- KHIRNABAAT, Iraq (Reuters)
- Amaar Farman ignored the death threats and the grenade that exploded
on his doorstep. Then guerrillas, angered by his cooperation with U.S.
forces, riddled the policeman with bullets.
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- "Three men drove up one night in a black BMW and
opened fire on him while he was chatting with his friend. They shot him
in the heart, they hit him in the legs, everywhere," said his brother
Hissein, sitting beside Farman's three young sons.
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- "He just wanted to help rebuild the new Iraq. He
didn't like or dislike the Americans. Amaar was just doing his job."
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- Guerrillas who have killed Americans and their allies
in high-profile attacks, are also waging psychological warfare in the dusty
streets of villages like Khirnabaat to try to undermine U.S. efforts to
win over the local population.
-
- If their tactics succeed, it could deal a blow to American
efforts to secure badly needed intelligence from Iraqi civilians on guerrillas
who have killed 184 U.S. troops since major combat was declared over on
May 1.
-
- News of Farman's death two weeks ago spread quickly through
towns in the "Sunni triangle," the area of central Iraq that
was Saddam Hussein's powerbase before he was toppled in April.
-
- Villagers in Khirnabaat are especially alarmed because
guerrillas handed out leaflets there warning that others who cooperate
with U.S. forces will share Farman's fate.
-
- The leaflets from a group calling itself the National
Front for the Liberation of Iraq also listed "spies" it has uncovered.
A translator for U.S. troops was named along with his relatives.
-
- "We are afraid to walk the streets," said Abu
Sabah, 60.
-
- Just across the street, graffiti scribbled on the wall
of a building vows: "Death to spies."
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- LIVING IN FEAR
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- Twelve bullet holes in a wall near where Farman was killed
remind neighbors that the guerrillas will not hesitate to kill.
-
- Now his family can only look after his sons and pregnant
wife and hope they will not be targeted.
-
- "My son is gone," cried his mother, rocking
back and forth on the floor.
-
- She knows nothing about the men who killed Farman. And
neither do many other Iraqis.
-
- In the nearby town of Abu Ghraib, Iraqis said the insurgents
usually show up at night and fire rocket-propelled grenades at a sandbagged
police station controlled by U.S. troops.
-
- The next day they find shrapnel or rocket parts scattered
on streets but no clues on the identity of the guerrillas, who the U.S.
military believes are mostly Saddam loyalists.
-
- Guerrillas recently hid rockets under sweets stacked
on a wooden push cart and then fired them from a crowded Abu Ghraib neighborhood
at U.S. troops, residents said.
-
- The occupation has become an emotional quagmire for the
Iraqis. Some want the guerrillas to drive out the Americans but they complain
the insurgency often puts them in the crossfire.
-
- "The guerrillas are unknown," said Ali Shalaan,
an Abu Ghraib resident. "All we know is that if they think you are
with the Americans, you may survive today but you won't survive tomorrow."
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