything ... except killing, searches
and curfews. There is a reaction for every action. If you are choking me, I
will also choke you. We have a resistance just like the Palestinians, Chechens
and Afghans." When asked whether the Americans should leave soon, he
snaps, "They should leave today." The Americans have done nothing to improve
life, he said, so "how could it get any worse? It has never been so bad."
Sheikh Mudhafar says one word explains the attacks against American soldiers,intikam
, or "revenge". "Revenge is a common tradition in Iraq," he says. "It was the
same between Iraqis before the Americans arrived. The attacks are the reaction
to the Americans. Revenge for their actions." He rejects US claims that
there is no popular support for the Iraqi resistance. "I don't think there is
al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Saddam's supporters are too cowardly to attack the
Americans." He is not opposed to the anti-American attacks. "I do not tell my
people not to attack the Americans."
In the nearby town of Ubeidi, 20km from Huseiba, Sheikh Mudhafar's close friend
Sheikh Kamal Shafiq Ali, leader of the Mustafa mosque and its congregation of
1,000, has completed his sermon as well. The jovial sheikh also dons a white
robe, as well as a white cap, and his clipped white beard makes him look older
than his 45 years. Sheikh Kamal explains that there are three attitudes to the
US presence. "Most people don't care if the US or Saddam is in place. Some
people are with the occupation because they want to achieve freedom, and some,
very few, are against the occupation."
Sheikh Kamal says Iraq's religious leaders "said we have to wait" and give the
Americans a chance to fulfill their promises before attacking them. "No country
wants an occupation," he says. "The Koran says that Allah promised the
believers that infidels will never rule them. Of course it is an occupation, it
is in the UN resolution that it is an occupation. But if Saddam doesn't return
and the Americans keep their promises, it is a liberation."
Sheikh Kamal certainly prefers American soldiers to fellow Muslim or Arab
soldiers, saying that "Americans are more kind than Arab or Muslim soldiers
would be". Of course, even Sheikh Kamal is not extending his country's
hospitality indefinitely. "A government must be established, security must be
provided, there have to be elections and a constitution, and after they finish
all that, they have to get out, as they promised," he admonishes. He will be
hard pressed to find any American who wants to stay.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact
content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
Part 1 - This
is the wild, wild west
Part 2 -
Why we are here
Tuesday: Part 4 - Operation
Decapitation
Wednesday: Part 5 (final)
- The wrong Ayoub
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