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

To: zonder who wrote (5762)	3/31/2003 9:30:21 AM
From: H-Man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

If you are trying to tell me that people surrounded by fedayeen, who have been terrorized by them for years, is some sort of proof of that the majority of Iraqi's support saddam, you will excuse me while I yawn.

To: zonder who wrote (5762)	3/31/2003 9:45:19 AM
From: E. T.	Respond to of 21614

The coalition had been hoping that Basra’s mainly Shiite population would rise up against Saddam Hussein’s rule which is dominated by Sunnis in Baghdad. But it was clear that locals remained wary of voicing dissent towards the Iraqi strongman. Asked about the humanitarian situation within the city, Vernon said living conditions had been poor for some time before the campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was launched. But he said that talk of a humanitarian crisis was overstated. The invasion force was handing out water and food, and playing loudspeaker messages on the outskirts of the city as part of their efforts to bring relief and gain the trust of Basra’s 1.5 million people, Vernon said. Basra’s water supply, which had been damaged by bombs had been partially restored by workers of the humanitarian Red Cross agency and was now running at about 40 per cent capacity. A humanitarian crisis in the besieged city was not yet evident, he added. “The water is on and working at 40 percent capacity. There are food stocks of up to a month or more. A humanitarian crisis is not yet evident. That said, we would wish to improve their living conditions as soon as we can.” Vernon would not say how many Iraqi militia had been killed or captured in the campaign around Basra but he added that there were now “up to 3,000 in our prisoner of war cage in Umm Qasr”, the nearby deep water port town captured by the British earlier this week. The coalition had been hoping that Basra’s mainly Shiite population would rise up against Saddam Hussein’s rule which is dominated by Sunnis in Baghdad. But it was clear that locals remained wary of voicing dissent towards the Iraqi strongman. Asked about the humanitarian situation within the city, Vernon said living conditions had been poor for some time before the campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was launched. But he said that talk of a humanitarian crisis was overstated. The invasion force was handing out water and food, and playing loudspeaker messages on the outskirts of the city as part of their efforts to bring relief and gain the trust of Basra’s 1.5 million people, Vernon said. Basra’s water supply, which had been damaged by bombs had been partially restored by workers of the humanitarian Red Cross agency and was now running at about 40 per cent capacity. A humanitarian crisis in the besieged city was not yet evident, he added. “The water is on and working at 40 percent capacity. There are food stocks of up to a month or more. A humanitarian crisis is not yet evident. That said, we would wish to improve their living conditions as soon as we can.” Vernon would not say how many Iraqi militia had been killed or captured in the campaign around Basra but he added that there were now “up to 3,000 in our prisoner of war cage in Umm Qasr”, the nearby deep water port town captured by the British earlier this week. The coalition had been hoping that Basra’s mainly Shiite population would rise up against Saddam Hussein’s rule which is dominated by Sunnis in Baghdad. But it was clear that locals remained wary of voicing dissent towards the Iraqi strongman. Asked about the humanitarian situation within the city, Vernon said living conditions had been poor for some time before the campaign to topple Saddam Hussein was launched. But he said that talk of a humanitarian crisis was overstated. The invasion force was handing out water and food, and playing loudspeaker messages on the outskirts of the city as part of their efforts to bring relief and gain the trust of Basra’s 1.5 million people, Vernon said. Basra’s water supply, which had been damaged by bombs had been partially restored by workers of the humanitarian Red Cross agency and was now running at about 40 per cent capacity. A humanitarian crisis in the besieged city was not yet evident, he added. “The water is on and working at 40 percent capacity. There are food stocks of up to a month or more. A humanitarian crisis is not yet evident. That said, we would wish to improve their living conditions as soon as we can.” Vernon would not say how many Iraqi militia had been killed or captured in the campaign around Basra but he added that there were now “up to 3,000 in our prisoner of war cage in Umm Qasr”, the nearby deep water port town captured by the British earlier this week. arabnews.com

To: zonder who wrote (5762)	3/31/2003 10:03:28 AM
From: E. T.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

The people I spoke with at Umm Qasr said they were happy about the removal of Saddam, as he had held them in terror for years. They took me to see the local Baath Party headquarters. They told me that many bad things happened there and that most of those picked up in the middle of the night and taken to that building were never seen again. I entered the building and walked around. I couldn’t help noticing the excitement in the people’s voices as they pointed out the bullet holes and the charred remains of where the building burned. That was when I first got the sense that these people were really eager to see Saddam and Baath gone. I asked several what they thought of the US/UK plan to remove Saddam. They told me: “Now that they have started to remove him, they cannot stop. If they do, then we are all as good as dead. He still has informants in Umm Qasr and he knows who is against him and who isn’t.” When asked about what they think of this war, most Iraqis said that they were against the loss of innocent life and the destruction of their cities, but they seemed adamant about the removal of Saddam. They were happy about the “liberation” of Umm Qasr but were disappointed in the US/UK for not keeping their promises to provide humanitarian aid. Salim, 31, told Arab News: “We have not had enough to eat or drink for three days. At the American and British camps there is electricity, just half a kilometer away. Why don’t we have any? The meat we had stored in our homes is now spoiled because there is no refrigeration.” After visiting the Baath headquarters, the group of journalists I was with said that it would be dangerous to spend two nights in Umm Qasr, as they were concerned about a possible plan in the works to raid us for our supplies. One of the journalists said he could possibly get us into the British Armored Transportation Division’s camp to spend the night there. We packed up our belongings, confident that we would be safer in a British camp than in Umm Qasr. Prior to making our move to the British camp, we decided to drive to Basra to see for ourselves the on-going fight and to talk to some of the refugees and soldiers. On the road, as we made our way to Basra, we could see that the battle had begun on the outskirts of the city and was slowly moving its way in. Alongside the road lay the charred remains of several Iraqi tanks and anti-aircraft gun transporters, among them the charred remains of two UK or US tanks, indicating that the Iraqis had put up a fight. As we approached Basra, we could clearly see the smoke rising in the distance. The closer we got to Basra, the more people we saw standing and walking alongside the heavily traveled road. They were begging for food and water. Two kilometers before Basra was a bridge where a check point had been set up by British military personnel, in front of which were crouched 75 Iraqis wanting to be let into Basra. “We have been sitting here for two days,” a number of them said. “We brought food and vegetables from the farms on the outskirts of Basra to bring for our families to eat, because the price of food in Basra has been inflated. A kilogram of tomatoes is being sold for 1,750 Iraqi dinars! Now we are not being allowed back in, our families are hungry and our tomatoes are spoiling in the sun. Our women and children are in Basra alone, and they need us with them.” Many others wanted to go into Basra, simply to get their families so they could all leave again together, but they were prevented from doing so as well. I approached a soldier and showed him our credentials and explained that we wanted to get into Basra to see the conditions for ourselves. “Not today mate, it’s too dangerous,” he told us. It was pointless to sit and argue, so we decided we should get to the British encampment, set up camp there and try again the following day. (Part III tomorrow) arabnews.com