Kurds Voice Suspicion of U.S. Troops
Townspeople Complain That Presence of GIs' in Schools Is Posing a Danger
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 29, 2003; Page A27
washingtonpost.com
AIN KAWA, Iraq, March 28 -- U.S. Special Forces troops have taken up residence in five schools in this little town on the northwest edge of Irbil, in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Far from being welcomed as liberators, citizens fear the troops' presence will make Ain Kawa a target for artillery or terrorists.
Residents also are upset that the Americans picked schools, clearly civilian establishments. "Isn't this what the Americans blame Saddam Hussein for doing? Why not put them in the countryside? There are plenty of camps out there," said Fais Betrus, an unemployed laborer.
"Ain Kawa is a peaceful place, and this can bring trouble," remarked Sivan Ahmed, a college fine arts student. "The authorities told us that the soldiers are here for humanitarian assistance. We don't believe them."
It is odd to hear such negative comments from Kurds about the presence of U.S. soldiers in their territory, an autonomous zone protected by U.S. and British fighter jets since the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Kurds generally support the U.S.-led war to unseat Hussein, the Iraqi president. Kurdish officials have declared their militia forces at the service of Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command and the officer in charge of running the war.
They would like to help the United States take the city of Kirkuk, a key oil center and former home to tens of thousands of ethnic Kurds who were expelled by the Baghdad government over the years.
But Kurds are also fearful. During a 1988 revolt, Hussein's forces attacked villagers from Halabja, on the eastern side of the autonomous zone near the Iranian border, with chemical weapons. Thousands of people died. Moreover, on two occasions, in 1975 and 1991, the United States has withdrawn support from Kurdish uprisings. The second time, after Iraq's Gulf War defeat, President George H. W. Bush called on Iraqis to revolt only to refuse to back the uprising with military force. Tens of thousands of Kurds, as well as Iraqi Shiite Muslims in the south, were killed during Baghdad's counterattack.
"Honestly, we are nervous. Saddam is capable of anything and we are now targets," said Yusuf Shauba, a vegetable vendor.
Someone in Irbil apparently tried to exploit Kurdish fears today. A bomb packed into an artillery shell and laced with a material that caused lots of smoke exploded in a vacant lot near the center of town. It seemed designed to simulate a chemical attack, said Karim Sinjari, interior minister of the Kurdish administration.
Ain Kawa is a lively, relaxed town of 12,000 residents, mostly Assyrian Christians. Its main street is jokingly referred to as the Champs-Elysees by Kurds both here and in Irbil, which is largely Muslim and the most populous city in the Kurdish region. In late afternoon, strollers fill the street. And, unlike in Irbil, a more conservative city, women appear publicly in large numbers without head scarves and long black dresses.
In a war portrayed as a crusade in the parts of Iraq controlled by Baghdad and the larger Arab world, Ain Kawa residents fear they will be seen as favored wards of the Americans.
"It is something we don't like to talk about. Are the Americans afraid of Muslims? Why did they just come here?" asked the principal of one of the schools. To his knowledge, no such encampments were set up in Irbil, he said. He declined to give his name for fear of losing his job. He said that officials from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, one of two groups that administer the north, told him the school would be used to house Iraqi prisoners of war.
At one of the schools, a U.S. soldier in charge said he was unaware of local feelings. He did acknowledge that people were afraid the schools would be damaged during their stay. "I've heard that," he said. The soldier declined to give his name or unit, for security reasons, or to speculate on future uses of the school. He said only the Americans were working with Kurdish militias.
Dozens of Special Operations troops have been stationed in Kurdish territory for months. Kurdish officials said they were infiltrating behind Iraqi lines, in the company of Kurdish militias, to spot targets for bombing. Today, Special Operations personnel in the far east of the Kurdish region assisted Kurdish militias to try to flush out armed anti-American militants in the mountains.
Two nights ago, 1,000 paratroops arrived at an airfield 30 miles northeast of Irbil to prepare it for the arrival of more troops and equipment. The arrival heralded a possible ground invasion of Iraqi territory to the south.
The morning after the paratroops arrived, it was hard to discern whether the reinforcements were pleased or perplexed to be in a part of Iraq where no one was shooting at them. Six sentinels looked on silently as a crowd of Kurds, children and reporters pressed to get close to them. A Kurdish militia phalanx shoved the crowd away.
Other U.S. soldiers took positions in an empty concrete reservoir. Farther below, groups of three paratroops, each accompanied by a Kurdish escort, dug trenches and surveyed the fields of new wheat. Their desert fatigues looked out of place in the wet greenery.
Along the road south, nine Americans camped in a rectangular earthen corral, pointing a big machine gun at the traffic-heavy road just 30 yards away. "Gotta go," was the only comment a shouting reporter was able to extract from the group.
"Yes, I'm happy if they have come to help the Kurds get rid of Saddam Hussein," said Mohammed Abdul Razak, owner of a shop just across the road from the airfield. "God willing, this will be a real partnership to fight. Right now, it just looks like confusion."
Hares Ahmed Hamad, a customer, was more upbeat. "This is very good," he said. "We are in this together, and Kurdish people will be freed."
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