thedrifter
11-13-06, 08:52 AM
Posted on Mon, Nov. 13, 2006
Word on the street maligns Marines
U.S. troops battle persistent rumor mill in Iraq's isolated regions
By Antonio Castaneda
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HADITHA, Iraq - Word spread quickly: A Marine search dog had escaped and was roaming the streets attacking children. But the Marines didn't have any dogs in Haditha at the time.
Nevertheless, Marines found themselves having to quash yet another of the baseless rumors that often sweep this city of about 50,000 people, most of them Sunni Arabs wary of U.S. intentions in Iraq.
Rumors -- most of them maligning U.S. troops -- are a staple of life in the embattled, isolated cities of Anbar province, a region that is a center of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency and where telephones don't work and newspapers rarely appear.
Many residents are afraid to visit other parts of the country such as Baghdad, 140 miles to the southeast, for fear they'll run afoul of Shiite death squads.
In their isolation, most people rely on Arab television networks such as Al-Jazeera for news of the outside world. For local news, the main medium is word of mouth.
No one is sure how the dog rumor started, but soon terrified people were complaining to tribal leaders about a violent animal on the loose. The director of the city hospital even told reporters that seven children had been bitten.
The Americans must be to blame, many people concluded.
"We heard this from the people about dogs roaming the street, the market, that have bitten 20 people," one tribal leader was overheard complaining to a Marine officer.
"Well, they're not our dogs. We'd know if they were ours," replied Capt. Andy Lynch of Chicago, a company commander in the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
That didn't satisfy the sheik, who insisted: "Our dogs don't bite."
Lynch told him the Marines didn't have any search dogs in Haditha. And if they had any, he added, they would have searchers out in force if one got loose. Military search dogs "cost more to train than a Marine," he joked.
The sheik eventually was convinced that if there were dogs on the prowl, they were probably packs of strays that regularly roam the city.
Half-truths are often the source of many rumors.
Earlier this year, Marines accidentally started fires in two fields in Haditha by shooting warning flares at approaching cars. But insurgents or skeptical residents inflated the story into something much different.
"The people were talking about how the Marines were going and setting people's crops on fire," Lynch said. "Then we had to go out and explain the whole thing."
The city's sectarian makeup makes it a fertile ground for anti-American rumors.
Haditha and most of Anbar is dominated by Sunni Arabs, whose minority was long dominant in Iraq but fell from power with the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Now their longtime rivals in the Shiite majority lead the government and military.
Some of the hostility also may stem from the Marines' own actions. Marines based in Haditha last year allegedly killed 24 civilians after one of their comrades died in a roadside bombing. The Marine Corps is still investigating, and no charges have been filed.
Local people are more likely to believe their fellow Sunnis -- even those in the insurgency -- than strangers like Marines.
"I think there's definitely more of a burden (on Marines) that we're telling the truth, compared to the guy who's on the street spreading rumors, because we're not from here," Lynch said.
Regardless of the reasons, rumors and misinformation make it harder for the Marines to win trust and cooperation of Sunni civilians.
Last summer, Marines launched a drive to recruit a new city police force. A number of people told reporters that Marines were forcing men to sign up.
"The only thing we can do is go out and speak the truth," Lynch said. "We can dispel a lot of rumors just by our actions."
Ellie
Word on the street maligns Marines
U.S. troops battle persistent rumor mill in Iraq's isolated regions
By Antonio Castaneda
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HADITHA, Iraq - Word spread quickly: A Marine search dog had escaped and was roaming the streets attacking children. But the Marines didn't have any dogs in Haditha at the time.
Nevertheless, Marines found themselves having to quash yet another of the baseless rumors that often sweep this city of about 50,000 people, most of them Sunni Arabs wary of U.S. intentions in Iraq.
Rumors -- most of them maligning U.S. troops -- are a staple of life in the embattled, isolated cities of Anbar province, a region that is a center of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency and where telephones don't work and newspapers rarely appear.
Many residents are afraid to visit other parts of the country such as Baghdad, 140 miles to the southeast, for fear they'll run afoul of Shiite death squads.
In their isolation, most people rely on Arab television networks such as Al-Jazeera for news of the outside world. For local news, the main medium is word of mouth.
No one is sure how the dog rumor started, but soon terrified people were complaining to tribal leaders about a violent animal on the loose. The director of the city hospital even told reporters that seven children had been bitten.
The Americans must be to blame, many people concluded.
"We heard this from the people about dogs roaming the street, the market, that have bitten 20 people," one tribal leader was overheard complaining to a Marine officer.
"Well, they're not our dogs. We'd know if they were ours," replied Capt. Andy Lynch of Chicago, a company commander in the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
That didn't satisfy the sheik, who insisted: "Our dogs don't bite."
Lynch told him the Marines didn't have any search dogs in Haditha. And if they had any, he added, they would have searchers out in force if one got loose. Military search dogs "cost more to train than a Marine," he joked.
The sheik eventually was convinced that if there were dogs on the prowl, they were probably packs of strays that regularly roam the city.
Half-truths are often the source of many rumors.
Earlier this year, Marines accidentally started fires in two fields in Haditha by shooting warning flares at approaching cars. But insurgents or skeptical residents inflated the story into something much different.
"The people were talking about how the Marines were going and setting people's crops on fire," Lynch said. "Then we had to go out and explain the whole thing."
The city's sectarian makeup makes it a fertile ground for anti-American rumors.
Haditha and most of Anbar is dominated by Sunni Arabs, whose minority was long dominant in Iraq but fell from power with the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Now their longtime rivals in the Shiite majority lead the government and military.
Some of the hostility also may stem from the Marines' own actions. Marines based in Haditha last year allegedly killed 24 civilians after one of their comrades died in a roadside bombing. The Marine Corps is still investigating, and no charges have been filed.
Local people are more likely to believe their fellow Sunnis -- even those in the insurgency -- than strangers like Marines.
"I think there's definitely more of a burden (on Marines) that we're telling the truth, compared to the guy who's on the street spreading rumors, because we're not from here," Lynch said.
Regardless of the reasons, rumors and misinformation make it harder for the Marines to win trust and cooperation of Sunni civilians.
Last summer, Marines launched a drive to recruit a new city police force. A number of people told reporters that Marines were forcing men to sign up.
"The only thing we can do is go out and speak the truth," Lynch said. "We can dispel a lot of rumors just by our actions."
Ellie