THINKING FOR OURSELVES

Sand storms

By Shea Howell

Michigan Citizen, May 4-10, 2008

It has been a little more than one month since Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki decided to launch an attack on Basra. In the course of this month the U.S. has shifted into a largely unreported, intense level of urban combat, devastating the poorest people in Iraq and initiating a crisis of survival for the two million people who live in the Sadr City section of Baghdad.

When the attack on Basra began, it was viewed as ill-conceived and improperly executed. Iraqi soldiers launching the attack against the forces of Moktada al Sadr sometimes refused to fight, many turning over weapons to members of the Mahdi army.

In retaliation for the attack, Mahdi militia forces backing al Sadr launched a series of missiles directly into the U.S.- protected compound in Baghdad, and violence broke out in several cities with large Shiite populations.

Now the U.S. is engaged in the most violent kind of fighting imaginable, house-to-house urban warfare. This fighting has resulted in the worst week in 2008 for U.S. casualties, with untold death and devastation for the Iraqi people living and dying in Sadr City.

At the beginning of this week the destruction in Sadr City was so intense that Iraqi members of Parliament, who agree on little, organized a public demonstration to demand a political solution to the crisis and the withdrawal of government troops from Sadr City. With the exception of the Shiite blocs that directly oppose Moktada al Sadr, members of Parliament took to the streets to try to bring an end to the fighting and to focus attention on the horrible living conditions of the people of Sadr City. The members of Parliament were joined in the protest by schoolgirls carrying photographs of loved ones killed in thi latest fighting. Their deaths go unreported and uncounted but are mounting each day.

Neither Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki nor the U.S. military leadership appears moved by the protest or the fatalities. Meanwhile, the U.S. military is building a large concrete barricade to extend the buffer zone around the Green Zone, in hopes of placing the interior out of missile range.

The futility of this process was underscored this week by a sandstorm. After nearly a month of intense fighting, including the daily use of helicopters, fighter planes, and unmarked drones, bringing aerial firepower and bombs to bear in support of ground troops, a sand- storm grounded all U.S. aircraft. The result was that missiles were again launched into the Green Zone.

This episode demonstrates the harsh reality of the U.S. occupation. The U.S. can only control the small piece of land on which its soldiers stand. Neither the U.S. troops nor the Iraqi Army and Police force control much of anything outside of the Green Zone compound. The Maliki government has been unable to provide any services to help restore normal life to Iraqis. Electricity, water, sanitation, schools, garbage pickup, hospitals, public transportation, and basic safety are non-existent or provided by local militia forces.

The amount of military force required to gain any sense of order is increasing every day. Along with the 160,000 U.S. troops, it is estimated that there are at least that many private contractors operating in Iraq. In addition, the U.S. is now paying close to 90,000 Sunni militia members in what it calls Awakening councils and there are about 120,000 Iraqi soldiers. Most of these forces are concentrated in the Baghdad area. Yet all these men and arms are incapable of preventing missiles from flying in a sandstorm.