al-Quds
al-ArabiLondon, Monday, 4 August 2003 [US Troops
step up arrests and killings in
Iraq] London, Baghdad --AMERICAN
forces in Iraq have escalated their indiscriminate
arrests and killings of Iraqi civilians as they
intensify their search for former President
Saddam Hussein, in particular in the
so-called Sunni Triangle that extends from Tikrit
to Baghdad to al-Fallujah. More than 10 Iraqi
civilians have been killed in the last three days
in American operations in Iraq, stirring up a wave
of condemnation among local
residents.  Eric
Mueller comments: Here's Monday's lead story from the
London-based al-Quds al-Arabi. Although
they are forced to rely largely on the US
military reports out of Iraq, they offer a
somewhat different slant on the news and
bring together stories that the US press
has a way of overlooking. For example one
story from the AP refers only to 25
Iraqis being detained by one American
unit. Al-Quds al-Arabi's report
combines the arrests reported by a number
of American units in the one story making
for a total of at least 50 Iraqis
arrested. The Arabic paper also refers to 10
Iraqi civilians killed in the last three
days while the American report here fails
to mention that side of the news. Although killings by US forces and
other arrests were reported elsewhere in
the US media, the scattered reports from
different units clearly make it difficult
for readers to get a grasp of the scale,
scope, or nature of the US military
operations underway.  Arabist Eric Mueller
is this website's expert on Middle Eastern
affairs. He is a featured speaker at this
year's Real
History weekend at Cincinnati, August
29-September 3, 2003. |
American forces raided rural houses and homes in
predominantly Sunni areas around Baghdad yesterday
(Sunday) arresting dozens of individuals suspected
of being loyal to Saddam Hussein. The American
forces said that they are "tighting the noose"
around the deposed Iraqi president. US Army
spokesmen reported that soldiers of its Third
Armored Cavalry, concentrated in the towns of
al-Falluja and ar-Ramadi, in the Sunni Triangle
west of Baghdad, carried out a number of raids in
which they arrested 20 people loyal to the former
regime, including one leader whom they said they
had been pursuing. Local residents, meanwhile, said that a
70-year-old farmer by the name of Hamad
'Antar was killed and three of his sons wounded
when the Americans opened fire on their car during
one of the raids. 'Antar at the time was driving
his car between his home and his fields. The
American Army said that it had no information
regarding the incident. It said that the Fourth
Infantry Division, which is concentrated in a tense
region north of Baghdad that includes Tikrit, the
home town of Saddam Hussein, also carried out a
number of attacks in which it arrested 26
individuals, among them two persons suspected of
being middle ranking loyalists of the former
regime. The Fourth Infantry also seized 162 hand
grenades, nine rockets, ten Kalashnikov automatic
rifles, four bundles of dynamite, and a heavy
machinegun. Meanwhile, American
forces prohibited the residents of Tikrit from
holding memorial services for 'Uday and
Qusay Saddam Hussein, sparking a
demonstration against the American
occupation. The Imam of the Great Saddam Mosque in Tikrit,
Shaykh Yahya Ibrahim al-'Attawi, yesterday
announced the cancellation of mourning ceremonies
that were supposed to have been held on Monday in
Tikrit in which people could offer condolences for
'Uday and Qusay Saddam Hussein. Shaykh al-'Attawi said that the mourning
ceremonies had been canceled after he had been
informed yesterday by Mahmoud an-Nada, one
of the leaders of the tribe to which Saddam Hussein
belongs, that the American forces had refused to
allow the meeting to take place. Shaykh al-'Attawi
said, "Mahmoud an-Nada told me that the American
forces had informed him that no American wants any
kind of gatherings to take place so therefore no
mourning ceremony could be held." Meanwhile, the headquarters of the Kurdish
Islamic Movement in Irbil learned yesterday that on
Saturday the American Army had arrested the
spiritual leader of the Kurdish Islamic Movement,
'Ali 'Abd al-'Aziz along with 14 other
persons in Halabjah in northern Iraq. The Kurdish
Islamic Movement is an organization functioning in
the Kurdistan area of the country. A spokesman for the movement who requested
anonymity told Agence France Press that a ring
consisting of two
thousand American soldiers supported by
helicopters encircled the home of Shaykh 'Abd
al-'Aziz in Halabjah at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday (2:30
p.m. GMT) and led him, together with 14 others who
were with him at the time, away to an unknown
location. The spokesman added that Mulla
'Umar, the brother of Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz and
a number of the spiritual leader's personal guards
are among those who were detained. The spokesman said that the American arrest of
their spiritual leader surprised the Movement,
since he had declared war on the Baath Party and
the former Iraqi regime a long time ago. The
spokesman accused the United States of launching
attacks on the supporters of the Kurdish Islamic
Movement and other enemies of the Saddam Hussein
regime. He said that the American forces had given no
explanation for these arrests that took place in
Halabjah, a town on the Iraq-Iran border. Sources
close to the Islamic Movement noted, however, that
the American military on Friday had told the
Movement to close down its office in Irbil and hand
it over to the Anglo-American Coalition. They said
the Americans had offered no explanation for that
demand. Meanwhile, Mulla Babur, the leader of the
organization known as al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah ("the
Islamic Group") together with three of his aides
and members of his personal body guard were
arrested near Doukan, a town 55km from
as-Sulaymaniyah, in an ambush carried out by US
Marines. |
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