By Dahr Jamail, IOL Iraq correspondent

BAQUBA, May 6 (IslamOnline.net) - The city of Baquba has been a hotbed of violent resistance against the U.S. troops. While it doesn’t get much media attention due to its smaller size and sporadic attacks against the occupiers, it could be symbolic of things to come for the U.S. agenda in the "New Iraq".

The population of the city is nearly evenly split between Shiites and Sunnis. What is interesting is that the two sects coincide peacefully here, as they always have. In fact, under occupation there has been an increasing unity between them. The Shiite and Sunni Imams of Baquba often pray together and their followers pray at each others mosques.

Sheikh Adnan Al-Robai’y is a kind, generous, 35 year-old Sunni man who works near one of the main mosques of the city. The author of several books, he earned his Masters of Islamic Sciences in 2000 and is currently working on a PhD in the same field.

He believes all of the U.S. rhetoric about Shiites vs. Sunnis and civil war is simply an attempt to divide and conquer the Iraqis under occupation. According to the Sheikh, comparing Shiite and Sunni Muslims is the equivalent of comparing Protestant and Catholic Christians.

The Sheikh shares an analogy, “If you and I are fighting in the river and then begin to sink and drown, do we keep fighting? No. We work together to save ourselves.”

Sitting in his place of work with several friends, two of whom are also Sheikhs, Sheikh Al-Robai’y is not shy in his expressions of outrage against the occupiers of his country.

'Problems'

Launching into what he feels are the problems, he focuses first on the U.S. appointed Governing Council (GC).

“The GC is imitating Saddam Hussein in all their actions. Saddam decided to add Allahu Akbar to the flag with no discussion with the parliament or council. It was not legal. Now they are changing the flag themselves with no council from the people,” he said referring to the ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The Sheikh believes the GC should be eliminated, and holds up his hands as he asks, “Just for Saddam Hussein Iraq must be occupied?”

Incorrect Perception

A little further down the road a building has, spray painted in large, black letters, “DOWN USA!”

Changing the topic, he tells me he wants to change the incorrect perception the western media has given of Islam. Flipping through one of his books, I read the preface which is from the Holy Qur’an:

"And nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, "We are Christians": because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant."( Al-Maeda, 82).

But now it is difficult for anyone here to think of much beside the occupation which affects their life on a daily basis.

Nothing But Occupation

He looks tiredly to the ground while stating, “This last year we’ve seen nothing that shows us that Americas promises will be true. There has been no justice here since the occupation-only corruption, death and detainment of Iraqis.”

This past week saw the U.S. military incorporating some Israeli style collective punishment in Baquba-when an attack was launched on a patrol from a grove of date palms; shortly thereafter U.S. bulldozers showed up and cleared the fields while the farmer, who had nothing to do with the attack, pleaded for them to stop.

Today the broken stumps and felled date trees lie amidst torn up earth.

Last week, there was another attack in Baquba which killed a U.S. soldier when an improvised explosive device erupted nearby.

While the military reported finding caches of arms in Baquba recently, the fact remains that their bases in the city are attacked with mortars on a nightly basis.

Americans Without Guns

An older Sheikh sitting with us says, “We hear the blasts every night hitting the base.”

He then adds, “We don’t want Americans holding guns in Iraq. But if they come without guns, to help rebuild, we welcome them.”

Sheikh Khalef Aziz Ali, another Sheikh who joins the discussion, says there has been a sharp increase of attacks against the U.S. military here.

“Why? Because the promises of the Americans are useless! If you drop a ball and it bounces, then when you throw it hard to the ground it jumps that much higher-when the Americans use harder tactics, they get hit back that much harder! Every action has a reaction-and this reaction is because of Falluja, Kufa, Kut, Kerbala and Najaf!”

Sheikh Al-Robai’y jumps in and says, “Saddam was bad but this is unbearable. Anyone who sees death will accept a fever instead.”

By the end of the discussion there were five men sitting with us. One of them is Sheikh Munther, a leader of a large tribe that includes families in Fallujah, Ramadi, and Baquba. He says his father-in-law was killed by a sniper in his home in Fallujah recently.

Listening to yet another horrendous story of death in occupied Iraq, Sheikh Al-Robai’y, with tears welling in his eyes says, “All of the news speaks of three Italian prisoners. What about the thousands of Iraqis? We have 20-30,000 detained, and nobody speaks of it!”

Before taking us on a tour of the city, he returns to the topic of potential conflict between the Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. He says calmly, “If you have two wounds, first you treat the one which is causing you the most pain. We must first deal with the occupiers, then we will sort out our other problems.”

"Route of Death"

On the other side of town, which is primarily Shiite, there is a road the soldiers refer to as the "Route of Death". The same goes for the main highway through town that leads to Iran. The locals talk of how U.S. patrols rarely leave the main road anymore, for if they do they are attacked by the resistance.

One of the bases I drive by has black scorch marks above one of the windows where it took an RPG. Soldiers sit wearily behind sandbags on the roof under the scorching sun on this windy day. A little further down the road a building has, spray painted in large, black letters, “DOWN USA!”