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Volunteer fighters in Iraq disappear
Lebanese and other Arab volunteers who went to fight in Iraq have lost all contact with their families at home. What little information to leak out has been through scattered reports by independent reporters or through âhints or indicationsâ in the military statements of the coalition forces. The reports generally talk of hundreds being killed in action or captured as âforeign terroristsâ who may end up in US military detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, similar to members of Al-Qaeda and the Taleban regime who were seized in Afghanistan. Other reports state that some have simply melted into various quarters of Iraqi cities and towns.
| Those are the ones we'll have to worry about, until the Iraqis root them out... |
Many of the Lebanese volunteers are believed to have returned safely to Lebanon, although âthey are mostly in a state of shock and not willing to meet the press to tell their stories to the public,â according to a young Lebanese man who preferred to remain anonymous. The volunteer told The Daily Star how he managed to return and how some of his acquaintances âare still waiting with other Syrian subjects for permission to cross the Syrian-Iraqi border at Rabiaa  a border crossing close to the Turkish border in the north  because all other crossing points have been sealed ⊠except for a few exceptions, of course.â
The story of the volunteers has become similar to that of thousands of Lebanese who are also trapped inside Iraq. However, the volunteers are âscared, living in hiding and cannot send messages to the outside world â as the Lebanese and foreign residents of Iraq are doing,â he said.
| Tough, being a muhahid, ain't it? |
The volunteer told The Daily Star that he went to Iraq âaccompanied by a friend and an Iraqi refugee who happened to be our neighbor in Beirut. Although we did not belong to any political party or organization, our motivation was to fight against the invading forces in any possible way. The Iraqi refugee claimed he was preparing to go back for the same reason and allowed us to accompany him to Baghdad, where he would show us the way and put us in touch with the resistance movement. We trusted our Iraqi companion who chose to take us walking through illegal crossings from Lebanon into Syria and from there into Iraq. He seemed so professional and knew his way very well â he had no money and we had to pay for everything including food, transportation and bribes to the local people.â
| Did they loan him money 'cause his Mom needed an operation, too? |
âOn the way to Baghdad, we did not face any serious obstacles that would have diminished our excitement with the idea of getting involved in the fighting. However, upon arrival in Baghdad, our enthusiasm started to wane. Despite air raids and heavy explosions and rocket firing that could be clearly heard in all parts of the city and images and news of hundreds of injured or dead civilians, people, in general, were acting normally and seemed uninterested with what was going on around them. It was my first shock. I expected to see people rushing around, constructing street barricades and digging holes in preparation for defending the capital city of Baghdad against the coming invasion or siege. The general scene was far from that."
| I'll bet that was when he started feeling real naked. Along with being broke... |
âWe were hosted at our Iraqi friendâs house for the first couple of days doing nothing and getting less and less enthusiastic. My Lebanese friend grew more restless and wanted to do anything that would justify his presence in Baghdad. The advice from the members of our host family was not to be foolish and to return to our country. It sounded more like a warning than advice. The older man in the family blamed their son for helping us come to Iraq. My Lebanese friend decided to go on his own and look for an opportunity to participate in the actual fighting, as he put it. Two days later, I saw him carrying a machine gun walking with a small group of people, all in civilian clothes, armed with light weaponry including anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades. Since that day, I havenât seen him nor heard from him again. I hope he is safe wherever he might be now. Since my return, I cannot look straight into his motherâs eyes.â The volunteer at this point burst into tears and, after a prolonged silence, he resumed his story with great difficulty and repeated pauses.
| "It looked so heroic from a distance! All those guys, waving Kalashnikovs! All that hollering! Then the tanks showed up..." |
âI kept wandering around, doing nothing, moving between my Iraqi companionâs home and homes of other new acquaintances. They were very friendly and helpful and they all urged me to return home."
| "Why don't you beat it? You seem like a nice kid. Why do you want to decompose?" |
âNow, when Baghdad suddenly fell to the advancing coalition forces, I had mixed feelings â disappointment and fear at the same time. I was told that Arab volunteers were maltreated by some locals and thatâs when I started becoming more cautious of not revealing my true identity,â he said. âBefore and after the fall of Baghdad, I kept looking for my friend to tell him of my decision to return to Beirut, hoping to convince him to accompany me. However, time was running out as my Iraqi companion had arranged for my departure through his contacts in Baghdad,â he said. âUntil that moment, he did not tell me what his plans were. I never saw him carrying any arms nor heard him talk of the ongoing war events. To cut a long story short, I was put on a north-bound bus, and I got off at a small village where I contacted a man I was referred to by my Iraqi friend in Baghdad. I cannot tell the name of that village or how I crossed into Syria. Now while crossing into Syria near the Turkish border with three other people, one of them approached me and whispered into my ears that he would confirm my safe return to âal-Zubeidi.â I tried to inquire who this person was but then decided not to do so as I suddenly recalled hearing Zubeidiâs name mentioned by my Iraqi companion. I then figured out that my Iraqi friend was actively working for this Zubeidi.â
| Ain't that interesting? But wait! There's more! |
The Daily Star learned from the above-mentioned Iraqi refugee that Zubeidi was one of the active facilitators of illegal immigration of Iraqis into Lebanon and Syria during the last 10 years and that he had made a fortune from this activity. He is the current self-appointed governor of Baghdad. In a related twist, one Iraqi refugee who hesitated to leave Lebanon revealed to The Daily Star that he and his âcompatriots received coded body signals and messages from those who returned recently to Iraq through TV screens, advising them not to follow, and implying that things inside the country were not really as they seemed on the outside. Nevertheless, more refugees are still returning home. Iraq is a greater prison, in my view, it is easy to get in but hard to get out.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-04-25 |
