Iraqis lament lack of security in the country

By Imam El-Liethy, IOL Iraq Correspondent

BAGHDAD, May 2 (IslamOnline.net) – Three weeks after the U.S. forces drove into Baghdad and declared Saddam Hussein no longer the country’s president, arms sale flourished in Baghdad streets amid a general state of anarchy and lawlessness.

Touring the street markets of the capital’s poor slums such as al-Salam, al-Shu’la and al-Huriya on Friday, May 2, IslamOnline.net correspondent saw sellers lined up to offer the large number of buyers different kinds of weapons, all stolen from the Iraqi army weapon caches.

“Every one here sells four to six pieces and eight spare parts a day,” one seller told IOL correspondent, with repeated appeals to take one.

“Most people in Iraq need arms, whether they are gangs or civilians,” he added, referring to the lack of security that has also been a key concern amid a power vacuum following Saddam's ouster.

Asked about the source of his goods, the seller went as frank as that “the army abandoned large stores of weapons. This is the source of our living. I have more than one family dependent on my work to get by.”

After the end of war, many civil servants and employees dropped out of the labour force to count as unemployed, leaving the would-be government with another challenge.

No wonder one of the arms sellers is a former army officer who complained “I could not make ends meet.”

“If you want weapons to vanish from the country, tell the Americans to set up a government to create jobs and pay us salaries,” he said in anger.

Udai’s Properties For Sale

People complain of U.S. forces’ inaction to provide a prosperous life as earlier promised by Washington

On the other side of the market, vendors offered air conditioners, coolers, foodstuffs and sport wear for sale, with the same note that all are stolen from the government stores or houses of former Iraqi officials.

“All these things were Udai’s which he should have distributed among Iraqis. He stole them from the people and we recovered them and even sell them to people at cheap prices,” said Firas, a 11-year-old boy, in reference to Saddam’s elder son.

“Udai was the biggest black market trader in Iraq. All we have taken from his stores were ours,” Firas said angrily, adding that he thanked the Americans for “allowing us to get back our money.”

But some of the looted goods offered for sale belong to other Iraqis; albeit innocent ones who could not defend their houses against the barrage of pillaging and thievery rampant in the capital.

They were seething with fury at the U.S. forces’ inaction to provide the prosperous and democratic life they had earlier promised as an alternative to Saddam’s oppression.

Many complained that most police remain off the streets, basic services have yet to be widely re-established and weapons are easily available at street markets.

They find the only way to react to this is to demonstrate.

After the Friday prayers, protestors converged in Baghdad's Al-Fardous Square, which has seen many anti-American protests since U.S. troops captured the city, shouting slogans against the U.S. military presence and demanding an end to what they call a clear case of occupation.

"No to America, no to Saddam, there is only one God," they chanted.

"Saddam was a dictator and Bush is killing civilians and destroying their homes," said one banner the protestors carried, while others waved black flags.

People also slammed scenes of American soldiers armed to teeth patrolling the streets of their districts and ready to use force even unprovoked.

On Monday, 28 April, 15 Iraqis were killed and about 50 wounded when U.S. occupation forces opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators in the town, who were protesting the provocative practices of the U.S. soldiers.

Aid agencies, meanwhile, said there has been little coordination from the United States to address the dire situation in the nation's run-down hospitals, many filled with victims of the U.S.-led forces’ bombardment.

"They had no emergency plan, or if they did it hasn't worked," said the spokesman of one relief organisation in Baghdad who asked not to be named.

"It's as if they hadn't planned for all these casualties."