INSIDE SOUTHERN IRAQ

INSIDE SOUTHERN IRAQ: Ghanim Alnajjar is a Kuwaiti professor, long-time human-rights activist, and indeed the UN Secretary-General’s Special representative for Human Rights in Somalia and Somaliland. He is also an old friend of mine with whom I was recently put back in touch by Yvette, author of the ‘Jaded in Africa’ blog (see link to it, at right.)
Ghanim has a particular perspective on Iraq, and on the rights situation there. In the waning days of the 1991 Gulf War, he was one of the thousands of Kuwaitis who were taken captive, as civilian hostages, by the Iraqis. He was one of the lucky ones who made it out alive– and he has always been very active on behalf of those who so far have not managed to do so. (And may never do?)
Earlier today, Thursday, Ghanim penned the following account of his recent humanitarian mission into South Iraq, which gives a great and sobering snapshot of the situation there. He’s given me permission to run it in JWN:
I have just been back from a humanitarian mission from the southern part of Iraq. There are few points which need to raised in this regard. Being not a journalist –with due respect– but someone who knows this area of the world very well, having many individuals or whole families as friends, I had a chance to have in depth conversations with tens of individuals from different backgrounds, some of them I knew before and the majority I did not know. Some of these quick thoughts are as follows:
1)The resistance: There was no resistance as such. If there was serious resistance, the allied forces would have faced serious difficulty. Most of the people just stood back and watched, waiting for the conclusion of the conflict.
2)Why did the army fail: Most of the enlisted army did not think of the war as their fight, some said to me, many of them are extremely patriotic, it was Saddam’s fight. “we are tired of Saddam’s fights”. Those professional soldiers and officers said they simply changed their clothes and deserted.
3)Why they did not rise up: the memory of the 1991 was present in their mind. Even with the apparent collapse of authority of Saddam’s, they just could not trust the US anymore. They needed to see a proof that he left altogether to beleive it. Many people are happy but they did not feel this is the right time for celeberation. They rose up before and were cheated. The US struck a deal with Saddam, and they were the victims after they beleived George Bush sr in 1991. I was joking with three Iraqi doctors in a hospital, telling them some new Kuwaiti jokes about “God may save him” referring to Saddam, they laughed and told me that they have more jokes about him more than I can take. When I asked them to tell me some, they smiled and said, not now, honestly we are not sure. Tens of similar incidents proved the point of fear which played the major role in cooling any potential uprising.
4)Why they did not leave: why there were no refugees, was the reason coercion? No, it was a widespread belief that this war will be over sooner than the world could believe, provided that the allies were serious, not like the 1991 case. This was a mistake in analysis.
5)How about the US?: what is expected towards the US, is it appreciation, suspicion, love , hate,? There is a mixture of suspicion and a-wait-and-see attitude. The general tendency is suspicion more than any other consideration, thanks to the US ill advised behaviour in 1991. There is hope everywhere needing to be warmed up. The current living conditions play some part in causing this attitude.
6)How about the future Iraqi government: It should be noted here that the grave mistake would be to appoint any one of the Iraqi exiles opposition figures for the immediate administration. There will be a negative reaction to such an appointment. I was glad to hear recently that the tendency is going in this direction in the south. I am glad to hear also that a CIA report said something on those lines, finally , the CIA got it right.
There are other points but these are some quick ones which I wanted to share…
The only sad part in this regard are the civilian casualties, which is partially why I hate wars no matter how politically justified it is.