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Jubilation turns to anger at US { April 17 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/cst-nws-anti17.htmlhttp://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/cst-nws-anti17.html
Iraqis' jubilation turns to anger at U.S. troops
April 17, 2003
BY NIKO PRICE
BAGHDAD, Iraq--Just days ago, U.S. troops were cheered and kissed as they destroyed the symbols of Saddam Hussein's regime. Now, after a week of chaos, it's a whole different story.
After looters ran wild, U.S. forces shot civilians, and the lack of basic services spread misery across the land, many Iraqis turned their anger away from Saddam and toward what they saw as their new oppressor: the United States.
''They are aggressors,'' wheezed Ali Ahmed, 17, lying in a hospital bed as a tube drained fluid from his lungs. ''They destroyed us. They put us in war and didn't let us sleep. They just raided Baghdad.''
Ahmed said he was shot in the back by an American bullet last Friday as he left his home to purchase bread for his family's breakfast. A suicide bomber attacked U.S. troops up the street, and Ahmed accused the Americans of responding with indiscriminate fire.
U.S. troops rolled across the deserts of Iraq expecting to find people dancing in the streets and cheering their arrival. There was some of that. But there was anger too.
Many Iraqis say that could subside quickly if the Americans--now de facto rulers of their nation--could quickly restore basic services, bring law and order to their cities, and stop shooting their people.
Others say they need to do one more thing: leave.
''If Americans and British are here to destroy the regime and liberate Iraq, we welcome them,'' said Emad Fadil, a 26-year-old worker in the southern city of Basra. ''But if they come to occupy Iraq, we will fight them to the end--like the Palestinians.''
Tuesday, a crowd in the northern city of Mosul allegedly attacked a group of Marines trying to take over a government building. Iraqis threw rocks, hit the Marines with fists and elbows and spat at them, said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar.
After reporting incoming fire, the Marines opened fire on the crowd, killing seven people, he said.
Wednesday, another shooting in Mosul killed three people and wounded at least 11, including several who said American troops fired at them from rooftops. A Marine sergeant near the scene said the Americans were responding to fire from another rooftop.
''They are killing us, and no one's talking about it. We want Saddam back,'' said Zahra Yassin, whose 17-year-old son was shot in the stomach. ''Let the embargo return. At least there was security.''
In the city of Kut, southeast of Baghdad, an anti-American cleric took over City Hall. Hundreds of his followers blocked U.S. Marines from entering Tuesday with a message that ''there is more than just one leader in the region.'' The Marines departed, opting against confrontation.
There have been daily demonstrations in Baghdad, many outside the Palestine Hotel, temporary home to hundreds of international journalists and U.S. Marines. Hundreds of people hold up banners demanding the restoration of electricity, water and phone service. Many also urge the Americans to leave town.
Even as people topple statues of Saddam, they criticize the U.S.-led invasion for the death and destruction it wrought, and they warn that Americans will become targets unless they fix what they destroyed and leave.
''America comes to destroy Iraq and its people,'' said Fouad Abdullah Ahmed, 49, part of a rally setting a Saddam statue on fire. ''We are Muslim. We don't like the Americans and the British.''
Many Iraqis believe the Americans launched the war to seize their oil. In what many in Baghdad consider confirmation of that, one of the first Baghdad buildings seized by U.S. forces was the Oil Ministry. They are still there.
AP
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