Confrontations Between American Soldiers And The Iraqi Population Are Multiplying

Confrontations Between American Soldiers And The Iraqi Population Are Multiplying

By Rémy Ourdan

** Since May 1, when the war was officially declared over by President Bush,
51 soldiers have been killed, 16 of them in confrontations. **

Translated from Le Monde (Paris), June 19:

http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,5987,3218--324459-,00.html

BAGHDAD -- Mohammed Salah shows his blood-stained white shirt. "The blood of
our martyrs!" he cries, "the blood of the Iraqi people!" People begin to
shout. "Bush is a killer! Bush is a killer!" The crowd advances, then pulls
back.

The GIs point the barrels of their rifles at the demonstrators, then raise
them again to the sky. The crowd pushes forward again. One man throws
himself on the ground and throws a handful of dust in the air. "Our Iraqi
soil!" he shouts. "The Iraqi soil belongs to Iraqis, not to Americans!" A
few days ago, one of the many newspapers that have been started in Baghdad
since the end of the war announced that American administrator Paul Bremer,
who ordered the Iraqi ministry of defense shut down, was planning to
distribute $50 to unemployed soldiers as a first payment.

The problem is that the newspapers, for lack of news, publish each morning a
sort of summary of the city's rumors. Convinced that Mr. Bremer can't strip
400,000 military families of their source of income overnight, and that payday
had arrived, on Wednesday, June 18, 300 men came to the gate of the Republican
Palace, the palace of Saddam Hussein that has become the general headquarters
for American forces in Baghdad. There, a bewildered officer advised them to
come back "in two or three days" to ask for fresh news.

The demobilized soldiers were furious. Some of them began insulting the GIs
at their posts. Tensions mounted. When an American convoy arrived in front
of the palace, it was surrounded when it was forced to go through the crowd to
return to base. "They threw stones at our soldiers," said Major Scott Slaten.
"We only waved some stones," said Mohammed Salah. The debate over who
started it hasn't been resolved.

But what is certain is that one American soldier, a woman, got frightened.
She fired warning shots. Almost immediately after that another soldier aimed
at the crowd. Two men went down: one was killed instantaneously, the other
was gravely wounded. He died shortly afterwards. Their friends carried them
to the other side of the street to the shade of a tree. Then, seeing their
condition, they brought them back to the American soldiers so they could be
treated. The soldiers drove them straight to the Republican palace's military
hospital.

TOTAL MISUNDERSTANDING

Incidents pitting American soldiers against Iraqis, armed or unarmed, are now
daily occurences. And they often turn deadly. Out of 51 soldiers who have
died in Iraq since George W. Bush officially declared the end of the war on
May 1, 16 have been killed during confrontations with the population or have
been shot down by fedayeen. One hour after the shooting at the Republican
Palace, one GI was killed and another wounded while posted in front of a
service station in the southern Dora district. A car slowly drove up behind
the Americans with the windows open, and someone gunned them down, then fled.

These two incidents seem unconnected, given the relatively short time between
them. For the American army, the GIs opened fire "in legitimate
self-defense." As Major Slaten said shortly after calm had been reestablished
around the palace: "A stone can do a lot of damage, you know..."

Misunderstanding seems to be total. Under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi army
amounted to almost 10% of the population. Today, these men are unable to
conceive that the Americans, after a war they won with ease, are "punishing"
soldiers and their families by revoking salaries and pensions. True, there
were only 300 demonstrators in front of what they now call "Bremer's palace,"
but dissatisfaction about the American forces is spreading. "We were the army
of Iraq, not the army of Saddam," sais Mohammed Salah, adding: "90% of these
men didn't fight the Americans." He did. The man with a blood-stained shirt
was an officer in the special Republican Guard, the elite force placed
directly under the command of Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Qusay. He says he
fought in Dora, shortly after the fall of the airport. "Then we stopped
fighting very soon after. We handed Baghdad to the Americans. We didn't
defend Saddam. Is this how the United States thanks us?"

PAYMENT IN BLOOD

Some of Mohammed's associates can't keep from smiling, though... Among the
demonstrators, some of them say the GIs will have to pay for "the execution"
of their two friends in blood. "Tomorrow night or the next, whenever, we'll
come back and shoot some palace guards," Ahmed promises. "Our friends will be
avenged. The American army should leave Iraq!"

The recovery, above all, of calm in a Baghdad immobilized by the summer heat
is not what these men are worried about. For them, what counts is the
humiliation of the occupation of the country, the humility of unemployment, of
electricity that hasn't come back on, of the child crying without air
conditioning, of food that's run out. "Watch out," warns Mohammed. "A man
who's been humiliated too much can become dangerous."

--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Webpage: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu

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