http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anas_altikriti/2006/06/what_exactly_are_our_troops_do.htmlTroops out of Iraq
In the eyes of Iraqis, either deliberately or through negligence, we have brought utter chaos to their country.The main premise for those who argue against the withdrawal from Iraq of British as well as US occupying forces is that the move would lead to an all-out civil war.
This argument, with its echoes of imperialist, supremacist tendencies, is not only offensive; it is also is also bewildering to the overwhelming majority of Iraqis, who remind us that Iraq was a richly diverse nation centuries before the US and Britain invaded, more than three years ago, and that Iraqis had managed to construct a state that has since then been systematically stripped back to beyond the bone.
However, when attacks as horrific and gruesome as the one that took place in Basra on Saturday April 3 take place, one cannot but ask exactly what it is that we are doing and what cause we are serving there. Official Iraqi government police, alongside what appeared to be a civilian mob, attacked two of the city's prominent mosques, killing seven people who had sought refuge inside the place of worship and abducting nine others, whose bodies were found, tortured, mutilated and dumped, the next day.
Basra citizens, of both Sunni and Shia denominations are perplexed. One old Shia man interviewed by an Arab satellite TV's roaming camera in the area of one of the mosques cried as he choked on words that described how the "true" people of Basra would never commit such a crime, and how the people of the city of all denominations had always been united against the tyranny of the Ba'ath regime and had never descended to this kind of chaos and anarchy.
His next assertion was fascinating: "These criminals only appeared on our streets and donned official uniform after the occupation arrived ... The occupation is guarding them and allowing them to carry out these attacks because they claim that they are fighting terrorists ... We thought that the job of the occupation forces was to make things better, but they have made things 1,000 times worse."