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Politics : The Iraq War And Beyond -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Huang who wrote (173)	6/25/2003 6:34:17 AM
From: BubbaFred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9018

U.S. Contractor Sees Growing Hostility in Iraq Tue Jun 24, 4:04 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. contractor helping to rebuild Iraq (news - web sites)'s school system said on Tuesday his staff faced increased hostility on the ground and they feared becoming "soft targets" by Iraqis angry at U.S. occupation. "There is aggressive behavior toward us. In one instance we had car windows removed and smashed by pupils after we had checked out a school," said Frank Dall of Creative Associates International a Washington-based company awarded a $62.6 million contract to help rebuild Iraq's education system. Dall, who has extensive experience in Iraq, told Reuters several of their vehicles were stoned in recent weeks by angry Iraqis and he feared the "stones will soon turn to bullets" and contractors and aid groups could become "soft targets." Speaking at a public briefing on education in Iraq by the U.S. Agency for International Development, Dall and others said the fluid security situation and the post-war looting and violence were the major headaches in trying to rebuild Iraq. "It is an ad hoc security situation which is extremely dangerous ... We don't want to bring our people back in body bags," said Dall. The U.S. military has also faced growing hostility in recent weeks, with at least 19 soldiers killed since President Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat over on May 1. Dall said he suspected members of toppled leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s party were regrouping with the plan of a low-intensity guerrilla war against the U.S. occupation. "You have to empower Iraqis to feel that they own their own system again and they are in command and not just being occupied. Occupation is the name of the game," said Dall. Private contractors are being hired by USAID to do much of the reconstruction work in Iraq, including education, water and sanitation, health and getting power up and running. USAID deputy reconstruction advisor Dana Peterson said security was under constant discussion with contractors. "It's on a case by case basis depending on the region," she told Reuters. Frank Method from Research Triangle International, another USAID contractor involved in education and local governance issues, said his teams always traveled in convoys. USAID's goal is to get Iraq's children back at school by October, the beginning of the school year. Under the previous government, primary school enrollment was only about 76 percent and 35 percent of all schools had double or triple shifts. Some 8,000 schools are in need of renovation and a further 5,000 new schools need to be built. story.news.yahoo.com

To: Ed Huang who wrote (173)	6/26/2003 3:37:10 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9018

Re: Killings were unprovoked murder, insists MoD By Kim Sengupta and Mary Dejevsky 26 June 2003 The killings of six British soldiers in Iraq were described by senior officers yesterday as "unprovoked murders" by a frenzied mob. But local people claimed the confrontation was started by the Royal Military Police (RMP) firing on a demonstration. Iraqi civilians also insisted that the deaths and an ambush of a patrol of paratroops were provoked by aggressive weapons searches by British troops. They claimed that women and children were threatened and Muslim religious sensibilities offended. [...] news.independent.co.uk "...and Muslim religious sensibilities offended." LOL... Indeed, Muslim sensibilities have been stirred since --according to a French reporter in Baghdad who was interviewed on the Belgian radio this morning-- UK soldiers are using DOGS to search dwellings for weapons, explosives, etc. As you know, dogs aren't your average Muslim's favorite pets.... So much for Britain's crack troops' "Arab expertise"! Gus

To: Ed Huang who wrote (173)	6/26/2003 3:37:11 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 9018

redundancy glitch....

To: Ed Huang who wrote (173)	6/26/2003 4:19:27 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 9018

Footnote: Searches carried out before killings The Army has confirmed it was carrying out searches for illegal weapons in the Iraqi town where six military police were killed. However, there were no sweeps on the day of the killings, an army spokesman has confirmed to the BBC. The killings happened on Tuesday after a demonstration about the searches in the town of Majar al-Kabir got out of hand, according to local residents. The spokesman said troops had used sniffer dogs during their searches - a tactic that caused outrage amongst the conservative Shia Muslim population, who regard dogs as offensive. [snip] news.bbc.co.uk