Thirsty Iraqis are drinking water from wells dug up in the gardens of some houses

By Aws al-Sharqy, IOL Iraq Correspondent

BAGHDAD, June 25 (IslamOnline.net) – With darkness shrouding the Iraqi capital once again and turning it into a city daunted by fear, Iraqis charge that the U.S.-led occupation authority deliberately cut off electricity and water as a collective punishment in retaliation for mounting resistance attacks, which have become more organized as recently admitted by U.S civilian administrator Paul Bremer.

U.S. troops had claimed that some power-generating stations were "sabotaged or detonated."

But an Iraqi source, who requested anonymity, told IslamOnline.net that the occupation administration decided to cut off electricity for five days in a bid to incite Baghdadis against those who carry out resistance operations against its troops.

Baghdadis have also confirmed that the American forces have emblazoned "Electricity for Peace" on tanks and military vehicles, which pace the Iraqi capital up and down and even on walls.

Outage

The occupation authority further cut off water supplies across Baghdad for the second consecutive, pretending that the power outage had caused the cut-offs.

Thousands of Iraqi children and women flocked to wells dug up by the ousted regime authorities across Baghdad before the U.S.-led troops rolled into the capital on April 9 to store up water.

Many Iraqi families set up manual water pumps in the gardens of their houses to provide them themselves with unpurified water.

"Is this what the U.S. administration has promised us more darkness and water outage? " Hassan Thamir al-Ani, an Iraqi citizen, wondered.

"Even during the U.S.-led invasion we were never deprived of our electricity and water. But outages started immediately with the U.S. occupation," he complained in statements to IOL correspondent.

"The Iraqi people are adamant and would never yield to threats or blackmail," he averred.

"The American provocations will only fan the anger of the Iraqis. It has been almost two months now and we have not yet felt secure. We barely eke out our livings and it seems as if things are going from bad to worse," al-Ani stressed.

"Iraqis should be happy with the satellite dishes brought by the U.S.," rocked Fatemah Mohammad, an Iraqi woman. 

"Thousands of Iraqi breadwinners have been laid off…And why this power outage? They want to punish fedayeen (Iraqi fighters) who attack U.S. troops, but the entire Iraqi people will become fedayeen if these provocations persist," she threatened.

"Ice sheets have become much sought-after and its prices have skyrocketed in two days' time from 750 dinars per sheet to 8000 ($6) as temperatures hit 45 Celsius," said Alawi Gomah, an ice-sheet seller.

Khwla Abdul Kareem, a teacher, echoed the same desperate feelings.

"Power has been never cut off abruptly for two consecutive days. Don't they feel for our children? They have exams now and are in a dire need for concentration," she roared.

"Our sufferings snowballs hour in and hour out. With water outage we can't even use the bathroom. It is terrible and I expect the Iraqi people will run out of patience tomorrow (Thursday, June 26) if these appalling conditions persisted," said the school teacher.

Summing up the predominant feelings among Baghdadis, Abu Maissa highlighted the widespread resentment at the U.S. schemes.

"Are Iraqis predestined to trade something for another? Yesterday, we traded oil for food, today it is peace for electricity and water and tomorrow might be slavery for life."

In a further demonstration of the mounting resistance attacks, a huge explosion rocked the Republican Palace in Baghdad, the headquarters of the U.S. administration, Monday, June 23, in one of the most ferocious attacks targeting U.S. troops since U.S. President George W. Bush had declared the war on Iraq was effectively over on May 1.

On Tuesday, June 24, a U.S. military convoy was ambushed in the main ring road of al-Youssifia, leaving two vehicles at least destroyed.

However, there were no reports about U.S. causalities from the attack, but eyewitnesses said it left a number of U.S. soldiers killed.

They asserted that U.S. troops rushed to the scene in a rescue and evacuation operation and set up roadblocks for more than four hours.