HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
IRAQ BRACED FOR WAR ==================== Daily Mirror >From Chris Hughes the first Western reporter in Baghdad since September 11 Iraq was braced last night for American attack - as The Mirror went to Baghdad and discovered a people prepared for the worst. With Taliban forces crumbling in Afghanistan, fears mounted that the US-led coalition will turn next on Saddam Hussain. The Mirror is the first British newspaper since September 11. We found almost universal agreement that soon bombs will again rain down. A cleaner in a Baghdad hotel is polishing a mosaic of George Bush Senior. The beautifully tiled image of the American president who defeated Iraq in the Gulf War - but not Saddam Hussein - decorates the floor of the Al Rashid hotel. It also serves another purpose. Iraqi guests are encouraged to walk over Mr Bush on the way in, firmly scraping their feet into his face and relishing the ornate inscription beneath which says: "Bush is criminal." As the Taliban crumble, Iraq is well aware that it may be the next target in the war on terror. The people and the leaders of a country that has faced sporadic US-British air attacks in the decade since the Gulf conflict are as resolutely defiant as the mosaic's words suggest. This time Bush Junior is the hate figure. Iraqis believe he is determined to do what his father and the allies fought shy of in 1991 - continuing the war and driving out Saddam. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said in Baghdad last night: "We are suffering murder and destruction. Who is doing this? George Bush. "He says we are either with the terrorists or with America. How can he ask us to be on his side? "How can the people of Serbia be on his side? How can the people of Vietnam or Syria, Brazil and Cuba be on his side?" US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made no secret of the fact that he favours action against Saddam in the next stage of the fight. George W Bush warned in a speech on Tuesday that Afghanistan was "just the beginning". He said: "If you feed a terrorist, or fund a terrorist, you're a terrorist and you will be held accountable by the United States." Despite Iraq's denials, America still believes it has links to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. At the very least, the US sees Iraq as its most defiant opponent. In 1997, 2,000 Iraqis moved into Saddam's palaces as human shields at a time when a heavy military strike by the US and Britain was widely expected. Yesterday hundreds of citizens, including women and children, were returning to the dictator's homes. Tariq Aziz was warning of a fresh cruise missile blitz, claiming the US has plans to strike 300 targets. An extra 2,000 US troops have been drafted into Kuwait on Iraq's southern border - the invasion of which started the Gulf conflict - for "war games". The operation is called Desert Spring. Five thousand soldiers are already in the area, and Washington has admitted to putting on a show of force. Mirror photographer Arnold Slater and I are the first British newspaper journalists to report from inside Iraq in more than 12 months. We were given an unprecedented view of life there, post-September 11. In the cafes and shops in Baghdad's old town, locals watch ancient TV sets for news from Afghanistan. On the surface not much has changed since the 1991 war, the 1998 bombardment and further air attacks arising out of disputes over UN weapons inspections and no-fly zones protecting possible Saddam targets to the north and south. The market places are busy, the shops appear to be doing good business, the hotels are full, and the bombed bridges rebuilt. Apartment and office blocks have changed the skyline, their nondescript colours offset by elegant turquoise domes on mosques and the Las Vegas-style palaces Saddam has built during even the leanest days. Pictures of him are displayed at road roundabouts and on buildings...Saddam with flowers, Saddam holding the scales of justice, Saddam at prayer, Saddam in shades, flanked by palm trees. His picture is on every front page of the state-controlled press, every day. Iraqi television transforms his banal comments at Cabinet meetings into a week's worth of programming. Alternative viewing is hard to come by - owning a satellite dish is illegal. Communications are crippled and an international phone call can take up to three hours to arrange. The president - strong backer of the Palestinian uprising against Israel - rarely appears in public. But regular rumours about 63-year-old Saddam's health always prove unfounded. Most of his 23million people believe the fighter jets will return. But in downtown Baghdad's Sadou Street, taxi driver Adel Fawazy, 38, told us we were "welcome" in his country. Looking briefly at the sky, he said: "There has been much talk of terrorism from America and Britain since the Trade Center was attacked. But everybody in Iraq knows we are innocent. Of course, we have heard that America might attack Baghdad again. "But why? It does not mean America has to bomb me because it is angry something bad has happened. "But maybe they will bomb us again. I think they will once they have had enough of Afghanistan. "Let them come - we have had this many times before. It has continued for more than a decade. What is new? "Iraq went through eight years of war with Iran, then almost immediately two years with America and its allies. We have lost hundreds of thousands of our people. Vietnam had the same thing when they were attacked by America and now Afghanistan is suffering attacks. "Your planes have never stopped bombing us in 11 years. "You are British and you are in Baghdad and we welcome you because we are a peaceful people. "But would it be the same if I came to your country if we had been bombing you for 10 years? "Let them come and bomb us and we will see what happens. God will decide who is right, who is the terrorist and who should be punished. "Iraq has put up with a lot of abuses through bombings and the UN sanctions - but we have survived. We are a resourceful people. "We will be OK. We have a good leader, Saddam Hussein. In the Arab world, he is a strong man." In reference to the Gulf war Scud missile attacks on Tel Aviv, Fawazy added with a smile: "Saddam is the one who sent 39 missiles to Israel. "Nobody else in the Arab world had the heart to increase that number to 40." A decade of UN trade sanctions has crippled the infrastructure. Iraq can now sell oil to the outside world, but revenues are either frozen or go in compensation tax to Kuwait. There is a UN oil-for-food programme where the proceeds can be used to buy supplies and medicines. But $4billion worth of orders for medical equipment are outstanding while the UN decides if they are legitimate or "dual- purpose" goods designed to bust sanctions and aid the military. Doctors unable to get the items they need have taken to driving battered taxis to earn more cash. Computers, money-counting machines and virtually every other piece of day-to-day gear cannot be bought because of UN sanctions. The local dinar is worth 6,000 times less than before the Gulf war. A cleaner earns the equivalent of two dollars a month, a doctor 20 dollars. They carry their earnings in huge shopping bags containing brick-sized wads of notes. You choose your words carefully when asking officials about Saddam's enthusiasm for lavish palaces in the face of poverty. Nobody openly criticises the regime. One official told me: "The things Iraq needs to stop people dying in the way of medical supplies and equipment to mend our water and drainage have to come from outside. "Everything we have here is 11 years old and worn-out or obsolete. We cannot buy anything outside without hard currency, like the US dollar, and the UN's permission. "It is impossible with the sanctions to get either. The palaces and things you see in Baghdad are paid for with local dinar, which is worthless outside Iraq." Many young people in the Baghdad capital that once housed one of the Muslim world's greatest libraries cannot even read. In the academic year before sanctions, the Iraq spent $230million on education. The average during the past six years has been $23million. There are soaring levels of cancer close to the border with Kuwait, apparently caused by depleted uranium from tank- busting shells. Sewage and waterworks cannot be replaced because virtually every component from pipes to taps could be used for a military purpose. This has led to gastroenteritis and, in the past, cholera epidemics. About 5,000 children die every month from water contamination, food poisoning, epidemics or cancer. Marian Hamza, seven, was lucky - she has conquered leukemia. The Iraqis remain crisis-proof, according to wealthy Baghdad restaurateur Khalil al-Suhail. He said the 1998 bombing after weapons inspectors were barred made little impression. "We just watched like it was a big fireworks display," said al-Suhail. "We decided the crisis just wasn't going to dictate our lives." He scavenged piles of junk to decorate his restaurant. Old wagon wheels and car suspension systems now hang from the walls. He added: "What I did in my restaurant, all Iraqis have done in their own way. We've all learned to improvise and adapt. Sometimes hardship brings out the best in you." Last night, apart from the traditional calling to prayer from the mosques, Baghdad was quiet. In the old town Naaem Ali, 50, said: "If it is God's will, then America will not bomb us. "But the people are strong and we will have to take it if it happens. All we have left is our solidarity." All we have left is our solidarity, we're strong, we will just wait and we will take it - Pipe cleaner Naaem Ali Let the US come and bomb us, we will see what happens, our people are resourceful - Tazi driver Adel Fawazy ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
