PDA

View Full Version : Disabled Iraqi vets look to U.S. for help



Devildogg4ever
08-03-03, 04:13 AM
By LARRY KAPLOW
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- They were Saddam Hussein's heroes, the veterans disabled in his wars in Iran and Kuwait. He gave them medical care, housing in a tree-lined enclave at the edge of the capital, and cash bonuses on patriotic holidays.

Now, as they roll their wheelchairs -- with makeshift cushions and cracking rubber tires -- to visit each other, they can muster an ironic laugh at how war has been foisted upon them again.

Life in the Al-Thurra disabled veterans neighborhood -- established in the 1980s -- has been tough this year. The community was overtaken by Iraqi troops when the U.S.-led war began in March, prompting many residents to evacuate. Then the U.S. bombs and missiles struck, driving the troops away. Next the Iraqi looters took over, cleaning out the health clinic and community center.

Recently the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division moved into nearby bases. Troops raided Al-Thurra looking for insurgents and arrested several men. Now the army is helping repair the war damage and working to seal a bond with the Iraqi veterans.

Depending on U.S.

Many Iraqis have endured similar plights. But even more than other Iraqis, the veterans relied on a welfare safety net that was swept away with the old regime. They look to America to fill the void.

They cope with their new hardships with the anxiety of the amputees, paraplegics and infirm they are, but also with the stoicism of the pilots, infantrymen and officers they were. They meet the occupying army like fellow soldiers but worry about the slow pace of reconstruction.

And they envy the American dream.

"We see in movies how they care for disabled people [in America]. How they pay attention to them. We wish we had that special care," said Omar Hussein al-Azawi, 34, gesturing to his wheelchair, a void where his legs should be. "If I were in America, I would have prosthetic limbs."

He knows things could be worse.

"If Saddam had stayed in his seat, we would have gone to a third or fourth war. He made us go from war to war," al-Azawi said.

U.S. troops see an opportunity for goodwill with the veterans. The Army is spending $90,000 in renovations to the devastated community center, one of scores of projects the Army is conducting around the city. Aid groups provided some new wheelchairs and will restore the health clinic.

The Army also arranged physical exams for the residents and provided a few more new wheelchairs and an American-paid Iraqi security guard for the neighborhood gate.

"There is that attitude for soldiers that transcends nationality," said Maj. Todd Mercer of the 82nd Airborne. "They were not hostile or angry at us, so it was easy to work with them."

Every day the Iraqi veterans wheel themselves into groups under trees that shade them from the hot sun. As they agonize over their new uncertainties, the incipient good will between them and the U.S. soldiers is strained.

Will the Americans pay the veterans' monthly subsidies? Will they pay their caregivers? Will they release the three veterans arrested in a recent raid? What happened to the promised medical care? Where's that captain who agreed to visit?

About 140 veterans live here -- most with their families -- in neat beige stucco town houses. The veterans in Al-Thurra are a cross section of those who fought Iraq's battles -- wars they now say were waged for their leader's vanity and doubly wrong because they confronted other Muslims.

Many served in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, which ran for eight years, making it the longest conventional war of the 20th century. By conservative estimates that conflict left 500,000 Iraqis and Iranians dead. Other veterans fought in 1990 and 1991, when Saddam invaded Kuwait and then allowed his army to be pummeled by American-led coalition forces.

Majeed Mohsen al-Maleki, with severe kidney damage from shrapnel wounds, was working in Iraq's embassy in Canada when he was drafted into the Iran war. He knew his family in Iraq would pay the price if he refused to serve, so he left Toronto -- "the nicest city I have ever seen" -- for the front.

Hashem Khalil al-Azawi, 40, says he was the first pilot injured when the United States began driving Iraq out of Kuwait in January 1991. He was trying to take off when he was shot down. Now he hobbles with a cane.

"I accept that I was shot by an American pilot, and I don't hate him. It was his duty," he said.

Money troubles

Double amputee Omar Hussein al-Azawi volunteered to fight against Iran when he was just 15 years old, seeing little other opportunity for employment. He soon regretted it. He says he was almost executed for speaking too openly with his comrades during the war.

"I was showing [friends] where we were and where the Iranians were," he said. "I said, 'We are out in the desert. What are we fighting for?' "

He was arrested later that day and had to use personal contacts to avoid a death sentence, he said.

The veterans look at the U.S. troops nearby as a fact of life that might help stabilize their country during its transition.

"No one likes an occupation, but what happened happened. Now we see the presence of the American troops as safer for us," Hashem Khalil al-Azawi explained.

A major worry is money. Under Saddam's regime they received about $15 a month and another $25 monthly for their attendants, along with bonuses on holidays. In the last three months they have received only one payment, for some as low as $40.

Mercer said payments would come monthly now and vary according to rank. U.S. officials also are considering payments for the veterans' caregivers.

Particularly worrisome, the veterans say, is the U.S. troops' arrest of three disabled veterans and three of their relatives in a July 17 pre-dawn raid in the neighborhood. The troops carried names of people they sought -- a sign that someone informed on members of the community -- and blew open several doors.

A group of the veterans, including several in wheelchairs or using canes, once ambled out of the complex and across the road to protest the arrests. They met with a U.S. officer and asked for information on their missing neighbors, who they say were not connected to the ongoing insurgency. They want to visit the detainees, or at least know their whereabouts.

Media queries about the arrests also have reaped few details. U.S. officials confirmed that several individuals were detained because they were suspected of helping the resistance. More information was promised but as yet has not been provided.

"We felt that this was liberty, to protest peacefully," said Hashem Khalil al-Azawi. "We understand that they are just protecting themselves. If we were in their country, we would do the same thing. But there should be an exception for disabled people. They should be respected."

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0803/03irwarvets.html