Los Angeles Times
September 19, 2004
BAGHDAD — Retired police officer Abaas Ramah is scornful of the U.S.
presence in Iraq.
"Where is the freedom they promised?" he asks. "All
the bloodshed, the sabotage, the killings. Who is paying the price? We, the
Iraqi civilians."
But asked whether U.S. forces should pull out
immediately, he responds: Absolutely not.
"There will be genocide here
if they leave right now," Ramah answers. "They destroyed this country, and it
is their responsibility to make it stand again…. Iraq is like a sick old
woman who needs America to treat her right now."
Iraq is struggling
with a guerrilla war, a stagnant economy and widespread despair. Many of its
people are ambivalent about the continuing U.S. presence. Among the great
majority of Iraqis who applauded the downfall of Saddam Hussein, there is deep
resentment of what they view as Washington's myriad missteps. Chief among them
is disbanding the military and police forces, a step they blame for today's
rampant lack of security. Iraqis consistently identify lawlessness and violence
as their country's gravest problems.
Polls show increasing anti-U.S.
sentiment and a growing sense that American forces should get out and leave
things to the Iraqis.
Despite such complaints, many Iraqis hesitate to
endorse an immediate U.S. pullout, before some semblance of an effective Iraqi
national security apparatus is in place. Some of those angriest about perceived
U.S. missteps are the ones most adamant that U.S. forces stick around and try
and patch things up, or at least assist in elections scheduled for early next
year.
"We hope for the occupation forces to leave Iraq … but they
must first fix what they broke here," said Sabah Wissam, 29, a Baghdad barber.
"If they leave now, the strong will eat the weak…. I don't know how the
Americans wanted to bring democracy to us overnight. It's just another one of
their mistakes."
The contradictory desire for U.S. forces to leave as
soon as possible — but also to remain at the ready as a guarantor of some
stability — has caused considerable soul-searching among Iraqis.
"Emotionally, so many of us feel we want the Americans out of Iraq," said Hassan
Bazzaz, a U.S.-educated political scientist who runs an independent institute
analyzing opinion and culture. "But when it comes down to it, we feel that we
could get into more trouble without having the Americans here…. There's a
lot of mixed feelings out there. I don't quite know how we keep both ideas
working together."
Rasha Amin Saleh, a college student in the northern
city of Mosul, articulated this ambivalence.
"The Americans liberated
us when we were unable to liberate ourselves," Saleh said. "But now they are
occupiers, it is true. Yet their departure could lead to civil war. It could
make things worse."
Some Iraqis, however, have no mixed feelings.
Those directly involved in the armed insurgency clearly want an immediate
U.S. withdrawal. At the other end of the spectrum are many Kurds and other
pro-Western Iraqis. They say they wouldn't mind if a U.S. military contingent
remained indefinitely as a safeguard against a return to tyranny or incursions
by neighboring states.
"I've never considered the American troops as
occupiers," said Isaa Ahmed Abbasi, 31, a physician in the northern city of
Irbil in the north. "The people who want them out are seeking to benefit, like
Saddam. They will start to kill people for the sake of the president's
chair."
But the Kurds' enthusiasm for the U.S. presence does not
reflect sentiment elsewhere in the country, where disillusionment appears to be
on the rise.
Iraqis also struggle with a wounded sense of pride. Many
bitterly resent having foreign troops on their soil. This is true even for the
Shiite Muslims who suffered under Hussein and largely welcomed his downfall.
"A patriotic viewpoint is that the Americans should leave today —
before tomorrow," said Haider Abdul-Jabbar, a police lieutenant in the Shiite
holy city of Najaf. "But realistically, we must surrender to the status
quo…. Otherwise we will lose more blood and there will only be more
foreign presence in Iraq."
Shiite Muslims seem somewhat more upbeat
about the U.S. role than Sunni Muslims, many of whom express a sense of broad
disenfranchisement since the ouster of Hussein, a fellow Sunni.
"We
don't want the Americans to stay in Iraq even for another moment," said Luay
Raheem Badrani, a lawyer in the largely Sunni city of Fallouja, a stronghold of
the insurgency and a frequent target of U.S. bombs. "We feel they are choking
us. The predicament of occupied people is always difficult. Especially for we
Iraqis — we have a 9,000-year history!"
Although Iraqi
dissatisfaction — even among those who work for the U.S.-backed coalition
and support Washington's broader goals — might seem ungrateful to
Americans, considering the expense and loss of life the U.S. has incurred, U.S.
officials here are trying to reduce their visibility as much as possible.
Iraqis are replacing them as the most prominent representatives of the new
regime.
U.S. military commanders have moved bases to the outskirts of
town and are attempting to transfer tasks to Iraqi police and soldiers. The
military has sought to keep to the background, especially since the June
hand-over of power to Iraqis.
"Our presence is in some ways onerous,"
acknowledged Col. John C. Coleman, chief of staff for the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force, which patrols Fallouja and other hot spots in western
Iraq.
"We'd like to be Zorro-like: You don't know where we live, you
don't know where we come from," he said. "We're only there when there's a
problem. We're quick to put Z on the chest of the problem and disappear again,
much to the applause of the people…. We can't be like that, though."
The continued attacks by insurgents bent on driving American troops out of
the country have served to prolong the U.S. presence. Both U.S. officials and
many of their critics on the ground say that Washington has a responsibility to
restore law and order.
"Even if we wanted the Americans to depart,
which we do, there will be more bloodshed if they leave before there is a
legitimate government," said Fatiya Abdullah Saleh, a homemaker in the southern
city of Basra. "Our great hope is that Iraq will be ruled by Iraqis and we can
achieve democracy and freedom whichever way we want."