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| Iraq |
| Basra: Why they are not cheering (according to the Beeb) |
| 2003-03-26 |
| Paul Reynolds BBC News Online world affairs correspondent They were supposed to be cheering in the streets as the American and British tanks rolled in, just as they did in France in 1944. On 18 March, the New York Times reported: "Military and allied officials familiar with the planning of the upcoming campaign say they hope that a successful and 'benign' occupation of Basra that results in flag-waving crowds hugging British and American soldiers will create an immediate and positive image worldwide while also undermining Iraqi resistance elsewhere." The fact is that Basra is not undergoing a benign occupation. It has just been declared a military target by British forces which have come under attack from inside. This was a city which the British spokesman Colonel Chris Vernon said early on was not of military importance. In the scheme of things, it still isn't. But it has become a problem. 'Under threat' What has happened? The explanation, according to British and American officials, is that Saddam Hussein's forces are still oppressing the people who cannot therefore show their true emotions. Right now they're still under threat - Saddam is still maybe alive and his goons and his assassination squads are still there [said] Paul Wolfowitz, US Deputy Defence Secretary Dr John Reid, the British Labour Party chairman compared the irregular Saddam forces dressed in black - known as Saddam's Fedayeen - to the SS in Nazi Germany. The US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of those who wants Iraq to be at the start of a democratization process across the Arab world, told the BBC: "I think that when the people of Basra no longer feel the threat of that regime, you are going to see an explosion of joy and relief, but right now they're still under threat. Bad memories The people remember, it is said, what happened in 1991 when on 15 February, President George Bush senior urged "the Iraqi military and the Iraqi people to take matters in their own hands and force Saddam Hussein the dictator to step aside". The people did try, both in the Kurdish areas of the north and the mainly Shia areas of the south, including Basra. They were cut down. The Kurds fled into the mountains of southern Turkey, but the Shias (and others like the communists) in the south had nowhere to go. The London-based organisation Indict, which seeks to put Iraqi leaders on trial for war crimes, has accounts of mass executions in Basra and other southern cities as the Ba'ath party and the Republican Guard re-imposed their control. Not cheering However, it might not be as simple as that. Consider what happened in Basra last Saturday when there were air raids. The Qatari television channel al-Jazeera had a team in the city and it sent back graphic pictures of dead and wounded civilians which were widely shown in the Arab world. But these images were all but ignored in the West, which seemed more interested in pictures of the American prisoners of war. Pictures used in the West tend to be sanitised. The photograph with this story, taken after an air raid in Basra on Saturday, shows a wounded girl. What it doesn't show is that her foot has been blown off. We don't want Saddam, but we don't want them [the Americans] to stay afterwards Mustafa Mohammed Ali, Nasiriya People do not take kindly to being bombed, even by "friendly forces". British forces, if they enter Basra to counter resistance there, will have to follow the advice of Colonel Tim Collins of the Royal Irish Regiment who told his men before the war started: "Tread carefully". There is an interesting article in the Effect of sanctions There are two other points: the effect of years of sanctions and the effect of nationalism. Although the sanctions regime allows for the provision of food and medicine, this is not always delivered to the poor. Saddam Hussein is not blamed but the United Nations and the United States are. The sufferers from sanctions may take time to be convinced that the invaders are bringing them relief. Iraqi nationalism is another powerful influence. Those who know the country say that it can hold people together, whether they are Kurds, Sunnis or Shias. It appears to be a factor in the current phenomenon. A coming together often happens to a people under siege, and a siege is what the Iraqis are now experiencing. Published: 2003/03/26 08:34:09 |
| Posted by:Kerry |
| #9 "When I saw the dead Americans I cheered in my heart." And yet he did not support Saddam Hussein: "We don't want Saddam, but we don't want them [the Americans] to stay afterwards." And if it were up to me, you freakazoids would be contained to your own land were you could continue to gleefully kill each other and leave us the hell alone. Tell us where the WMDs are, lead us to bin Laden, quit killing Israelis, and stop fostering sick Islamic hate and you can be left to finish each other off. Then Westerners can cheer in their hearts, too. |
| Posted by: Celissa 2003-03-26 19:09:01 |
| #8 Don't take it personally bulldog...our National Public Radio is equally biased and gloomy. Ditto the NYTimes. |
| Posted by: becky 2003-03-26 11:56:45 |
| #7 from the New York Times "The British moves came amid reports of rebellion in the Shiite-dominated city and harsh reprisals by security forces loyal to Mr. Hussein's government. A woman who waved to British forces on the outskirts of the city was later found hanged, an American officer said, and the Iraqis moved D-30 artillery in place to shell rebellious residents." |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-03-26 09:13:38 |
| #6 In a way this is a good thing, the administration has a tendency to see everything outside their inner circle as being nothing but objects to be manipulated. It's past time they wised up |
| Posted by: Hiryu 2003-03-26 08:29:03 |
| #5 "Although the sanctions regime allows for the provision of food and medicine, this is not always delivered to the poor. Saddam Hussein is not blamed but the United Nations and the United States are." Figures -- it's another good reason to keep the UN out of Iraq during reconstruction. |
| Posted by: John Phares 2003-03-26 07:50:20 |
| #4 Oh hell, I don't want to get into a rant about the BBC. It does provide a comprehensive news coverage, and because it's not got sponsors to keep happy, it posts whatever it gets straight onto the internet. This gives it a huge and unfair advantage over just about anyone else, UK or US included, who have to rely on (primarily TV) advertising or subscription. The BBC grows fat thanks to British TV licence-payers, who are obliged to pay this mandatory tax which benefits just the one media corporation. It's message will always tend towards the left as it relies on state money for its very existence. There's growing disquiet about this, especially as it spends an ever increasing amout of time promoting itself and its own subscription TV channels. The TV licence also pays for BBC national and local radio stations, of which there are a great many and variety. Commerical stations are somehow expected to compete. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-03-26 07:13:50 |
| #3 A different BBC reporter in Iraq has blasted his own network's dishonest and defeatist coverage in an internal memo that was leaked to our favorite balls-to-the-wall British tabloid, The Sun. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2003-03-26 07:13:08 |
| #2 A lot of the hostile quotes are already a day or two old. You see the same story reappearing everywhere. The situation is not clear and we'll have to wait and see. I hope the reports of an uprising continue but I doubt now that the allies will be celebrated liberators. People (including me at times) let their optimism get the better of themselves. I imagine there will be something closer to Afghanistan where the resistance will crumble and people will be glad to get rid of the old regime, no matter how distrustful they are of the foreigners. Americans yearn to be loved but all we need is a little grudging respect and mostly success. |
| Posted by: Tokyo Taro 2003-03-26 07:07:09 |
| #1 I always enjoy reading the BBC. They aren't very smooth at spinning, though I'm sure it works for their target audience. You actually get good information out of them - once you learn to read between the, "Although it may appear that"... XYZ... "closer examination reveals that the sky is falling and that Jews and Americans are pigs". |
| Posted by: becky 2003-03-26 06:45:43 |