- ABU KAMAL ON THE IRAQ-SYRIA BORDER -- The people on this particular edge of the war in Iraq fumed
in silent fury last night as the final prayer of the Muslim holy day was
answered with an unprecedented bombardment of their beloved Baghdad.
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- By nightfall, as the ferocity of the air strikes beyond
the eastern horizon mounted with each passing minute, residents of this
frontier town were glued to televisions and radios, each taking the attack
as a personal tragedy.
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- "Why? Why is this happening?" asked Khalil
Mohammed, 32, a lawyer, as he sat transfixed with a dozen men watching
the devastation on Al-Jazeera TV.
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- "When the Americans hit Baghdad, they are hitting
us. In this part of Syria, we think of ourselves as Iraqis. Because we
once were ÷ until the Sykes-Picot Line was drawn on the map, we
were Iraq," he said, referring to the 1916 agreement that divided
the Middle East into areas of influence for, among others, Britain and
France.
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- Mohammed offered a dark prognosis of how the Arab Muslim
world is likely to respond. Not as a threat, but a statement of fact: "After
tonight, Americans won't be safe anywhere in the world. They won't be able
to travel, period."
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- The explosive anti-American sentiment coursing through
the Arab world is felt in the fierce, frosty glares of passers-by on the
streets of Abu Kamal, a town of 40,000 people fed on the bounty of the
rich Euphrates floodplain.
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- There is only one other Westerner on the frontier, a
freelance French photographer. For the past two days, a steady stream of
residents has approached aggressively, demanding to know whether the outsiders
are American. Or British. Or Australian.
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- The safest answer ÷ "Sahaafi Kanadi"
(Canadian journalist) ÷ elicits an astonishing response. Not only
are the people of Abu Kamal keeping score of the exact complexion of the
U.S.-led coalition, they can also quote word for word Prime Minister Jean
Chrtien's dnouement of war.
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- "Canada has earned our respect for having the courage
to resist the George Bush," said Anwar, 22, an engineering student.
"We like Chirac the best, but Chrtien has been good."
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- Amid the rage, paradoxically, a lesson in breathtaking
hospitality. The entire town seems now to know the nationalities of the
two foreigners in its midst, and refuses to allow them to spend money.
Whether for sweet chai tea, thick Arabic coffee or restaurant meals, offers
of payment are firmly refused. "You are our guest. We cannot take
your money."
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- That hospitality did not fade with last night's salvo
over Baghdad, but the mood of the town grew darker still.
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- At a billiard room near Abu Kamal's central souk, the
resident shark - Hussam, 19, a leather-jacketed teen with James Dean eyes
and Minnesota Fats hands ÷ challenged the outsiders to a mean game
of pool.
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- The cues were warped, the table's green felt tattered,
but he delivered the opening break with a force that sent three balls flying
off the table and across the pool-room floor.
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- "Are you sure you're not American," he said
with fire in his eyes, then proceeded to clean the table, ending a perfect
game without giving his opponent a single shot.
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- Over cups of tea later in yet another pool room, Hussam
and a dozen friends enthused over the small contribution Syria is making
to Saddam's war.
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- "At least 100 Syrians have already gone to Baghdad
to fight," he said. "People of Hamas, people of Hezbollah. We
don't like Saddam, but we are proud of them for helping the Iraqi people.
Nobody wants the Americans there."
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- Copyright 1996-2003. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited
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