- BAGHDAD -- Gleams of loathing
lit up the eyes of two Iraqis squatting in the dust, their hands bound
in plastic restraints, as they stared at eight American soldiers standing
nearby.
-
- "We picked up these guys for wearing black,"
explained one soldier from the 1st Armoured Division. "We're under
orders to arrest anyone dressed in black. It's like an enemy uniform. All
of Sadr's guys wear black. It's like a Viet Cong thing."
-
- The two bearded men, who were found unarmed on Abu Nuwas
street in central Baghdad, looked at the ground, muttering darkly. "They'll
be taken in for questioning," said the young soldier.
-
- Gunmen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shi'ite
leader, do indeed wear black. But so do Shi'ite pilgrims - and hundreds
of thousands are now converging on Iraq's twin holy cities of Najaf and
Karbala for the Shi'ite festival of Arba'een.
-
- Saddam Hussein's regime banned Shi'ite gatherings and
his secret police rounded up pilgrims around the time of Arba'een by the
simple expedient of arresting men in black. One year after his fall, US
soldiers appear to be following the same indiscriminate orders against
Sadr's followers.
-
- No greater change could be imagined from the atmosphere
when American forces reached the heart of Baghdad on April 9 last year.
Then a wave of relief and joy swept the city.
-
- Saddam's downfall elated all but a few diehards. Hundreds
delighted in toppling his statue in Firdus square. Across Baghdad, countless
portraits, murals and statues of the "Great Leader" suffered
the same indignity.
-
- Some Iraqis, notably the oppressed Shi'ites, cheered
American troops in the streets. Most people in Baghdad did not hail the
foreign soldiers. But they viewed them with benign indifference.
-
- When law and order in the capital collapsed, tens of
thousands seized the opportunity to loot Baghdad's shops, palaces and government
ministries. But US troops were largely immune from harm. Only the remnants
of Saddam's fanatically loyal Fedayeen units were in the business of attacking
them.
-
- When order was restored a few weeks later and a semblance
of normality returned, US soldiers could be seen shopping in Baghdad's
supermarkets, carrying groceries in their combat helmets or logging on
at internet cafes, with their M16 carbines lying on the floor.
-
- This would be unthinkable today. Now US troops travel
in convoys of Humvee and Bradley armoured personnel carriers, often guarded
by Abrams tanks. Baghdad's ever-present theme tune is the throbbing beat
of helicopters flying along the Tigris river, guarding the approaches to
the occupation authority's headquarters in the "Green Zone".
-
- For the first time, US troops face the twin threat of
Sunni insurgents and Sadr's Shi'ite gunmen. Their response on the first
anniversary of their arrival yesterday was draconian. A large part of central
Baghdad was sealed off, including Firdus square where the famous statue
fell.
-
- Humvees bearing loudspeakers relayed a recorded message
in Arabic: "Attention, attention, this is a restricted area. No one
is allowed to enter. No one is allowed to drive cars. Anyone seen carrying
a weapon will be shot. Thank you."
-
- Last year, hundreds of Christians gathered for a service
inside the Syrian Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of the Deliverance and
gave thanks for the ending of the war.
-
- Yesterday the cathedral was filled with about 500 worshippers
for the Good Friday service. A generator whirred in the background and
the lights flickered as Matti Shaba Matoka, the Catholic bishop of Baghdad,
led the prayers. One year ago, the bishop's voice competed with the same
background noise. After 12 months of occupation, his cathedral still does
not have reliable electricity.
-
- "The situation has gone from bad to worse,"
said Rita Emad, 24, one of the worshippers. "We all hoped things would
get better, that we would have peace in Iraq. But there is nothing. There
is no difference between Saddam and Bush.
-
- "Anybody with money is leaving Iraq. I am afraid
to walk in the streets. People are being kidnapped. A Christian doctor
was kidnapped last week. I feel safer here in church than I do at home."
-
- A few hours later, the gunmen reminded Baghdad that they
could still strike, irrespective of American-imposed exclusion zones. A
loud explosion echoed over the rooftops when a mortar bomb landed outside
the Sheraton hotel.
-
- Scores of US soldiers piled into their armoured cars
near Firdus square and set off to hunt for more men dressed in black.
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/10/wirq210.xml
|
