Resistance spreads in Iraq
Rebellion shakes British occupation
By John Catalinotto
The British occupiers of southern Iraq are
beginning to run into the same trouble as the U.S. occupiers in
the rest of the country: the Iraqis want them out.
For three days beginning Aug. 9, the city of Basra exploded
in mass protests against the British occupation. People on the
streets threw stones at the troops in scenes that reminded many
of the Palestinian Intifada.
Basra is Iraq's second-largest city, located near the
Kuwaiti border in the far south of Iraq. Some 40,000 British
troops have replaced the old Iraqi state in Basra and the
region around it. Four months of occupation have left the
region with inadequate electricity and fuel--and the increasing
humiliation of being ruled by the old colonialists.
Imperialist Britain was the colonial power in Iraq for the
first half of the 20th century. In the period from 1920 to
1922, it took 70,000 British troops to crush a rebellion. That
was a time when far fewer Iraqis were armed or knew how to
handle modern weapons than now.
British troops in the region are reputed to be more
experienced in exercising police powers than the heavily armed
and shielded assault forces in the U.S. military. Some served
in the occupation of the northern provinces of Ireland,
suppressing the liberation struggle in that oldest British
colony.
But by Aug. 10 these troops had put their helmets and body
armor back on and were firing bullets over the heads and rubber
shells at the feet of the rebelling Iraqis. In some cases they
shot directly at Iraqis.
On Aug. 10, British forces shot an Iraqi protester dead
after a crowd tried to block four four-wheel-drive vehicles
from crossing the main bridge leading to the airport and
British military headquarters.
A Nepalese guard from Global Security, a private company
hired to provide security for "coalition" bases, was also
killed by gunfire while delivering mail from Kuwait to United
Nations staff in Basra.
The Basra office of the Coalition Provisional Authority
(CPA)--the name used by the occupation regime--said in a
statement on Aug. 10: "There has been widespread unrest in
Basra today in response to the current critical fuel and power
shortage. Many districts have had minimal power for four days
now."
Temperatures in Basra have exceeded 122 degrees Fahrenheit,
which means the general atmosphere fluctuates between a sauna
and a steam bath, depending on the humidity. Once the
electricity failed, no air conditioners or other cooling
devices were available. On top of this, fuel shortages meant no
one could use individual generators to produce power, while
long lines of automobiles waited at gas stations for available
gasoline.
Don't minimize organized resistance
While growing physical discomfort may have sparked this
latest mass protest, it would be wrong to minimize the
organized resistance in southern Iraq.
CPA spokesperson Steven Bird said that, since the protests
had begun, stones and other missiles had been thrown at a
number of Western vehicles and its employees had been on high
alert all day. (The Scotsman, Aug. 10)
Bird said there was an "element of organization" in attacks
against the British Army and civilian administration workers
but that "it is not clear who is behind this."
The British forces have grown more concerned about organized
resistance since an Aug. 5 gun battle in which a British
12-person unit at an outpost was surrounded by an armed group
of about 20 resistance fighters armed with AK-47s. It took a
Quick Reaction Force of 40 troops in a Chinook helicopter plus
armored Warrior vehicles to keep the unit from being
overrun.
All coalition troops were then ordered to leave Al-Husaia.
That town, where the battle took place, is just 15 miles from
Majar-al-Kabir--where resistance fighters killed six British
military police officers in June. According to the Aug. 6
British newspaper The Mirror, "both towns are in a fiercely
independent area where tensions are growing over the British
presence."
Along with these signs of organized resistance is the
growing mass anger as the CPA occupation fails to restore
services. One British reporter captured the mood on a line of
hundreds of drivers waiting for gas. "'I've been queuing since
8 p.m. last night,' snarled Abdul Ruzak, 40, a taxi driver.
Every car you see here has done the same--we have families to
feed. Cut the ears off the British. We wish Saddam was back.'"
(The Scotsman)
Basra is in an area that had a history of opposition to the
former Iraqi leader. It looks like the British occupation is in
for big trouble.
Reprinted from the Aug. 21, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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