don't the Ba'aths (most of the solidiers) oppress the Shiites (most of the residents in Basra).
It is just not correct to equate a state policy with soldiers fighting against invaders, which is what this is, in case you have forgotten.
Reality check - If you were correct and the citizens of Basra hated so the soldiers fighting against US/UK, then how come Basra is still resisting?
Shiites have only affection for their Saddam-controlled neighborhood keepers of the peace.
Consider the possibility that Iraqis might not think of their people fighting against the US/UK invasion forces as "Saddam-controlled neighborhood keepers of the peace" (whatever that means).
This is the third time I am posting this article to you. If you have read and understood it, please do not push this erronous point any further:
Raw, devastating realities that expose the truth about Basra
Robert Fisk
28 March 2003
argument.independent.co.uk
An Iraqi general, surrounded by hundreds of his armed troops, stands in central Basra and announces that Iraq's second city remains firmly in Iraqi hands. The unedited al-Jazeera videotape – filmed over the past 36 hours and newly arrived in Baghdad – is raw, painful, devastating.
It is also proof that Basra – reportedly "captured'' and "secured'' by British troops last week – is indeed under the control of Saddam Hussein's forces.
The two Britons, still in uniform, are lying on a roadway, arms and legs apart, one of them apparently hit in the head, the other shot in the chest and abdomen.
Another sequence from the same tape shows crowds of Basra civilians and armed men in civilian clothes, kicking the soldiers' British Army Jeep and dancing on top of the vehicle. Other men can be seen kicking the overturned Ministry of Defence trailer, which the Jeep was towing when it was presumably ambushed.
Also to be observed on the unedited tape – which was driven up to Baghdad on the open road from Basra – is a British pilotless drone photo-reconnaissance aircraft, its red and blue roundels visible on one wing, shot down and lying overturned on a roadway. Marked "ARMY'' in capital letters, it carries the code sign ZJ300 on its tail and is attached to a large cylindrical pod which probably contains the plane's camera. |
