Baghdad fumes as the Americans seek safety in 'tombstone' forts

[Aidoneus]

Baghdad fumes as the Americans seek safety in 'tombstone' forts
By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
12 June 2004

The US army is paralysing the heart of Baghdad as it builds ever more elaborate fortifications to protect its bases against suicide bombers.

"Do not enter or you will be shot," reads an abrupt notice attached to some razor wire blocking a roundabout at what used to be the entrance to the 14 July bridge over the Tigris. Only vehicles with permission to enter the Green Zone, where the occupation authorities have their headquarters, can now use it. Iraqis who want to cross the river must fight their way to another bridge through horrendous traffic jams.

Gigantic concrete slabs, like enormous grey tombstones, now block many roads in Baghdad. They are about 12 feet high and three feet across and for many Iraqis have become the unloved symbol of the occupation. Standing side by side, they form walls around the Green Zone and other US bases, with notices saying it is illegal to stop beside them.

It is the ever-expanding US bases and the increasing difficulties and dangers of their daily lives which make ordinary Iraqis dismiss declarations by President George Bush about transferring power to a sovereign Iraqi government as meaningless. As Mr Bush and Tony Blair were speaking this week about a new beginning for Iraq, the supply of electricity in the country has fallen from 12 hours a day to six hours. On Canal Street yesterday, close to the bombed-out UN headquarters, there was a two- mile long queue of cars waiting to buy petrol.

Salahudin Mohammed al-Rawi, an engineer, dismisses the diplomatic manoeuvres over Iraq at the UN in New York and the G8 meeting in Georgia as an irrelevant charade. He said: "At the end of the day they cannot cheat the Iraqi people because the Iraqis are in touch with the real situation on the ground."

For many people in Baghdad the real situation is very grim. Twenty years ago Abu Nawas Street on the Tigris used to be filled with restaurants serving mazgouf, a river fish grilled over an open wood fire and a traditional Baghdadi delicacy. These days Abu Nawas is largely deserted and is used mainly by American armoured vehicles thundering down the road.

--snip--

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=530692

[Sporadicus]

1. I Predict a Major Conflagration Before 'Transfer of Power' Occurs

that will shake * and crowd from their post-Ronnie reverie.

[pinniped]

2. The Iraqis are so close to freedom they can taste it...

and get killed for it too.

Reminds me of the later Twilight Zone episode when the MX Missile accidentally went off in a bomber at an Air Force base. The guy was held up in his basement bunker and the whole city was sealed off from the outside world by a giant bubble meant to contain the radiation. This was a fairly similar remake of the b/w original where another guy was holed up in his underground bunker but the ending was different.

I guess it's inside that giant bubble where the new U.S. embassy will reside.

[Spazito]

3. Wow, a hard-hitting article,,,

that says the US is failing by all measurable indicators. These sentences say it all, imo:

"A problem, frequently mentioned by Iraqis, is that US security measures appear to be solely directed at providing security for Americans. For Iraqis, life in Baghdad is still very dangerous."

and

"The same could be said of the thousands of other American officials and soldiers in central Baghdad. Had they based themselves on the outskirts of the capital they would have been far less visible. But, cut off as they are in their compounds from real Iraqi life, they probably do not know and may not care about the sea of resentment that surrounds them."

[TahitiNut]

4. "A keen sense of the obvious" ...

... occasionally leaks out in the corporate media. How dare they? :eyes:

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Sure looks like Bu$hCo

is hunkering down for the long haul.

Who the fuck are we to take these people's property, plant ourselves in the middle of their cities, and not even give a shit that the rest of the place is falling apart? The Iraqis don't need or want us there. Saddam is gone. There are no WMD's. It's time to call it Mission Accomplished and get the hell out of there. This is beyond ridiculous.

[Mari333]

6. Oh for christs sake bring the troops home

now.
http://www.bringthemhomenow.com
How many effing times do I have to scream this from the rooftops?

[BeFree]

7. Remember Lebanon?

For those who say we can't leave, I ask you to look at Lebanon. We were there, we weren't gonna leave, said raygoon. Lebanon was as bad as Baghdad then. Well, we left and now Lebanon is doing just fine, thanks.

Also: Vietnam.

Bring the troops home. NOW.

[tabasco]

8. Bush is not interested in the Iraqi people's problems.

- As many said and were ridiculed for saying, it is about the oil. Soon, US forces will redeploy out of most urban areas. We will occupy secure bases located to protect oil facilities.
- Since Bush started taking political heat for the casualties, we have stopped attempting to provide law and order in the Iraqi streets. Soon, all the urban areas will be under the control of warlords and mullahs. They will not be bothered unless they threaten the oil.
- The green zone will be the fortress in the capital in which our puppet government will have to hide. They will issue meaningless proclamations, but will never have any control.
- Kerry must dissociate himself from "staying the course" and start thinking about getting us out of there completely. The only way US forces should be part of the operation is under operational control of the UN. If the UN isn't interested in taking over the situation, well, that's too bad. The Iraqis will have to decide their own destiny.
- The only thing we can take away from this unmitigated disaster known as the Bush administration is lessons learned. We can never let a cabal of corporate interests control our Nation EVER AGAIN and must TAKE TO THE STREETS if necessary to drive them out!

[number6]

9. isn't "liberation" wunerfool

Operation
Iraqi
Liberation

[number6]

10. it'll start lookin like Israel, with the "Peace Wall"

:nuke:

[mom cat]

11. My thoughts exactly. The oppressors must keep themselves safe.

They never gave a damn for the people of Afghanistan or Iraq. In both cases they have abandoned the people for a charade..... I wonder how much of the Iraqi electricity is being diverted to the Green Zone to keep the coalition air conditioners running while the people swelter with no electricity for fans?