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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PartyTime who wrote (2677)	3/25/2003 9:47:02 AM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 21614

Supply a link. I looked for what you described and couldn't find it.

To: PartyTime who wrote (2677)	3/25/2003 9:56:05 AM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 21614

This must be it. Doesn't sound like anything to worry about. A couple truck drivers doesn't sound like much at all. Just nothing much going on on the Jordanian-Iraqi border. 24 Mar 2003 16:10:48 GMT Undaunted Iraqis head home from Jordan ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Edmund Blair KARAMEH, Jordan-Iraq border, March 24 (Reuters) - Mahmoud Aziz has joined the exodus of Iraqis returning home from Jordan, worried for his family and intent on defending his country against the U.S.-led invasion. Like the other Iraqis passing through Jordan's Karameh border post on Monday, the driver of a fuel tanker truck was heading for Baghdad to his wife and four children, saying he was ready to join the fight against the invading forces. "I fear for my children, and I also want to take part in defending my country," the 35-year-old Iraqi said, washing his oily hands underneath a battered Mercedes fuel tanker as he prepared to cross the border. Jordan's worst fears of a flood of Iraqis fleeing the war have so far failed to materialise, despite heavy bombardments of Baghdad. A camp for Iraqi refugees, complete with street lights and rows of tents, stands empty in the blustery Jordanian desert. Instead, aid workers -- some of whom operate in a no man's land between the Iraqi and Jordanian checkpoints -- say virtually the only traffic of Iraqis has been those going home from Jordan. One aid worker said he had heard of only one Iraqi arriving from Iraq in recent days. The numbers of Iraqis going back are difficult to quantify. But one aid worker said about 200 Iraqis headed home on Saturday, and another aid official said three Jordanian buses had dropped Iraqis at the Iraqi checkpoint on Sunday night. A Jordanian official said a small number were crossing back into Iraq, but did not give a figure. Some of those crossing are, like Aziz, returning with their empty fuel trucks which until the war began provided a steady stream of cheap Iraqi crude to Jordan. WANT TO RETURN TO FAMILIES Aid workers said many of those crossing worked in Jordan and wanted to get back to their families. They said some were in Jordan illegally, incurring fines for each day there, but now were being given an amnesty to leave without paying. Jordanian officials were not immediately available to comment. Hashem, an Iraqi construction worker, voiced the feelings of many shortly after the war began last week, as he waited at the Jordanian checkpoint to cross. "I don't want to stay here. I have nothing to do here. I want to be with my children during the war. I'm worried about them," he said. Those that do cross face a daunting journey across a 550-km (340-mile) desert road to Baghdad, if the accounts of non- Iraqis fleeing Iraq are anything to go by. Some South Africans, who travelled the road on Saturday, said they saw charred vehicles, burning buildings and a bombed fuel station near the highway, which passes close to two airfields seized last week by U.S. forces. Travellers also said a Jordanian was killed last week on the road. But for Mahmoud Shaker, another Iraqi fuel tanker driver about to cross on Monday, the dangers of war are nothing new. Iraqis in the past two decades have lived through a conflict with Iran, a war over Kuwait and years of sanctions. "God willing, I will get back home. We are not scared of the Americans or British. Our safety is in the hands of God. We have had many wars," said the father of a year-old daughter after finishing his prayers behind his 27,900-litre tanker. In an ominous sign of what lay beyond the border, the noise of jets was heard overhead. "Look, two F-16s," shouted a Jordanian customs worker as he stared into the cloudy sky. (Additional reporting by Wafa Amr) alertnet.org