Fresh graffiti on a building in this port town in southern Iraq reads "Down
with USA" -- painted over the original "Down with Iraq" slogan from before
the US-led invasion.
Residents here say the change in the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim south
noted for its opposition to Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president, has been
fuelled by US troops' rough handling of civilians which now poses problems
for their British allies.
During the Vietnam war, a popular response to the mantra of winning over
the civilian population was "grab them by the balls, and their hearts and
minds will follow".
That appears to be the tactics of the forces leading the war in Iraq,
except it is US forces who are attacking Iraq's underbelly and British
troops being left to make friends after.
The southern Shi'ites also remember how the United States urged them in
1991 to rise up against Saddam's largely Sunni leadership - only to abandon
them to brutal suppression of their revolt.
The suspicions are not being allayed by the attitude of many of the US
troops here. A regular complaint heard in the part of southern Iraq already
under occupation is that US forces -- mostly at the front of advances --
are rude and hostile to civilians caught up in the conflict.
An army the size of that moving through Iraq was never going to creep
unnoticed into Baghdad, and there is no doubt that the invading forces are
seriously disrupting the lives of ordinary civilians.
But US forces who took the port of Umm Qasr won few friends among the
civilian population, and some British troops now charged with setting up a
transitional authority complain they are having to undo damage caused by
the Americans.
One British officer being given an escort by Marines to his headquarters
expressed alarm when they let loose with a volley of rifle fire at a house
on the outskirts of the town.
"They said they had been sniped at from there a few days ago so they like
to give them a warning every now and then," he said. "That is something we
would never condone. You really aren't going to make any friends doing that."
A US special forces officer in Umm Qasr said it was sometimes difficult to
contain the exuberance of men doing the actual fighting and sometimes they
could overstep the mark.
He said: "You got to realise these guys are single-minded in their
training. In the military it is look after yourself and your buddies. Full
stop. How do we know who the enemy is ... " But we are doing the main
fighting here. There is no room for us to let down our guard."
That role is being left to the British forces who, in the main, are taking
up positions once US troops move through.
At many roadblocks mounted by US forces, civilians and journalists moving
independently to cover the conflict are dismissed without a word. Surly
marines gesture them to turn away and refuse to answer questions.
The British, however, have generally been polite and helpful where
possible. Soldiers chat amiably with civilians -- even though neither party
has a clue what the other is saying.
"I think it is a question of training," one British officer said. "American
soldiers have all the benefits of technology.
"They are single-minded in. their approach. But British soldiers tend to
have a more human approach."
"An Iraqi in a taxi containing explosives has become the first known
suicide bomber of the war to succeed in taking some of the US invaders with
him.
By itself, his attack is simply another bit of bloodletting in this
unnecessary war.
But what makes the event so significant is not that it happened, but the
way in which Washington has reacted to this slaying of at least four of its
soldiers.
The cry has gone up from the American camp that suicide bombings are the
acts of terrorists, therefore this attack proves, beyond all doubt, the
long-argued American case that Iraq is a terrorist state. Thus, Washington
was right all along to invade, and the sooner Saddam Hussein can be put out
of business, the safer the world will be. There is none so blind as they
that won't see.
This ignorant and deeply stupid analysis just about sums up the level of
what seems to pass for serious thought in George W Bush's White House."
- March 31st
www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/31-3-19...
