Basra Residents Hold
Off US-UK - Siege Drags
On
By Michael
Georgy
3-31-3
- BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) -
Shells pound Basra's crowded neighborhoods every night. British tanks
rumble on the city's edge. Black smoke rises from oil pipelines while
Iraqis watch their most precious commodity burn away.
-
- But residents of Iraq's second city said they can
withstand the U.S.-British siege for months, raising questions over how
long the troops can stay on the outskirts before launching an
offensive.
-
- "It is really no problem for us. Basra is functioning
normally. We feel some pressure but we can stay like this for a long
time," said Ahmed, one city resident.
-
- Allied troops had expected to sweep through southern
Iraq in a war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But they have
found resistance tougher than expected.
-
- U.S. and British troops control highways around Basra
but they have not managed to penetrate the city despite aerial
bombardment and artillery fire.
-
- The siege has failed to break Basra residents,
suggesting Iraqis are not about to capitalize on the presence of foreign
troops and rise up against Saddam loyalists, a move that would normally
mean certain death.
-
- Basra is home to many of Iraq's Shiites, who say they
have been persecuted and killed by Saddam's Baath party for
decades.
-
- So allied troops may have thought military pressure
would spark an uprising after decades of fear.
-
- But there are no signs of unrest here or other
southern towns, where a Shiite revolt was crushed in the 1991 Gulf War
after the Americans encouraged a rebellion and then left.
-
- "Basra will only fall when Baghdad falls," said Ahmed
Hassan. "There is no other way. The militias are still here, there are
members of the army operating."
-
- RESIDENTS STAY PUT
-
- While some people have left the city, most residents
have stayed put and say pro-Saddam militias are operating in Basra
confidently or firing at U.S. and British troops from sprawling shanty
towns around the city.
-
- Hundreds of Iraqis in cars cross through checkpoints
to leave Basra everyday. But they return a few hours later after
visiting relatives in nearby towns.
-
- Those who try to leave for more pressing reasons such
as medical needs are often turned back, fueling the growing anger over
British and U.S. troops, who have tightened security.
-
- "If you don't let me through I will hate the Americans
and British," said Adil Hussein, who was pleading with a British soldier
to let him through to get treatment for an ulcer.
-
- "We only treat victims of war wounds," he was
told.
-
- Basra's residents, meanwhile, carry on with life in a
country which has suffered from three major wars since the 1980s.
-
- After shells land, Basra residents leave their homes
to survey the damage or predict where the next one will crash, one of
the only ways to pass time in electricity blackouts.
-
- When they are not shopping in bustling local markets
or trading goods, Iraqis discuss skyrocketing vegetable prices. Others
even make time for a drink, transporting boxes of whiskey across the
Basra bridge.
-
- Even if allied troops eventually capture Basra, its
residents say any attempts to impose rulers favored by Washington or
London will backfire.
-
- "No way we will accept this. They think they can just
come here and choose our leaders? That's when the machine guns will be
all over the streets," said Muhammad.
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