“The victory in Iraq is complete,” said the Americans three months ago. Since then more than fifty American soldiers have been killed. The Iraqi murky swamp is slowly but surely drowning its victims, and the confident American declarations no longer sound as such to the skeptical listener.
Maybe that is why one should regard cautiously remarks made by Major Charles Mayo, British army spokesman in Iraq regarding the southern city Ba’sra. “We have got over 95 percent of the population in Ba’sra well behind us. It is just a small minority who are intent on causing some disruption to what we are trying to achieve with the Iraqi people.”
The city of Ba’sra, three months after its conquer by the allied forces, still has a long way to go before regaining normalcy. Its residents suffer constant power-cuts, looting, abductions and rampant unemployment. Two weeks before the major blackout that paralyzed large parts of northern America, the Ba’srans had their own similar experience. Their blackout caught many of them on one of the hottest days of the year. The high temperatures, over 50 degrees Celsius [over 120 Fahrenheit], heated both the air and the inhabitants’ blood. One thousand demonstrators took to the streets, blocked roads, set tires alight and stoned British vehicles. Fortunately the skirmish ended with just a few British soldiers lightly injured.
 |
(Univ. of Texas)
Recent days have shown that despite the relative quiet that prevailed up until now in Ba’sra, the allies must not be nonchalant. Most recently on August 23, three British soldiers were killed in an ambush. On August 17 rebel forces killed a Danish soldier in the city. Several days beforehand a British soldier and a Nepalese working for a local security company were also killed. The allies’ extended stay in the city paired with the lack of personal and economic security has made the residents bitter. “Our patience will run out soon, and we will kill them one by one like in Baghdad,” said biology teacher Najim Al-‘Abid, to a reporter from Baghdad’s Bulletin.
Ahmad Jawda, a journalist with the London-based Arabic daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat wrote a series of reports over the past few days about the routine life in Ba’sra. Jawda examined the socio-economic problems in the city and the day-to-day life of its inhabitants. “The health situation in the city is unbearable, people are dying for lack of elementary drugs and medical care,” he wrote.
A number of Arab newspapers over the past few days quoted Iraqi sources who expressed their worry over the growing number of people suffering from cancer in the city. Among other factors, these sources accused the Americans of using large quantities of depleted uranium during the war.
There are currently eight civilian hospitals operating in Ba’sra and another two military hospitals run by the allied forces. The small Czech military hospital, with 30 beds, cares for fifty patients a day. Most of them are suffering wounds from mines or gunfire; others suffer from cholera or typhus. Iraqi civilians are also cared for there.
The British hospital is much larger. It has 150 beds, but according to Jawda, only 25 patients, among them just two Iraqis. The hospital’s manager Leith ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz explained, “This is a British military hospital. We are here first and foremost to attend to British soldiers. Nevertheless, this does not prevent us from caring for Iraqis in case of an emergency.” An Arab British officer told Jawda, “The main problem is that Ba’sran residents haven’t yet decided if they like the Brits or not.”
But the British are also trying to assist in rebuilding the collapsing health institutions in Ba’sra. The British international cooperation ministry is financing a group of experts who are assisting in purchasing and using medical equipment for medical schools and hospitals. Also, sixty experts of the World Health Organization are residing in Iraq and helping rehabilitate the health system.
 |
(Univ. of Texas)
Another tough problem is the lack of fuel. Gas stations sell gasoline at exorbitant prices in a country with one of the highest oil reserves in the world. Gas station owners stash some of the fuel and sell it on the black market. Captain Hisham Hilawa, a spokesperson for the British army in Ba’sra told A-Sharq Al-Awsat the reason for the gas shortage is “the enormous amounts of oil the American forces are using in southern Iraq to operate hospitals in central and northern Iraq.” A different explanation came from another source in the British army, who said, “Many Iraqi oil engineers have made huge profits from oil smuggling in the past, to compensate for their low salaries. The British forces are now putting a stop to most of the smugglings, which is why engineers are refusing to resume their work, in an attempt to raise their salaries.” Whatever the reason may be, the facts speak for themselves: the long lines outside the gas stations in Ba’sra sometimes extend to two miles.
“In the three months we have been [in Ba’sra] a lot of work has taken place and people feel more secure,” said Captain Hisham Hilawa on August 16th. The chief of the British police contingent in Ba’sra said 100 British officers are training Iraqi soldiers to guard oil fields, refineries and power stations. An additional 34 Iraqi police stations were set up in Ba’sra in order to maintain security in the streets. Head of Ba’sra police, Kha’dir Al-‘Aboudi said, “Although there was more of a feeling of security in the Saddam era, its price was personal freedom.” He added that the Ba’sra police was in its first stages of rehabilitation and the British have so far given $15 million to rebuild dozens of police stations and purchase police uniforms. The Ba’sran police force currently employs 650 policemen and courses are underway to train 4,000 others, ‘Aboudi said.
The air of anarchy in Iraq, and especially in Ba’sra in the post-Saddam regime, has enabled Shi’ite clerics who were harshly oppressed in the past, to regroup. Since the regime fell, soldiers from the Badr Brigades military opposition organization have infiltrated from Iran. Up until now they trained in Iran, with the knowledge and support of the Iranian regime. Their intention, according to American intelligence sources, is to kindle pro-Iranian sentiments amongst Shi’ites in Iraq and to bring about the establishment of a religious-based state such as Iran.
One of the salient Shi’ite groups in Ba’sra, lead by Muqta’da A-‘Sadr, took over the Sunni religious-endowments building in Ba’sra about a month ago. For several days, the group caused extensive damage to the building and stole all the Waqf documents. Subsequently, 15,000 Sunni prayer-goers protested opposite the administration building. Sunni clerics fear civil war may break out between Ba’sra’s Sunnis and Shi’ites. British military forces are now trying to assist in recovering the stolen documents and calm things down.
Not only documents are being stolen in Ba’sra. A serious problem the security forces have been facing over the past few weeks is theft of copper wires from electric poles which are then sold on the black market, as well as sabotage of power stations. This is causing the frequent power cuts in the city and the sluggish reconstruction of the electricity system.
Economic problems in Ba’sra have also led to an acute rise in crime, especially in the surrounding villages where British patrol forces rarely go. Over the past month, seven abductions were recorded in the area – six of them for ransom money, and one because of a family feud. Also, despite British supervision, on the black market one can find guns, pistols and hand grenades stolen from Iraqi military warehouses.
Three months after the occupation of Ba’sra the situation looks dire and there is commotion in the streets. An air of disorder and general lethargy prevails in the city, despite all the measures taken by the allies. Past experience has shown that enforcing law and order by an occupier (or a liberator, depending which side you are on) may be successful for a while, but has no chance of prevailing. Therefore there is great significance in establishing a stable Iraqi government, one that will manage its own civilians’ lives and enable the allies to exit without delay from the quicksand into which they are sinking.