[Marxism] Give Us Liberty, Or Give Us Death!

["Tony Abdo" <gojack10@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Funny how US reporters have to write material constantly through the
editorial censors that run the US and international capitalist press, hoping
against the odds to get vital real info to the public.  Usually they ar not
all too successful.  They get fired , or worse yet, they get retrained.  But
here, Mariam Fam who is a young Arabic speaking Columbian Journalism grad,
was writing below to let the US public try to understand the motives of
Iraqis.

She deliberately was able to sneak in info (embed info) about the real
motives of the fighters into the story line in terms that recall the US
fight against the British King George, that led to US independence from one
of the dominant empires of that time, the British.  It is as she is telling
the story of the American Independence Struggle to a school room class.  To
see her picture, go to this 'Columbia News' web site below.  A great effort
by a reporter to get some truth out.  Tony

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/03/03/overseas_press_club.html
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Aug 14, 2004
Mahdi Army Fighters Bedevil Coalition
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - While no match for the U.S. military, the Mahdi Army militia
loyal to rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has bedeviled coalition troops
across Iraq (news - web sites) for weeks at a time, its young fighters
driven by religious zeal, desperation and an apparent readiness to die.

Their uprising also has soured relations between coalition forces and some
of Iraq's Shiites, once grateful for a U.S.-led war that freed them from
Saddam Hussein's clutches.

"We have the belief; they have the power," said one fighter known by the nom
de guerre Abu Ghadhib. "I think the belief is stronger than the power."

Abu Ghadhib, who fought U.S. Marines in Najaf, and his comrades have little
else. Many members of the militia, created by al-Sadr last year, are poor
and unemployed, casting themselves as freedom fighters and defenders of
their religion and country.

"I see them as a Shiite ghetto youth gang," said Juan Cole, a University of
Michigan expert on Iraqi Shiites. "Some of them are true believers who
idolize Muqtada al-Sadr. Others have just been pulled in because they had a
friend in it, and others yet probably are being paid."

Iraqi officials dismiss many militiamen as thugs and criminals and demand
they disband. Iraq's defense minister recently said many fighters in the
south are using weapons provided by Iran ? an accusation Tehran denied.

Many Mahdi Army fighters admire al-Sadr's fiery rhetoric, which taps into
their resentment toward non-Muslim troops.

Fighting to expel foreign forces also gives the downtrodden militiamen the
power and recognition they crave, some experts say.

In tribal-minded Iraq, some fight the Americans to settle scores. The
Americans make more enemies every time they kill militiamen, prompting
surviving relatives to join the fight, Cole said.

Ayad Ali, a militiaman in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, claimed his brother was
run over by a U.S. tank.

"I would fight the Americans until the last drop of my blood," he said,
echoing a sermon al-Sadr has delivered in a funeral shroud, symbolizing his
readiness to die in battle.

Al-Sadr also attracts followers faithful to the memory of his father, a
senior Shiite cleric killed by suspected Saddam agents in 1999.

Cole said U.S. authorities should have denied al-Sadr a recruiting ground by
creating jobs and pouring money into poor Shiite areas, where many live
among pools of sewage and have no power or potable water. The Americans say
they couple military operations with reconstruction, but the fighting
hinders their rebuilding efforts.

"The Americans will win militarily," Cole said. "But I think they are losing
politically," he added, arguing that by pursuing al-Sadr, the Americans
"made him a symbol of national resistance."

Al-Sadr and his clerics leaped into the power vacuum following Saddam's
ouster, providing social services, policing neighborhoods and even setting
up courts.

In Najaf, where much of the fighting between the militia and U.S. and Iraqi
forces has occurred, the Mahdi Army made the revered Imam Ali Shrine
compound a refuge. The police and Americans stay out because they cannot
afford to damage the shrine, which would enrage Shiites worldwide.

On Monday, Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said some fighters in Najaf were
using Iranian-made weapons brought across the countries' shared border.

The fundamentalist Shiite regime in Iran denies interfering in Iraq. It says
it does not allow fighters to cross into Iraq, but it does not rule out that
such people might cross the long border illegally.

In Najaf's vast cemetery, militiamen lurk behind tombstones with Kalashnikov
rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

"You have to give them credit," Sgt. 1st Class Mike Dewilde said after a
recent firefight. "They do an amazing amount with what little they have."

Abu Ghadhib, who returned from London to fight the Americans, said the
militiamen have an advantage over U.S. forces, who do not want to die.

"As for us, if we live, we have to live as free people, and if we die, we go
to heaven," he said. "We win either way."

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