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Us cash funding resistance Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/07/wirq207.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/12/07/ixnewstop.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/07/wirq207.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/12/07/ixnewstop.html
Iraqis using US cash to attack the coalition
By Colin Freeman in Balad
(Filed: 07/12/2003)
Money given out by coalition forces to fund rebuilding projects in Iraq is instead being used to finance resistance attacks against them, American Army commanders have learnt.
Troops in hostile areas say that community leaders sympathetic to Saddam Hussein are "skimming off" some of the cash grants worth up to $100,000 (£58,000) for schools, police stations and clinics.
One senior commander in the Sunni Triangle - a stronghold of Saddam loyalists - believes that his own money has come back to him in the form of rocket-propelled grenade and mortar attacks.
Lt ColAubrey Garner, of 1-68 Armoured Battalion, based near the northern city of Balad, said: "If I go and rebuild a school I am convinced that a certain percentage of the money we put in will be diverted into paying for attacks on the coalition."
During a frank interview, Col Garner revealed the danger and frustration of policing the "Redneck Riviera", a rural area south-east of Balad and centre of some of the fiercest resistance.
Luxury houses overlooking the nearby Tigris are still home to senior Ba'athists. Together with local sheikhs who also enjoyed Saddam's largesse, they are thought to be using their wealth, boosted by well-intentioned American cash, to fund up to 150 fighters within a few sparsely populated square miles.
The coalition struggles to win over most residents, who are bound by tribal loyalty even if they do not support the rebels, Col Garner says.
"The attackers are rednecks in the sense of rural baddies.Round here is prime farming land given to them by the regime and they have a lot to lose in a democratic Iraq.
"The ordinary guy harvesting his dates probably doesn't care either way. But people here don't feel sure about how long we are going to stay and are afraid to stand up to pressure."
During a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday, the United States defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that the Americans were right to bring more Iraqi security forces into the fight.
Mr Rumsfeld, the architect of the war to oust Saddam, also defended the Pentagon's handling of post-war Iraq. Since the intensive fighting ended, 190 American troops have been killed in action in Iraq. Scores of Iraqis have died in attacks by rebels, or as a result of American fire.
The Americans' goal is for more than 220,000 Iraqis to be on duty with the police, the civil defence corps, border guards and a new Iraqi army by the time a government is formed next June. So far, 145,000 Iraqis have signed up.
"I am convinced that the direction we set from the outset is the right one and is being executed exceedingly well and that security in the country will be passed over time to Iraqi forces of various types and that they will be able to do it," Mr Rumsfeld said.
On the ground, Col Garner said that since 1-68 Battalion arrived in the Balad area in early July, the isolated attacks of the summer had developed into constant, low-intensity guerrilla war.
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