[A-List] Iraq: anarchy, not "liberty"

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Descent Into Anarchy
Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News War Correspondent
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=25049

NAJAF/BAGHDAD, 11 April 2003 - Entering Baghdad by road from the south
yesterday, Arab News came upon countless destroyed Iraqi tanks with charred
bodies of Iraqi fighters still inside them, their body parts littering the
roadside. Inside the capital, amid the anarchy that has clearly descended on
the city, we saw a small demonstration being held. The dozens of Iraqis were
chanting: "The people of Iraq did not lose this war. It was the political
party, the Baath that lost it."

There was looting on a massive scale, mostly concentrated on government
buildings. The US Marines outside, passively observing events, said when
asked by Arab News whether they should be intervening: "These guys are
stealing stuff from government buildings. The government has been stealing
from these people for the last 35 years. It's about time they got their own
back."

Late afternoon, a human bomber detonated explosives at a US checkpoint,
killing at least one US Marine and leaving many wounded, some seriously.

And in a four-hour battle with Saddam loyalists firing from the Imam
Al-Adham Mosque on the east bank of the Tigris River, another Marine was
killed and more than 20 were injured.

French journalists who witnessed the battles told Arab News that a number of
Fedayeen opened fire on the Americans in the square below. They returned
fire with tanks, shelling the mosque which was soon destroyed.

In another indication of the apparent near-anarchy that has descended on
this city of five million people, a number of Portuguese journalists were
attacked by a mob of armed Fedayeen, who beat them about the body and head
with the butts of their rifles.

There is virtually no security here anymore, although US soldiers are
everywhere. But there are clear signs that the Iraqi people are welcoming
the US troops.

A car with Iraqi license plates being driven by a local was transporting
boxes of water to each Marine checkpoint and army post. He personally handed
them bottles of water. Also, the soldiers stationed around the Palestine
Hotel all have flowers pinned to their battledress.

Until the human bombing in the area, people could still be seen going up to
them to hand them flowers.

By nightfall, more aerial bombardments had begun. Fighter jets flew
overhead, followed by explosions on the outskirts of the city. Machine-gun
fire burst out periodically in the distance.

The streets were totally deserted after dark, except for a few people
walking between the Palestine and Sheraton hotels who had armed guards. The
US Marines appear to have imposed some kind of martial law, and a curfew.
The buildings of five ministries were ablaze in the distance.

Earlier in the day in the southern city of Najaf, this correspondent
happened on a crowd of Iraqis who had been at the Ali Mosque, one of Shiite
Islam's holiest shrines, just half an hour earlier. They said that former
Iraqi Gen. Nizar Al-Khazraji and Islamic scholar Abdul Majid Al-Khoei had
both been executed by Iraqi residents of Najaf.

Another independent Iraqi witness to the incident who spoke to Arab News
said that the two potential Iraqi leaders of the city, who were supported by
the US, "were chopped into pieces with swords and knives inside the Ali
Mosque by Iraqis who accused them of being American stooges."

Another witness said that a US Special Forces soldier, who had been acting
as their bodyguard, was also killed in the incident.

Al-Khoei's death has since been confirmed by his family in London, as was
the death of one of his aides.

However, there has been no confirmation of Al-Khazraji's death.