thedrifter
04-09-08, 05:14 AM
Deadly fighting in Baghdad as Iraq marks Saddam's fall
by Jay Deshmukh
Iraq on Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's iron-fisted regime with the nation still wracked by deadly violence and the capital under curfew.
Clashes broke out after midnight in Sadr City, the eastern Baghdad bastion of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, killing six people and wounding at least 15, a medical official said.
By daybreak the sprawling district of two million people which has since Sunday been wracked by fighting between Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and US and Iraqi forces in which dozens of people have died scores lie wounded, had calmed, residents said.
Sadr had last week called for a million-strong anti-American demonstration in Baghdad to mark the anniversary of Saddam's ouster by US invading forces but cancelled it on Tuesday "to save Iraqi blood."
Baghdad's streets were empty of cars and trucks after the authorities declared a 5:00 am to midnight (0200 GMT to 2100 GMT) vehicle curfew to prevent car bomb attacks by Sunni insurgents.
Saddam's hometown of Tikrit was also under a day-long curfew, an AFP correspondent said.
It took US invading forces just three weeks to defeat Saddam's forces and topple his regime on April 9, 2003.
On that day, US Marines put a rope around the neck of a giant statue of Saddam in Baghdad's Firdoos Square, pulling it down in an act that symbolised the fall of the dictator's brutal regime.
A jubilant Iraqi crowd "insulted" the fallen statue by smacking its face with their shoes.
But five years later the American military and Baghdad's new Shiite-led regime are still battling to curb the bloodshed that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than four million.
More than 700 people have been killed in a fortnight of clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and US forces in Baghdad, the southern port city and oil hub of Basra and other Shiite regions.
Fears of an uptick in the violence are running deep after hardline Sadr, angered by attacks on his militiamen, threatened on Tuesday to end the truce his feared Mahdi Army militia has been observing since August.
US commanders acknowledge that the ceasefire was one of the factors behind a sharp drop in violence across Iraq in the second half of last year.
Although US President George W. Bush insisted in March that toppling Saddam was the "right decision", his commanders are finding it difficult to bring stability to Iraq despite last year's "surge" strategy of deploying an extra 30,000 troops.
The top US general in Iraq, David Petraeus, urged in testimony to the US Congress on Tuesday that further troop withdrawals should be held off for at least 45 days after completing the pullout of the "surge" forces by July.
Petraeus said the surge had helped make "significant but uneven" progress in Iraq, while Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker warned that those achievements were "reversible."
For Iraqis, the five years since the ouster of Saddam has been a period of turmoil and bloodletting.
"When I saw the American tanks roll into Baghdad, I was happy and full of dreams... dreams of a prosperous Iraq, a developed Iraq. But since then it has become a nightmare of suffering and destruction," said Sarah Yussef, 25.
The war has killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians since the US-led invasion. Between 104,000 and 223,000 people died from March 2003 to June 2006 alone, according to the World Health Organisation.
Iraqis, US and allied forces also face daily attacks from insurgents and Islamist militants, and fighting continues between factions from both sides of Iraq's Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide.
The songs of joy that greeted the American tanks when they reached Baghdad have long since become cries of hatred.
On the streets of Baghdad, fear of Saddam's hated secret police has been replaced by a new terror. In the United States, the war is deeply unpopular and has emerged as one of the key factors in this year's presidential elections.
Majeed Hameed, a gift shop owner in Baghdad's northern Antar Square, said the American tanks rolling on the streets of Baghdad are now seen as "enemy" forces.
"We can't describe how savage these barbarians are whose promises were false and full of lies. They came to occupy and cause destruction. We got nothing but disaster," said Hameed.
Basim Atia, an unemployed man living in Karrada district of central Baghdad, described the toppling of Saddam as a "black day" in the history of Iraq.
"On that day, all our values were turned upside down. Today we see only killing and sectarianism, and scientists and doctors are fleeing the country."
Ellie
by Jay Deshmukh
Iraq on Wednesday marked the fifth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's iron-fisted regime with the nation still wracked by deadly violence and the capital under curfew.
Clashes broke out after midnight in Sadr City, the eastern Baghdad bastion of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, killing six people and wounding at least 15, a medical official said.
By daybreak the sprawling district of two million people which has since Sunday been wracked by fighting between Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and US and Iraqi forces in which dozens of people have died scores lie wounded, had calmed, residents said.
Sadr had last week called for a million-strong anti-American demonstration in Baghdad to mark the anniversary of Saddam's ouster by US invading forces but cancelled it on Tuesday "to save Iraqi blood."
Baghdad's streets were empty of cars and trucks after the authorities declared a 5:00 am to midnight (0200 GMT to 2100 GMT) vehicle curfew to prevent car bomb attacks by Sunni insurgents.
Saddam's hometown of Tikrit was also under a day-long curfew, an AFP correspondent said.
It took US invading forces just three weeks to defeat Saddam's forces and topple his regime on April 9, 2003.
On that day, US Marines put a rope around the neck of a giant statue of Saddam in Baghdad's Firdoos Square, pulling it down in an act that symbolised the fall of the dictator's brutal regime.
A jubilant Iraqi crowd "insulted" the fallen statue by smacking its face with their shoes.
But five years later the American military and Baghdad's new Shiite-led regime are still battling to curb the bloodshed that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than four million.
More than 700 people have been killed in a fortnight of clashes between Shiite militiamen and Iraqi and US forces in Baghdad, the southern port city and oil hub of Basra and other Shiite regions.
Fears of an uptick in the violence are running deep after hardline Sadr, angered by attacks on his militiamen, threatened on Tuesday to end the truce his feared Mahdi Army militia has been observing since August.
US commanders acknowledge that the ceasefire was one of the factors behind a sharp drop in violence across Iraq in the second half of last year.
Although US President George W. Bush insisted in March that toppling Saddam was the "right decision", his commanders are finding it difficult to bring stability to Iraq despite last year's "surge" strategy of deploying an extra 30,000 troops.
The top US general in Iraq, David Petraeus, urged in testimony to the US Congress on Tuesday that further troop withdrawals should be held off for at least 45 days after completing the pullout of the "surge" forces by July.
Petraeus said the surge had helped make "significant but uneven" progress in Iraq, while Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker warned that those achievements were "reversible."
For Iraqis, the five years since the ouster of Saddam has been a period of turmoil and bloodletting.
"When I saw the American tanks roll into Baghdad, I was happy and full of dreams... dreams of a prosperous Iraq, a developed Iraq. But since then it has become a nightmare of suffering and destruction," said Sarah Yussef, 25.
The war has killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians since the US-led invasion. Between 104,000 and 223,000 people died from March 2003 to June 2006 alone, according to the World Health Organisation.
Iraqis, US and allied forces also face daily attacks from insurgents and Islamist militants, and fighting continues between factions from both sides of Iraq's Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide.
The songs of joy that greeted the American tanks when they reached Baghdad have long since become cries of hatred.
On the streets of Baghdad, fear of Saddam's hated secret police has been replaced by a new terror. In the United States, the war is deeply unpopular and has emerged as one of the key factors in this year's presidential elections.
Majeed Hameed, a gift shop owner in Baghdad's northern Antar Square, said the American tanks rolling on the streets of Baghdad are now seen as "enemy" forces.
"We can't describe how savage these barbarians are whose promises were false and full of lies. They came to occupy and cause destruction. We got nothing but disaster," said Hameed.
Basim Atia, an unemployed man living in Karrada district of central Baghdad, described the toppling of Saddam as a "black day" in the history of Iraq.
"On that day, all our values were turned upside down. Today we see only killing and sectarianism, and scientists and doctors are fleeing the country."
Ellie