By
Ali Halni, IOL Baghdad Correspondent
BAGHDAD,
June 12 (IslamOnline.net) - A lamb, a shoe, and a map were three leads
to my discovery of the threads of a “ready” and “well-trained”
Iraqi resistance group that claimed responsibility for a spate of
attacks on the U.S. occupation forces.
Having
my delicious Iraqi lamb meal in the famous Baghdad restaurant of Zarzour
Tuesday, June 10, along with correspondents of other news agencies and
broadcasts, I felt monitored by a watchful eye and an attentive ear,
nearby.
As
others chatted, my mind was focused on what turned out to be a new
journalistic adventure in the occupied country.
While
my colleagues ended their meal and set off back directly, I slowed the
pace of my steps out of the restaurant braving the scorching heat at
that moment.
Taking
refuge near a lamppost on the pavement, I chose to give my inner sense
of curiosity a space while having my shoes polished by talkative
bootblack Iyad.
Iyad
began his work into my shoes with his usual account of the tough
conditions in the country and the latest developments in growing
resistance attacks against occupation forces. But, I was rather keeping
a veiled track of the shadows of my follower who has just got out of the
restaurant then.
Totally
uninvited, he approached straight on to me, introducing himself as Nader
Allawy and asking whether I was a reporter.
Hesitantly
and suspiciously, I shook my head in an affirmative move, he asked
whether I wanted information about the “Iraqi resistance”.
“If
you want valuable information about Iraqi resistance against American
soldiers, wait for me tomorrow,” he said.
“Tomorrow,
same time, same place, but alone and without a car,” he added.
Allawy
walked away, I stood there surprised, excited, and apprehended in a
capital that could at least be described as “insecure”.
Awaiting
on “the same time, same place” the following day, another person
turned up ordering me into a white Mitsubishi.
At
Least Classics
 |
|
Iyad
polished just one shoe
|
My
heart beat was deafening, my brain completely bogged down while I was
trying to figure out what may be waiting for me. However, I could not
hesitate, I got into the air-conditioned car even after realizing it had
no plates.
Given
that a love song of famous Iraqi singer Nazem Al-Ghazali was running at
the backdrop, I thought, “They are at least classics”.
After
a two-hour drive in streets many of which I did not recognize, I decided
to loosen up and “just live the adventure”.
As
the sun was about to kiss daylight goodbye, the car stopped, and I was
ordered out at a bus stop.
Taking
a breath, I waited for 15 minutes, with dark sending its first signals
and spelling out the most dangerous time in the day during which thieves
and thugs usually begin their daily work amid poor security situation.
Fear,
concern, anxiety and other emotions started a systematic process of
occupying my bogged mind and stuffed soul; “is it really worth it?”
I whispered to myself while looking over my shoulders.
A
Volks Wagen car slowed gears, and I was called in. New Car, new driver,
but the same feelings remained.
Mapped
Resistance
 |
|
I
was left near the bus stop
|
The
car stopped on the way to pick up another passenger before we arrived to
a house in which I met four people, all in their twenties and thirties,
three in modern wear and the fourth in traditional Iraqi dress who was
identified to me as Abu Rifaa.
Abu
Rifaa led me to a room with a mobile computer and a hand-drawn map for
Baghdad unfolded at a table and dotted by similar red signs.
The
map is the first step down the road of resistance by the group, as my
mind was able to discern the props there.
“We
have carried out some 11 operations so far, some succeeded to afflict
the U.S. forces with large damage and casualties,” Abu Rifaa told me
in an emphatic and insistent tone.
He
cited the downing
of an American helicopter in which two U.S. soldiers were killed and
nine others injured on May 27 in Falluja,
and another assault on an American tank that left one soldier died and a
number of others injured on May 30.
No
group claimed responsibility for the attacks, with more than 30 American
soldiers dead so far, led to speculations. The U.S. military insisted
they are isolated incidents, but many observers opined - and ordinary
Iraqis feel- they are part of resistance operations motivated by
anti-American sentiments running rife here.
Abu
Rifaa said his group claimed responsibility for the attack on American
soldiers on May 4 in the Baghdad area of Mansour in which he made clear
a key U.S. figure was targeted.
The
figure clearly seemed to be Paul Bremer,
the U.S. administrator appointed by Washington last month, who was
having his lunch in al-Saa (the clock) restaurant, at the time.
“We
have limited contacts with other resistance groups,” Abu Rifaa said,
adding that his group prefers to work in secret as the country is now
full of “U.S. intelligence bodies and their collaborators.”
Organized
 |
|
Waiting
for Nader
|
Abu
Rifaa said his resistance group has “good” information on movements
in the large posts of the U.S. forces in the country.
“The
group members are well effectively organized to be distributed in
different places, with concentration given the first stage to build a
database for our operations,” he added.
With
obscure smiles, Abu Rifaa said his group had full account of all
barracks of the U.S. occupation forces.
“The
group’s members include former soldiers and engineers in the
now-dissolved Iraqi army as well as young men ready to sacrifice their
lives,” he said.
“But
the most powerful of our tactics is the use of well-trained snipers,
who have left the U.S. forces with heavy losses,” he added.
Abu
Rifaa refuted the U.S. military allegations that Baathists are the main
to blame for attacks on their soldiers.
“There
are no Baathists ready for resistance, as they are the ones to blame for
having caused” the Iraqi capital to fall to the U.S. forces without
fight on April 9.
Stopping
my questions, I roamed the house, in which I found the atmosphere not
much different from that sensed in places used by Palestinian resistance
fighters now struggling for an end to a long-standing Israeli
occupation. Both seek one common ultimate, but high-priced, goal -
independence.
Many
Iraqis feel that the U.S. did not make good on its promises for a free
and democratic Iraq after the fall of Saddam. They cited the American
administration’s decision to drop plans for holding a national
conference to set up the interim government and appointed instead a
25-member council.
They
also argue that the U.S. forces did not act enough to restore order and
end anarchy and lawlessness two months since rolling into, and that the
alleged weapons of mass destruction, the main justification launching
the massive invasion, have not been found so far.
With
tough economic conditions, lack of security and rocketing unemployment
rates, many ordinary people feel that they have nothing but to send the
message clear to the American soldiers to pack up and leave in all means
possible.
Asked
why he chose IslamOnline.net to disclose details of his resistance
group, Abu Rifaa only said “We follow your website’s stories.”
He
noted the adventure was offered to two Arab and Spanish journalists
before they came to me, but they “turned it down”.
