- Days into the US-led war, Iraq's civilians are still
waiting for the food, water and other help Washington and London promised
they would distribute behind their advancing soldiers.
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- But with unexpectedly tough combat holding up the humanitarian
aid convoys, hope is rapidly turning to anger against the invaders.
-
- "This war has quickly turned us into beggars,"
an old man who gave his name as Farak said as he sat on the side of a road
in southern Iraq Monday.
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- In this part of the country, at least, years of UN economic
sanctions that stripped cupboards have now been replaced by a fierce war
which is depleting the few remaining valuable provisions, resulting in
a severe penury.
-
- With no running water and no electricity, and food all
but gone, the inhabitants of the desertic south have slipped into despair,
no longer believing in the US promises they would be taken care of. There
are no celebrations to greet the Western troops.
-
- "We've been abandoned to our fate. Nobody has given
us anything to eat. Nobody is providing security. All they do is arrive
here, attack Saddam's forces, then leave," said Hussein Yaber, a 20-year-old
shepherd living in a barn south of Nasiriyah.
-
- On Monday, he was forced to buy 300 litres (65 gallons)
of water from various trucks driving down from the north because his family
now had no more drinking water.
-
- "We can't remember when the situation has been so
bad," he said -- a telling comment in a region with a Muslim Shiite
majority long oppressed by the Sunni minority that runs Iraq.
-
- A British Army soldier manning a checkpoint near the
Iraqi town of Safwan shouts instructions as a woman who was wounded by
shrapnel when an explosion rocked her house seeks help.
-
- Because of the desperation, incidents of looting and
assault have broken out in recent days, resulting in several people being
hurt.
-
- On Sunday, a 10-year-old girl died when she stepped on
one of the innumerable landmines laid by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's
followers around the border town of Safwan.
-
- "Why did an innocent girl step on it and not an
American?" asked Yaber, a resident.
-
- According to the only doctor in Safwan, Ali, basic medicine
is urgently needed, including analgesics, antibiotics, and drugs for gastroenteritis
-- a constant health problem because of frequently contaminated drinking
water.
-
- The nearest hospital is in Umm Qasr, the port town 20
kilometres (12 miles) to the east where a small group of Iraqi fighters
have been able to hold out and fire shots at coalition soldiers for four
days despite aerial bombings and artillery shelling.
-
- "If the (US and British) soldiers are among us for
only a short time, we could try to respect them. But if they have come
to stay, there are going to be a lot of problems because the United States
only wants to destroy Islam," affirmed a young Safwan man driving
a car with a white flag flying from its roof.
-
- Nowhere in Safwan were the scenes of celebration or relief
US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had been
counting on to confront their critics.
-
- Although the town was the first to fall to the coalition
troops without resistance last Friday, by Monday the British patrols were
receiving no victory signs from the children in street.
-
- The atmosphere is tense, and the soldiers posted at the
entrance and exit of the town can do little to assuage the growing anger
directed at them.
-
- Near one of the tanks stationed next to a torn-up portrait
of Saddam, a local man said: "The United States hasn't understood
that it's not going to be able to kill Saddam Hussein with this war. For
better or for worse, he has already become a legend."
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- http://english.aljazeera.net/topics/article.asp?cu_no=1&item_no=10
- 48&version=1&template_id=263&parent_id=258
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