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History
of Military Occupations Bodes Ill in Iraq
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US
forces blocking Iraqi protestors at the main entrance of the
US administration office in Baghdad. |
In
the blackness of night, a few rag-tag guerrilla fighters armed with grenades and
machine guns waited as the enemy patrol rounded the corner in their jeeps and
armoured vehicles. In an explosive flash of gunfire and explosions, two of the
enemy occupiers lay dead, their vehicles burned to a cinder. Despite their
superior weapons, the occupiers were forced to retreat into the returning
silence of the night, barely able to snatch their dead from this metropolitan
battleground. Civilian witnesses, who happened to observe this deadly spectacle,
shrugged their shoulders as they accepted the inevitability of this daily
back-and-forth. Some muttered under their breath that the enemy occupiers got
what they deserved.
In
the morning, a power depot lays smouldering, another result of an increasing
sabotage and subterfuge campaign. A young girl who helped clean the barracks of
the enemy occupiers has her throat slit - her uncle acknowledging that she was
warned not to help the occupiers.
Trucks
carrying food and supplies are ambushed. Police officers and personnel trained
to assist in the patrolling of the city are killed mercilessly, branded traitors
by their assailants for helping the foreign occupiers.
The
former leader of the now occupied country issues another decree - resist the
invaders at all costs, he says. Kill all who assist them and resist them for
they beguile you, he says. Soon after his radio address from an unknown
location, the attacks on the occupiers become more brazen, more daring, and more
innovative. Trip wires and homemade bombs pop up everywhere.
And
there are reports of resistance elsewhere as the population grows restless.
Baghdad,
Iraq in the summer of 2003?
No,
try Paris, France in the Spring of 1943.
And
such are the lessons of history. An army that occupies a country, imposes law of
its own accord, breaks down cultural and traditional barriers, and refuses to
leave will find itself the target of a growing resistance movement.
In
the early 1940s, French guerrillas and resistance fighters formed cells
throughout Paris and the surrounding areas and bled a heavy toll on the German
occupiers. Despite their best efforts to maintain civility, appreciation and
sensitivity to France and its heritage (the Germans tried to sell
themselves off as friends and European brethren to the French) guerrilla tactics
increased.
French
resistance cells were for the most part decentralized and received help from the
local population. Except for the puppet Vichy government, all of France wanted
the Germans out.
By
the end of 1943 and early 1944, the Germans were taking heavy losses from
nearly 18 resistance groups (Francs-Tireur, Maquis, Conseil National de
Resistance, among others), but their retribution was brutal and deadly. Entire
villages in France were razed to the ground.
In
the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane 642 citizens were killed for
assisting and abetting the resistance; the village was subsequently completely
destroyed by the SS.
According
to estimates, at least 6,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the start
of the war. |
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While
it is extremely unlikely that Coalition forces in Iraq would undertake such a
massacre, the civilian death toll in Iraq is once again steadily rising and the
lessons of former occupation experiences in recent military history are worth
noting. On July 8, Iraq Body Count (IBC), an independent organization dedicated
to tabulating the civilian death toll in the wake of the war, estimates that at
least 6,000 Iraqi civilians have died due to imprecise bombing and botched
military campaigns.
In
recent weeks, several human rights organizations have criticised US forces as
being too trigger-happy and often brutal in their retribution for attacks on US
military personnel.
In
the wake of several guerrilla attacks on US military personnel in Iraq, some
soldiers have been accused of indiscriminately firing back, often killing
civilians and witnesses.
The
recent history of civilian deaths in Iraq stretches back to an alarming incident
at a checkpoint near Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad. Ten Iraqi civilians,
mostly women and children belonging to the same family were mowed down by 25 mm
cannon fire when their mini-bus failed to stop.
A
few days later, 15 members of the another family fleeing fighting between Iraqi
forces and the US-led coalition were killed when their pickup was fired upon by
an Apache helicopter near Hilla, south of Baghdad.
While
those events occurred at the height of military hostilities, this summer
promises to be an eventful one.
July’s
Iraq is a sweltering, unemployed country of millions loitering away from the
heat, unable to operate their desert coolers for lack of electricity. Without
jobs, without security, and without sustainable, reliable leadership Iraqis have
become a nation without a country, a people without a hope.
Iraqis
have become a nation without a country, a people without a hope. |
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It
is not surprising, then, to see that Iraqis have become disheartened and
disillusioned by the US presence in Iraq. Some openly call for Saddam’s return
citing better security, a sustainable food rationing system, jobs, and above
all, salaries. When US soldiers are killed, Iraqis don’t care or mutter curses
for the occupiers under their breath.
A
report from AP just last week shows the level of disharmony between the
benevolent liberators and a people increasingly feeling the pressure of a
lawless occupation. “There was hardly any sorrow, and certainly no tears, from
the students of Baghdad University over the fatal shooting of a US soldier as he
stood alone under a tree drinking one of two sodas he had just bought from the
students’ cafeteria,” said AP.
The
resentment seems to be turning on Iraqis who are seen as collaborating with the
US military presence.
On
July 8, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported that “Iraqi police came under
attack in Baghdad overnight in what US-led authorities have described as a
growing pattern of Iraqi strikes and threats against compatriots cooperating
with the occupying forces.”
Sabotage
against Iraq’s oil and electric power grids is also on the rise.
US
soldiers have repeatedly expressed frustration as they see Iraqi faces change
from welcoming to resentful, often hateful.
“The
frustration is so great, you just wonder if it’s going to cause someone to
snap,” Major Patrick Ratigan, chaplain for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team in
Fallujah recently told the Christian Science Monitor.
The
situation in Iraq, while gruesome and debilitating for the Iraqi people is
increasingly becoming a quagmire of Vietnam era proportions. References to the
Vietnam debacle of the 1960s and 1970s are slowly making headway in news
articles and columns in such dailies as the Boston Herald, USA Today, the New
York Times, and others.
Vietnam
witnessed horrific carnage as internationally banned weaponry, such as napalm
and cluster bombs, were used almost indiscriminately. Iraq today is festooned
with unexploded ordinance, landmines and the prospects of a major humanitarian
catastrophe.
In
the wake of guerrilla resistance tactics, coalition reprisals, while inflicting
fatal repercussions on the civilian population, have been rather limited.
However, there may be a proportionality that has until now been missing in
post-Saddam Iraq. The question poses itself; what happens if a guerrilla attack
on US forces results in some 100, 200, or 600 military fatalities? What will the
US reprisal be like?
In
1991, the US Air Force commissioned the Santa Monica-based RAND think tank to
draft a report on US involvement in Columbia. The report, in part, relied on
military involvement in Vietnam and made the rather stunning claim that the
slaughter of civilians is simply a cost of doing business during wartime and
that “even with disciplined troops, the chain of command will ultimately break
down at times under the stress of combat.”
Military
occupations are no picnic. However, the prospects for both Coalition forces and
an occupied Iraqi population remain somewhat tense and on the fringe of a
disaster waiting to happen.
Firas
Al-Atraqchi holds an MA in Journalism and Mass Communication. He is a
Canadian journalist with eleven years of experience covering Middle East issues,
oil and gas markets, and the telecom industry. You can reach him at firas6544@rogers.com
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