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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BubbaFred who wrote (8504)	2/15/2003 12:05:28 PM
From: BubbaFred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25898

Basra: Trojan Horse awaits Saddam By Syed Saleem Shahzad atimes.com AMMAN, Jordan - Before the 1991 Gulf War, Basra was called the Venice of Iraq because of its beautiful Shatul Arab River, which flows through the city. Now this exquisite beauty of the past is likely to become one of the focal points of the upcoming war. Basra is the center of a southern Shi'ite belt of rebellion. Officially speaking, the Shi'ites in Iraq form 52 percent of the population, but in fact they are closer to 60 percent, and in the south, they are an overwhelming majority - almost 90 percent of the population. They also retain good ties with Iran. During the previous Gulf War, when US forces attacked Basra, it was the Shi'ite population that immediately welcomed them as they oppose the Sunni-dominated government of Saddam. They attacked Iraqi military installations and the offices of the Iraqi Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party, and looted the houses of minority Sunnis and Christians, who make up the main Ba'ath support base. Saddam brutally crushed the rebellion, and even reportedly used chemical and other weapons on the Shi'ite population. Sources say that at a time when another war on Iraq seems inevitable, Basra has taken on a main role as a strategic point for both US troops and Saddam's army. The south will play a more important role than the north, from where US army units have already landed. Basra is the only port city of Iraq and therefore the main financial artery.The Bikar oil terminal is a floating jetty in the Arabian Gulf. It is the last point where Saddam is in control. After this point, 65 miles away, US warships are present to attack Iraq. On February 12, US planes made extraordinary flights over Basra, which is a no-fly zone for Iraq, hitting, for the first time in months, a surface-to-surface missile assembly [see Harbinger of war in Basra, Feb 14]. According to a local resident, overflights are normal in this city, but in the past several days these flights - occurring at very high altitude - have tremendously increased. Although Saddam is concerned with the situation in the south, no overt military activity is visible in the city. On the city's outskirts, Saddam's palace is situated near the shore of the Shatul Arab river. On the other side of that palace, farms of date trees begin which extend all the way to shore. Before the first Gulf War, 486 varieties of dates and and more than a million trees were fed by an exemplary canal system. Today the farms still show partial damage from the bombings that ensued. There is evidence of recent cuttings made apparently to pave the way for Iraqi tanks and heavy artillery. This is the point where Iraq has mainly concentrated its installations to retaliate against US forces. Inside the city, fear prevails - especially among the minority Sunni population, which has a previous bitter experience of Shi'ite retaliation. The Sunnis are cognizant of the fact that Basra Shi'ites remain in contact with the Iranian-based dissident Iraqi leader Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, and that they would likely stand up against Saddam once the US attacks. These Shi'ites in the south will be the main foot soldiers against Saddam when US planes begin dropping bombs, a prominent businessman in Basra told this correspondent. As a result of the situation, the Sunnis of Basra hold regular weekly meetings every Thursday to discuss means for surviving and controlling the majority Shi'ites in case of rebellion, the businessman added. Basra is just 600 kilometers from Baghdad; strategically, it is an easy target for the naval and air assaults designed to incite rebellion in the south. Although the urban Shi'ite population in Baghdad is said to be loyal to Saddam, it is in outskirts such as Sora, in the east, where Saddam fears rebellion. Iraqi intelligence is already tracking connections between the Shi'ites of Sora and Baqir al-Hakim in Iran and expect a rebellion once US wages war, just as happened in 1991.