BAGHDAD,
June 15 (IslamOnline.net) - Iraqis are forgetting the traditional image
they have of Ali Babas with their Arabian outfits and strategy of
stealing from those who once tortured people, as they are now facing new
kind of Ali Babas in military suits, working under the flag of the
United States and stealing from all.
After
almost nine weeks of the downfall of Iraq to the hands of the U.S.-led
occupation and now that the free-for-all looting that swept the
anarchy-mired country has come under control, the Iraqis are now facing
new "Ali Babas," namely, U.S. soldiers who strip them clean of
their savings and possessions.
Traditionally,
Ali Babas were brave and had the excuse that they were plundering
the palaces of those who once tortured people and stole their
belongings.
"Ali
Baba" has now become the mantra of the Iraqis and the "nom de
guerre" for the U.S. soldiers in Iraq, who went on stealing and
looting whatever it reached their hands, starting from money to the
account of cellular phones.
"I
was carrying 750,000 Iraqi dinars (one dollar equals some 1300 dinars)
inside a plastic bag. I was on my way to a friend of mine to buy a
second-hand small car to use it in transferring the products of my
farmland to the customers. But U.S. soldiers spotted me and frisked
me," Hussein Abdul Gabar, an Iraqi breadwinner and owner of a
farmland, told IslamOnline.net correspondent.
"Once
his eyes spotted the cash, one U.S. soldier extracted them and ordered
me to leave the place…But when I complained and told him that this was
my money, he told me bluntly: 'Go away," pointing his gun at me, he said.
They,
in fact, are not hesitant about killing anyone under the pretext that he
was a Baathist or a loyalist to (toppled Iraqi president) Saddam
Hussein," he added.
He
went on: "It was breaking my heart to see the soldier sharing my
money with his fellowmen who were waiting for him in a nearby tank, with
their faces creased into broad smiles."
"Now
the U.S. soldiers understand what 'Ali Baba' really means," Abdul
Gabar added.
Baba,
"daddy" in Arabic, is a direct reference to "Ali Baba
and the 40 Thieves", a famous tale of the One Thousand and One
Nights.
Stealing
Women
Somia
al-Zubeid, a housewife, is one of a myriad of Iraqis who have been
looted by U.S. soldiers. She lives in Baghdad's Kafa'at district, where
you find doctors, engineers and university professors.
"U.S.
soldiers stormed into my house at night, turned it upside down and stole
$2500, one million dinars in addition to some of my daughters'
jewels," she told IOL.
"The
seven soldiers ordered us to lie prone with their weapons pointing at
out necks as if we were sheep…four of them scoured the house for more
than one hour. They were heedless to the fact that we are women and home
alone.
"Once
they left, my daughters and I found out that they had stolen our jewels
and the money we saved and used them to eke out a living until their
father finds a job," she added.
Abu
Habib, a taxi driver, told IOL that U.S. soldiers stopped him at almost
2:00 p.m. in Al-Mansour district in Baghdad, noting that they frisked
him and searched his car, arguing that they were hunting wanted people.
"After
they made sure I was not one of the wanted, they released me and I
went home to discover that they stealthily stole my money just as it
takes place inside crowded buses," he said.
'Free
International Calls'
As
for Atef al-Samrrai, an Iraqi businessman, he tells a different story
about a new method of stealing.
"At
the beginning of this month, I went to one of the U.S. military offices
in Baghdad to get a security clearance for my exports via the road
running through northern Turkey," Samrrai said.
"U.S.
soldiers ordered me to leave my satellite-operating Thuraya cellular
phone at the office's gate to allow me in. I agreed, thinking that it
was a routine measure adopted all over the world. As I got my clearance
I took back my mobile, but I found that I ran out of account and scores
of calls had been made to the U.S.," Samrrai said.
