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Within Cities, Baath Party Remains in Control
A look at how the Baath Party manages to hang on within the encircled cities in the south of Iraq.In conversations with bus drivers (at the Karkh bus station), families traveling to and from Baghdad and relatives who have stayed in contact by telephone, stories are recounted of isolated and fearful residents, dependent on dwindling government rations, terrified by relentless U.S. air assaults. In more candid moments, they complain of being trapped in the middle -- between a U.S. attack they fear will lead to an occupation and a brutal, unpopular government flashing an iron fist in the traditionally restive south. We need to be very careful in how we handle occupation. I lean pretty strongly in favor of a limited duration, with a clearly stated end date. Past that end date, we're gone. Without exception, they insisted that the ruling Baath Party remains in unyielding control -- "at least 90 percent," in the words of one -- with thousands of cadres deployed with green uniforms and Kalashnikovs block by block, intersection by intersection to prevent the fall of cities such as Basra, Nasiriyah, Hilla and the sacred Shiite Muslim town of Karbala. The Royal Marines have emphasized targeting Baath party headquarters and leaders in Basra. Our own forces have picked up on that tactic as well. One good sign is that the locals are beginning to show a willingness to point out the Baathist officials. "If you take your shoe off and throw it outside, it will land on one of the Baath Party guys," one relative told a traveler here. Tell you what, we'll try to throw something more effective than a shoe. Just give us a direction where to point it. The conversations shed light on the loyalty of Shiites in southern Iraq to President Saddam Hussein. They provided insights, too, into the fragility of their fealty. Residents say the Baath Party's numbers in the southern cities burgeoned in the 1990s -- the $15 a month members received was one of the few sources of income in the miserably poor region. Their ranks have, in part, allowed the government to saturate the streets with an almost blanket control that has yet to show any fissures. For how long remains a question. "They didn't know they would have to fight a war," one relative said. When that control finally breaks down, the south will see a blood-letting of incredible proportions as the treachery and brutality of the Baath party is repaid. It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for US/UK forces to maintain control because of the relatively small size of our forces. Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2003-04-02 |
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