Iraqi police arrest a man in the city of Basra , some 550 kilometers south of Baghdad , Monday, Jan. 5 2004, after a jobless people protest turned into a riot. (AP Photo/Nabil Aljurani)
AP - Jan 05 7:34

11 janvier 2003  9:37

Deuxième journée de manifestations à Amarah

BAGDAD (AP) - Pour la deuxième journée consécutive, des centaines de manifestants réclamant des emplois se sont rassemblés dimanche à Amarah, dans le sud-est de l'Irak. La veille, la manifestation y avait dégénéré en affrontements avec les soldats britanniques et la police irakienne, qui ont ouvert le feu sur la foule. Six personnes ont été tuées et 11 autres blessées.
Dimanche, une dizaine de soldats britanniques en tenue anti-émeutes protégeaient le complexe abritant le bureau du maire, mais aussi le siège de la coalition et le 1er bataillon de l'Infanterie légère britannique, pris pour cible par les manifestants la veille. On ne voyait pas de policiers irakiens déployés en ville. AP
nc/v109

© AP - The Associated Press. Tous droits réservés.

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
The Associated Press
1/11/04 3:19 AM

BAGHDAD , Iraq (AP) -- Hundreds of Iraqis demanding jobs resumed protests in the southeastern town of Amarah on Sunday, a day after a clash with British soldiers and Iraqi police in which six demonstrators were killed and at least 11 wounded.

A dozen British soldiers with riot shields and batons guarded the mayor's office, which had its windows shattered Saturday by stone-throwing demonstrators. No Iraqi police were visible Sunday at the compound, which also houses the U.S.-led coalition and the 1st Battalion of Britain's Light Infantry.

Earlier, U.S. officials acknowledged American soldiers shot and killed two Iraqi policemen who failed to identify themselves in the northern town of Kirkuk .

Elsewhere, Danish and Icelandic troops uncovered a cache of 36 shells buried in the Iraqi desert, and preliminary tests showed they contained a liquid blister agent, the Danish military said Saturday.

The 120mm mortar shells were thought to be leftovers from the eight-year war between Iraq and neighboring Iran , which ended in 1988, Kimmitt said.

The U.S. military also confirmed that a U.S. Army medevac helicopter that crashed Thursday near Fallujah, killing all nine soldiers aboard, was probably shot down.

The trouble in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad , started when hundreds of Iraqis demanding jobs gathered in front of the coalition compound and started stoning the town hall, smashing windows.

As the protesters grew agitated, shots rang out from the crowd, a British military spokeswoman said. At the same time, troops "received reports of small explosions in the crowd."

Iraqi police, believing they were under attack, opened fire into the crowd but did not hit any protesters, she said. But witnesses said the police killed some protesters.

British soldiers moved in with armored vehicles to support the police, and protesters hurled at least three explosive devices at them, she said.

Police Capt. Ali Jihad Hussein later described the devices as homemade bombs made of cans packed with explosive powder and nails with candlewick lighters.

One man "in the process of throwing a device" was shot dead by the soldiers, the spokeswoman said.

That death led the crowd to disperse. But some returned later and lobbed another five bombs at the armored cars before tensions eased. Soldiers shot a second attacker and apparently wounded him, the spokeswoman said.

Six people were killed and at least 11 wounded, according to Dr. Saad Hamoud of the Al-Zahrawi Surgical Hospital . The British said they had reports of five deaths and one injury. The soldiers and police had no casualties.

Later Saturday, militants among the protesters looted a new clinic behind the mayor's office, stealing some cabinets, desks and chairs.

The U.S. shooting of the Iraqi policemen occurred Friday after paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade responded to a report of "family fighting" in Kirkuk, about 150 miles north of Baghdad.

Paratroopers spotted two men wearing long coats firing into a house, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division. The men fled as the troops approached and were joined by a third man, she said.

"The soldiers verbally warned the three to stop and then fired warning shots," Aberle said. "The men refused to comply and the soldiers took a defensive position and fired," killing two of them and detaining the third, she said.

All were found to be Iraqi policemen, Aberle said. The U.S. military is investigating why they refused to identify themselves.

In Baghdad, U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters that "preliminary reports indicate" that the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed Thursday south of Fallujah was probably "brought down by ground fire."

Iraqi witnesses said they saw a missile strike the second of two medevac helicopters as they flew over the area, a flashpoint for anti-American resistance where three other helicopters have been forced down.

The nine deaths aboard the helicopter brought to 494 the number of American troops who have died since the Iraq war began March 20.

The mortar shells were found by Danish engineering troops and Icelandic de-miners near Al Quarnah, north of Basra where Denmark 's 410 troops are based, the Danish Army Operational Command said in a statement.

The shells were wrapped in plastic but some had leaked and they appeared to have been buried for at least 10 years, it said.

Before the war, the United States alleged Iraq still had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent stored in liquid form. U.S. intelligence officials also claimed Iraq had sarin, cyclosarin and VX, which are extremely deadly nerve agents.

In the weeks after the Iraq war, the U.S.-led coalition found several caches that tested positive for mustard gas but later turned out to contain missile fuel or other chemicals. Other discoveries turned out to be old caches scheduled for destruction by United Nations inspectors.

Saddam's regime used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and killed an estimated 5,000 Kurdish civilians in a chemical attack on the northern city of Halabja in 1988.

President Bush said the United States was going to war to destroy Iraq 's weapons of mass destruction, but a nine-month search has failed to find any current stockpiles.

The lack of evidence has led critics to suggest the Bush administration either mishandled or exaggerated its knowledge of Iraq 's alleged arsenal.

Iraqis demanding jobs reassemble a day after deadly clash with authorities

MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, January 11, 2004

(01-11) 00:19 PST BAGHDAD , Iraq (AP) --

Hundreds of Iraqis demanding jobs resumed protests in the southeastern town of Amarah on Sunday, a day after a clash with British soldiers and Iraqi police in which six demonstrators were killed and at least 11 wounded.

A dozen British soldiers with riot shields and batons guarded the mayor's office, which had its windows shattered Saturday by stone-throwing demonstrators. No Iraqi police were visible Sunday at the compound, which also houses the U.S.-led coalition and the 1st Battalion of Britain's Light Infantry.

Earlier, U.S. officials acknowledged American soldiers shot and killed two Iraqi policemen who failed to identify themselves in the northern town of Kirkuk .

Elsewhere, Danish and Icelandic troops uncovered a cache of 36 shells buried in the Iraqi desert, and preliminary tests showed they contained a liquid blister agent, the Danish military said Saturday.

The 120mm mortar shells were thought to be leftovers from the eight-year war between Iraq and neighboring Iran , which ended in 1988, Kimmitt said.

The U.S. military also confirmed that a U.S. Army medevac helicopter that crashed Thursday near Fallujah, killing all nine soldiers aboard, was probably shot down.

The trouble in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad , started when hundreds of Iraqis demanding jobs gathered in front of the coalition compound and started stoning the town hall, smashing windows.

As the protesters grew agitated, shots rang out from the crowd, a British military spokeswoman said. At the same time, troops "received reports of small explosions in the crowd."

Iraqi police, believing they were under attack, opened fire into the crowd but did not hit any protesters, she said. But witnesses said the police killed some protesters.

British soldiers moved in with armored vehicles to support the police, and protesters hurled at least three explosive devices at them, she said.

Police Capt. Ali Jihad Hussein later described the devices as homemade bombs made of cans packed with explosive powder and nails with candlewick lighters.

One man "in the process of throwing a device" was shot dead by the soldiers, the spokeswoman said.

That death led the crowd to disperse. But some returned later and lobbed another five bombs at the armored cars before tensions eased. Soldiers shot a second attacker and apparently wounded him, the spokeswoman said.

Six people were killed and at least 11 wounded, according to Dr. Saad Hamoud of the Al-Zahrawi Surgical Hospital . The British said they had reports of five deaths and one injury. The soldiers and police had no casualties.

Later Saturday, militants among the protesters looted a new clinic behind the mayor's office, stealing some cabinets, desks and chairs.

The U.S. shooting of the Iraqi policemen occurred Friday after paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade responded to a report of "family fighting" in Kirkuk, about 150 miles north of Baghdad.

Paratroopers spotted two men wearing long coats firing into a house, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division. The men fled as the troops approached and were joined by a third man, she said.

"The soldiers verbally warned the three to stop and then fired warning shots," Aberle said. "The men refused to comply and the soldiers took a defensive position and fired," killing two of them and detaining the third, she said.

All were found to be Iraqi policemen, Aberle said. The U.S. military is investigating why they refused to identify themselves.

In Baghdad, U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters that "preliminary reports indicate" that the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed Thursday south of Fallujah was probably "brought down by ground fire."

Iraqi witnesses said they saw a missile strike the second of two medevac helicopters as they flew over the area, a flashpoint for anti-American resistance where three other helicopters have been forced down.

The nine deaths aboard the helicopter brought to 494 the number of American troops who have died since the Iraq war began March 20.

The mortar shells were found by Danish engineering troops and Icelandic de-miners near Al Quarnah, north of Basra where Denmark 's 410 troops are based, the Danish Army Operational Command said in a statement.

The shells were wrapped in plastic but some had leaked and they appeared to have been buried for at least 10 years, it said.

Before the war, the United States alleged Iraq still had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent stored in liquid form. U.S. intelligence officials also claimed Iraq had sarin, cyclosarin and VX, which are extremely deadly nerve agents.

In the weeks after the Iraq war, the U.S.-led coalition found several caches that tested positive for mustard gas but later turned out to contain missile fuel or other chemicals. Other discoveries turned out to be old caches scheduled for destruction by United Nations inspectors.

Saddam's regime used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and killed an estimated 5,000 Kurdish civilians in a chemical attack on the northern city of Halabja in 1988.

President Bush said the United States was going to war to destroy Iraq 's weapons of mass destruction, but a nine-month search has failed to find any current stockpiles.

The lack of evidence has led critics to suggest the Bush administration either mishandled or exaggerated its knowledge of Iraq 's alleged arsenal.

Mise à jour: 11/01/2004 12:28

Six Irakiens sont tués
Une manifestation de sans-emploi tourne au vinaigre en Irak

LCN

Des centaines d'Irakiens sans emploi ont manifesté samedi pour une deuxième journée consécutive dans la ville d'Amarah. La manifestation a cepndant dégénéré et six Irakiens ont été tués lors d'affrontements avec les soldats britanniques et la police irakienne.

Les protestataires ont lancé des grenades assourdissantes vers les forces de l'ordre, qui ont répliqué en ouvrant le feu sur la foule. Onze personnes ont été blessées.

Des soldats anti-émeute ont été déployés aujourd'hui autour du complexe abritant le bureau du maire d'Amarah et le siège de la coalition. On ne rapporte aucun incident déplorable.

Iraqis Resume Violent Protests for Jobs

By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD
Associated Press Writer

AMARAH, Iraq (AP)--Hundreds of Iraqis hurled stones at baton-wielding British soldiers Sunday in the southeastern city of Amarah , witnesses said, a day after clashes killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.

Screaming protesters, some armed with sticks and shovels, attacked in waves throughout the day, trying to rush troops guarding the city hall. The British drove the crowd back from the compound, which also houses the U.S.-led occupation force and the 1st Battalion of Britain's Light Infantry.

Booms and flashes of light exploded in the crowd, believed to be from homemade bombs of tin cans packed with explosives and nails and lit with candlewicks.

Soldiers blocked roads and periodically pushed demonstrators back, sometimes with batons, sometimes marching in unison behind riot shields and, against younger protesters, simply shoving them with their hands.

``Yesterday there were more adults with much more violent intent,'' said British Maj. Johnny Bowron. We are trying to permit a peaceful protest but prevent loss of life or damage to property.''

Officials said they were demanding jobs in a city of 400,000 where the biggest employer was the security force of Saddam Hussein until the U.S.-led invastion ousted his dictatorial regime.

Elsewhere, U.S. troops arrested a Saddam loyalist Sunday suspected in last month's shooting of an American soldier who was saved by his flak jacket.

Acting on a neighbor's tip, soldiers arrested the man in an early morning raid on his home in Tikrit, according to Lt. Col. Steve Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army's Texas-based 4th Infantry Division.

The soldier allegedly shot by the Iraqi, Sgt. Jeffrey Allen of Leitchfield , Ky. , made the arrest, Russell said. Russell described the Iraqi man, whose identity was not revealed, as a member of Saddam's former Fedayeen paramilitary fighters.

Allen was shot twice in the back on Dec. 30 during a patrol in Tikrit but was saved by a protective plate in his flak jacket, Russell said.

In the northern city of Mosul , four mortar shells exploded at the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan office Sunday morning, damaging the building but causing no injuries, according to party officials who were there at the time.

Two other explosions blasted near the U.S.-led coalition office in the northern oil city of Kirkuk , but police said they appeared to be percussion bombs ``aimed at terrorizing.''

Also Sunday, authorities said the body of an Iraqi working with the U.S.-led coalition was found in the southern city of Basra , along with another man not associated with the coalition. Insurgents opposed to the U.S.-led occupation have targeted soldiers as well as civilians and Iraqi police working with the occupiers.

In Baghdad , two Estonian soldiers suffered minor injuries when a grenade was thrown at their patrol on Saturday, according to Estonian army spokesman Peeter Tali.

Tensions in Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad , erupted Saturday after hundreds of Iraqis gathered to protest that authorities had not kept a promise to give them jobs.

They stoned the town hall, shattering windows. Shots rang out, makeshift bombs were thrown and the British and Iraqi police opened fire. Hospital officials said six people were killed. The British put the death toll at five--with no casualties among soldiers or police.

On Sunday, demonstrators sent a representative to talk to British and Iraqi officials, who promised them 8,000 jobs, according to witnesses. But protesters said a similar promise made weeks before had not been fulfilled and the clash ensued. No Iraqi police were visible at the scene Sunday.

On Saturday, the Danish military said its engineering troops and Icelandic de-miners found artillery shells near Quarnah, north of Basra , which may contain chemical blister agents. The shells were wrapped in plastic but some had leaked and they appeared to have been buried for at least 10 years, the statement said.

The shells were sent for further testing to determine if they contained chemical weapons, banned in Iraq under U.N. resolutions.

Before the war, the United States alleged Iraq still had stockpiles of mustard gas, a World War I-era blister agent stored in liquid form. U.S. intelligence officials also claimed Iraq had sarin, cyclosarin and VX, which are extremely deadly nerve agents.

Lack of evidence in a nine-months search since then has led critics to suggest the Bush administration either mishandled or exaggerated its knowledge of Iraq 's alleged arsenal.

Saddam's regime used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and killed an estimated 5,000 Kurdish civilians in a chemical attack on the northern city of Halabja in 1988.

AP-NY-01-11-04 1009EST

Copyright 2004, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

electronicIraq.net

Iraq Diaries
Protests in Iraq

Ewa Jasiewicz, Occupation Watch

12 January 2004

Today saw thousands of former soldiers riot in the streets of Basra after being denied three months worth of survival payments from the CPA.

Approximately 2000 ex-service men amassed in the streets of Ashaar, a crowded market, hawker-mafia district, with sellers and junk stalls flanking a filthy river, and the home of the Raffidian Bank, aka pay-out HQ. Today was Iraqi Army Day - the annual celebration of over 80 years of soldiering and saluting to the beat of many a monarchy, authoritarian, general coup fought and dictatorship drum. For the thousands of ex-service men laid off in May and demonstrating outside CPA South HQ on a weekly basis, today had a deeper significance. It was also the deadline for their 10-day pay-or-face-our-organized-wrath vow over 3 months of financial destitution courtesy of CPA indifference.

The back payments amount to $150 per person. The ex-soldiers are also demanding a permanent monthly payout of $50 per month and not the $15 I was quoted by demonstrators outside CPA HQ almost 2 weeks ago. A protestor beaten into a hospital bed by British troops told me tonight that maybe I was quoted that figure by an outsider and to take care from stuff like that, whilst his brother by his side chuckled ruefully and said $15? What, so we can buy a pack of cigarettes?, followed by a more serious appraisal of, 'Remember that many people don't know the actual exchange rate of the dollar'. Either way, the payment of such figures by the Occupation Administration represents a threat to its budget, currently following a military construction and entrenchment agenda (the only reconstruction that's taken place in the south has either been workers' own or Occupation entrenching military base and prison camp building). Benefits payments also threaten the control-at-the-lowest-costs basic principles of occupying, which the almost total absence of humanitarian/social construction, and extermination of almost all previous state survival benefits plus cheap gear for soldiers - worst machine guns on the market according to a former military Special Ops acquaintance here and shared bulletproof vests - all attest to. Official figures put the population of the Iraqi army at 350,000, but compulsory conscription, CPA created unemployment downplaying and the word of locals estimates its pre-war levels at 2 million. Islam on-Line quotes a figure of five million when the dissolution information, interior ministries, and defense ministries are taken into account.

Now, in Basra alone, some 60,000 members have been left unemployed. The trouble with former servicemen asking for payment is that 99% of the post-18 male population of Iraq had to serve in the army at some point. I spoke to a few today by the murky Shaat Al Arab waterway that had taken part. One wasn't ever in the army but had turned out in solidarity with his 'brothers', and two had only done their compulsory three years, a sharp contrast to career soldiers who ploughed in 15 or 20 years and don’t know how to do anything else. But they all had one thing in common - total frustration and disillusionment in the British, and desperate poverty, with unemployment stagnating at a thievery/mafia/con-thy-neighbor promoting 70% (Occupied Palestine has a similar if not higher figure but social bonds, social care, and UN relief are far more plentiful and class antagonisms a lot lower than battered post-sanctions, post-fascism, neo-Baathism battling Iraq).

The demonstration began at approximately 8 am, on a muggy smoggy Basra morning and involved an assertive march down to Ashaar and up to the doors of Al Raffidian Bank where protestors were informed that there would be no money for them today, despite being promised it. Witnesses report that some demonstrators tried to storm the bank to reclaim their stipend, which prompted bank guards and Iraqi Police Special Forces, who all look like bank robbers in army-print jackets and black acrylic balaclavas, to fire on them without warning. British police officers, headed by CPA South Law and Order Chief Stephen White, former Northern Ireland plod, have been conducting training for Iraqi police and Special Forces in a specially formed academy in Az Zubiar. From the last CPA law and order report the word 'accountability' was mentioned more times than freedom' in a George Dubbya speech. Despite British soldiers carrying body-length plastic riot shields and tear gas. Their Iraqi counterparts have no tear gas, stun grenades, stun guns or rubber bullets. Just the live-ammo they've always been used to. According to the Head of Police in Basra , out of the 15,000 recruits now patrolling the streets (and shooting into crowds of unarmed protestors) 8,700 were police under the Baath regime. Less lethal technologies for cops under the Baath probably just meant an avalanche of rifle butts and boots in the head rather than a simple bullet, perhaps administered at the end of it all.

Hassan, 36, was near the front of the demo when the firing began. A soldier since he was 14-years-old, I met him in Central Basra Hospital hooked up to a drip from a scummy hospital bed. Myself and two friends went in search of the demonstration's injured, after being told by a cardiologist in Talimi Hospital that 10 had been brought in with gunshot wounds that day and all had been transferred - with at least 4 to Basra Central - suffering from bullet blasted broken bones. Doctors denied all knowledge of the injured and told us with shrugged shoulders that the Brits had already been around and they'd told them the same thing. It’s unusual for the occupying forces to visit civilian hospitals unless they are looking for suspects or doing a puke-some photo call with Jack Straw and small hairy babies. We could only conclude that they’d come to either arrest 'riot leaders' or were trying to keep the story quiet, the riot coming just a day after Blair came and schmoozed the troops, touching down at 4:30 am and evacuating Basra by 11 the same morning.

Hassan was suffering from internal bruising to his kidneys after being kicked by 2 truckloads of Iraqi coppers (11 or so) and 6 British Soldiers. He recounts his version of the day s events:

“When we arrived at the bank we immediately started to demand our payment. The Police responded by locking up the bank. There were no British troops present at this point. The Police then came forward and started to beat and push us. Some also started firing. The protest took place in the middle of a triangle of banks. Guards started firing in all directions. Then they called the British. I saw four people injured before me and one person was definitely killed. He was shot in the back of the head, in front of me. He was around my age 35, 36. I saw another injured in the calf, another just above the knee and another I don’t know as the bullet came from the direction of another bank.

The crowd moved the injured into their cars and took them to the hospital.

When the Brits arrived, they came with 8 tanks and about 7 jeeps and surrounded the whole area. The police were still around at the time. We ran when we heard they were coming but we came back after ten minutes with sticks and rocks.

The British arrested two people but released them later after they pushed them back from the bank. A group of soldiers tried to arrest a group of us but we attacked them. One group managed to grab one British soldier and dragged him into the crowd, which then beat him with rocks. Not throwing rocks at him but actually beating him with our rocks. Four more came running at us with sticks after this but we beat them all too with our own sticks and rocks. Even a soldier sitting in his tank put down his hatch and hid. We were throwing stones so hard that no one could even get close enough or shoot their guns. The British moved their tanks into the crowd to rescue the soldier kidnapped into the crowd and managed to carry him into the tank.

I saw three soldiers injured directly - one in the head, one in the leg his - knee was broken by a rock, and one in the back.

I remember one officer coming out of his tank and trying to calm us down, speaking to us like they were on our side and like they felt sorry for us. The translator came up and asked us for our demands. We told him all we wanted was our pay and that, 'Today is just a slight thing; if we don’t get our wages then we’ll become like Osama Bin Laden, and tomorrow we’ll be back even stronger.'

When the Special Operations Police came up and told us to leave, we said, 'You are so young! We were out fighting before your mother even met your father. We are soldiers, we will show you what you’re made of'.

'I did witness some people trying to sabotage the demonstration. When we were trying to negotiate with the Brits they threw stones on both of us and then they tried to enter the bank while we were negotiating. We said, we want our pay, that’s all, we don't want to break into it and loot it. They tried to break into the market too. We soon grabbed them and threw them out'.

Remember how much we did hate Saddam Hussein? He was dirty and selfish but the British came up with their sweet talks of freedom, democracy and human rights but where is it? Where is it?”

One of Basra 's chief of police stated, straight-faced, flanked by two Occupation jeeps that the riot had all been caused by 'Al Qeda'. He said of the demonstrators, 'They are Al Qaeda, they are terrorists, they were armed with machineguns, they are fedayheen, and they are not from here'. A rumor engulfed the crowd that Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya (The most popular TV channels in the Middle East ) had broadcast that the demo was being fuelled by terrorists. The Occupation and the multi-motivated resistance to it, has provided reactionary authorities with ideal ammunition to demonize any dissidents. In London Mayday demonstration organizers and activists have been loosely linked with the IRA and slandered in “The Standard” as preparing to mob up for the day with Samurai swords and machetes but here - you've got the tar-drenching of being labeled part of the most wanted terror organization in the world. It’s the Mcarthyite catchall trump card of demonstrations.

When myself and a friend walked into the demo at around midday, with British troops mobbing up with plastic foot length shields and shin pads and some eating what looked like fish and chips on the sidelines, the action was almost over. Tanks stood parked in the triangle of banks. Bricks and smashed up bits of pavement lay broken on the ground. Huddles of veterans were standing around, jaws clenched. Upon spotting us they soon formed a tight circle around us and the only thing that saved me from potentially being stoned to a pulp, explained my friend, was the fact that some of the protestors recognized me from the previous demo and were able to vouch for me. This didn't stop exhausted wails of 'WE'RE NOT TERRORISTS!!! AL JAZEERA ARE LIARS, ALL JOURNALISTS ARE LIARS!,’ voiced in my direction. One of the unelected and much reviled negotiators surged up behind me and attempted to smash my head open with a large brick, whist denouncing me for being with 'AL JAZEERAAAA!' I had to leave, fast, pursued by a confused crowd, with my friend. When asked if he too was a foreigner, tersely replying he was 'A son of Iraq , 100%'. He's actually Palestinian and I never heard him deny it or try to hide it, ever.

Jawazees

Both the injured soldier plus three others told me that the negotiators advocating on their behalf were collaborators and have since been employed by the British. 'We suffered a lot from the people who negotiated with the people in the palace.' tells me Basim, who has sacrificed 20 years of his life to the army. 'The result was that they were employed by the British'. Hassan also confirmed that many regarded them as having been paid off and when this demonstration took place, the two were absent. 'If we see them again, we will kill them. We will tear them apart', swears Basim. Asked what process was undertaken to chose these negotiators, Hassan explained from his hospital bed, 'They weren't elected. We were searching for someone to come and talk to them who can speak English, so we saw him (one of the negotiators) trying to talk to the British in English so he then said he'd go in on our behalf. Even the people who went inside today were not elected. Our people are simple, not educated and we trust people fast, after all they are soldiers just like us'.

Negotiations at the riot eventually took place out in the open air on top of a tank. 'In public because we didn't trust anyone' said Hassan. 'The British said we are going to the palace and we'll bring you your money. Please form a queue. We waited one hour for them and they didn't return. At this point I was in so much pain from my injuries that I had to leave'.

Basim, Mazen and Ali, the three vets I spoke to on the river are adamant that if money isn't paid out to the thousands of unemployed servicemen soon, the British will be facing more than flying rocks, bottles and burning tires. Asked if the situation is reaching a point where most people will start wanting the British to leave Basim says, 'Yes, of course. When the British came to Iraq and saw people in this condition, what did they intend to do? From the moment they came they promised to make our lives better, compensate those harmed by the regime and we want them to fulfill this promise or to leave.' And if they do, what's instead? 'An Iraqi government. Even though we know the Governing Council is instructed by the occupation, if the occupation leaves they will be forced to listen to us.' Asked what next and they all look grim. Ali, father of seven with 24-years experience in the army squints in the midday brightness and says, 'See Tikrit, Ramadi, Falluga, Baghdad ? Basra will be the leading example. It will be teaching the others how to fight.'

Following Wednesday's riot, despite unemployed ex-service men turning up at Ashaar with a stack of tires under the bridge and alleged hidden kalashnikovs, all was placid and the veterans queued in the pouring rain and read soggy DHSS style Coalition leaflets informing them that they had to go to the bank they were originally registered with and check if their names were written down. If not, then they had to re-apply. All those with their names scribed in the lists received $150 - 3 months back payment.

The story doesn't end there or in Basra . Yesterday British troops and Iraqi Special Forces allegedly fired on a crowd of 500 unemployed veterans and killed five. 11 were also wounded in the incident. Islam on-line quotes demonstrator Saadun Ahmed Sarai, 49, saying, 'Amara was neglected under Saddam Hussein. Today, we suffer at the hands of his sons [the U.S.-led occupation forces].' A highly placed corporate source in Basra said that a group of protestors were shot trying to storm the KBR training base in Amara today. Troops opened fire on them and killed at least three. No back-up information is available but it will be searched for. All that’s known for sure is that there was a demonstration today avenging the deaths of the six demonstrators yesterday. It is highly probable that occupation forces and the police which they are responsible for have violated Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 which states, 'Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.' It goes on to state: 'Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary...in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection.' However, serious threat to life and the use of force proportionate to that threat must be taken into consideration. Only one report from Amara out of 20 or so seen on the net stated that protestors were armed. Now that the blood has been spilled however, investigations must be conducted.

Adam Price MP explains in his excellent 'Can Kill, Won't Count' report into civilian deaths at the hands of the British Occupation, the responsibilities of the occupying authority to conduct investigations into any killings perpetrated by security forces on the territory. The case of Kaya vs.Turkey 1998 saw the Court rule that 'neither the prevalence of violent armed clashes nor the high incidence of fatalities can displace the obligation under Article 2 to ensure that an effective, independent investigation is conducted into deaths arising out of clashes involving the security forces, more so in cases such as the present where the circumstances are in many respects unclear.'

Despite demonstrations today, yesterday, last week and six months ago all qualifying as riots, the use of live ammunition as crowd-control can't be justified unless an immediate and usually armed threat is presented. The immediate and indiscriminate resort to lethal force, as demonstrated in Basra and Amara can also seen as a violation of the UN's Basic Principles of the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. The Basic Principles, seen as the gold standard in international policing but holding no legal weight in terms of prosecution in the event of derogation, provide that the intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made:

'When strictly unavoidable in order to protect life' (Principle 9), and that 'law enforcement officers should as far as possible apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms (Principle 4).' Exceptional circumstances such as internal instability or other public emergency may not be invoked to justify a departure from these basic principles.

The next few weeks will reveal the level of commitment the Occupation Administration has towards its obligation under the Geneva and European conventions on the protection of civilians. For Iraqi people, its just repression as usual, cheapened life, bullets tearing flesh and fear of the military smashing down your door.

Nouvelle manifestation en Irak

Mise à jour le dimanche 11 janvier 2004 à 10 h 20

Pour une deuxième journée consécutive, une foule d'Irakiens a manifesté devant le siège du gouvernement local à Amara, dans le sud du pays, afin de réclamer des emplois.

La veille, six manifestants avaient été abattus et 11 blessés par la police irakienne et des soldats britanniques, lors d'un premier rassemblement de chômeurs réclamant des emplois.

Selon le chef de service de sécurité de l'hôpital général d'Amara, la manifestation de chômeurs a commencé à dégénérer lorsque certains d'entre eux ont lancé des grenades détonantes en direction des forces de l'ordre.

Les régions chiites pauvres du sud sont particulièrement touchées par le chômage qui s'est aggravé après la chute du régime de Saddam Hussein.

Dimanche, une dizaine de soldats britanniques en tenue anti-émeutes protégeaient le complexe abritant le bureau du maire, le siège de la coalition et un bataillon britannique.

Dimanche, à Mossoul, dans le nord du pays, quatre obus de mortier ont explosé contre les locaux de l'Union patriotique du Kurdistan. Personne n'a été blessé.

À Takrit, des soldats américains ont arrêté une fidèle de Saddam Hussein dimanche matin. Il était recherché dans le cadre de l'enquête sur une fusillade qui avait failli coûter la vie le mois dernier à un soldat américain, selon l'armée américaine. Le militaire avait été sauvé par son gilet pare-balles.

Par ailleurs, des soldats danois ont découvert près de Bassorah des dizaines d'obus qui pourraient contenir un gaz toxique de type moutarde.

Selon l'armée danoise, les 36 obus étaient enterrés depuis plus de 10 ans. Un porte-parole de l'armée américaine a déclaré qu'il s'agissait probablement de vestiges de la guerre qui a opposé l'Irak à l'Iran, de 1980 à 1988.

Statut de Kirkouk

À Bagdad, l'administrateur américain Paul Bremer a repoussé à 2005 la détermination finale du statut de la ville pétrolière de Kirkouk, qui est revendiquée par les Kurdes. Selon M. Bremer, le statut de Kirkouk doit être décidé par des Irakiens élus.

L'accord de transfert des pouvoirs, signé le 15 novembre par le Conseil de gouvernement transitoire et l'Autorité provisoire de la coalition (CPA), prévoit des élections d'une assemblée constituante au plus tard le 15 mars 2005.

En décembre dernier, les chefs kurdes Jalal Talabani et Massoud Barzani ont ouvertement revendiqué cette ville du nord de l'Irak pour des raisons historiques. Ces déclarations ont provoqué de vives réactions des partis arabes et des heurts sanglants entre Arabes, Turcomans et Kurdes.

Le Blackhawk victime d'une attaque

Par ailleurs, l'hélicoptère américain qui s'est écrasé jeudi, à l'ouest de Bagdad, aurait bel et bien été la cible de tirs ennemis. Neuf soldats ont perdu la vie au cours de cette attaque survenue près de Falloujah, un des bastions de l'oppposition à l'occupation américaine en Irak.

Des hélicoptères militaires UH-60 Blackhawk (Archives) 
Selon un porte-parole de l'armée américaine, l'écrasement s'est produit alors que le pilote de l'appareil Blackhawk tentait de faire un atterrissage d'urgence après avoir été endommagé par des tirs hostiles.

Écouter le reportage de Roger Auque

BAGDAD (AFP)

L'exécutif provisoire irakien a annoncé dimanche un élargissement du processus de "débaassification" alors que les habitants d'Amara, dans le sud chiite, exprimaient leur colère après les heurts meurtriers de la veille entre chômeurs et forces de l'ordre.

Dans la ville sainte de Najaf (centre), le grand ayatollah Ali Sistani, le plus influent des chefs religieux chiites, a insisté sur des élections générales, estimant qu'une Assemblée provisoire non élue ne pouvait pas "représenter les Irakiens de manière idéale".

Le président du comité d'éradication du Baas, parti panarabe du chef de l'Etat déchu Saddam Hussein, Ahmad Chalabi, a assuré que l'élimination des responsables baassistes des rouages de l'Etat était une "condition préalable à la restauration d'une vie normale en Irak".

Quelque 28.000 hauts responsables baassistes ont déjà été écartés de l'administration, et un nombre équivalent devrait être concerné par ces mesures, selon M. Chalabi, qui veut élargir le processus.

"Ces mesures s'appliquent au secteur public, mais le comité publiera prochainement des instructions similaires pour le secteur privé et les associations professionnelles", a déclaré le président du Congrès national irakien (CNI) et membre du Conseil de gouvernement transitoire.

Les nouvelles instructions doivent conduire, à quelques exceptions près, à licencier les membres de la haute et moyenne hiérarchie du Baas, sans inquiéter les membres de base de ce parti qui exerçait un contrôle sans faille sur l'ensemble de la société irakienne.

A Amara, à 365 km au sud-est de Bagdad, des manifestants se sont attaqués, à coups de pierres, aux soldats britanniques, au lendemain de heurts qui ont fait six morts et huit blessés par les tirs de la police et de soldats britanniques.

Les militaires britanniques gardant le siège du gouvernorat de la ville, chef-lieu de la province de Missane, ont chargé les manifestants, au nombre de 150 à 200, à la mi-journée et dispersé la foule.

Une autre manifestation s'est formée plus tard pour marcher sur le siège de la brigade anti-émeutes, dont des membres ont tiré en l'air pour disperser la foule et interpellé deux manifestants.

Lors du premier rassemblement, les manifestants ont distribué un communiqué demandant notamment "l'arrestation des auteurs des tirs meurtriers" de la veille et "l'élection d'un nouveau gouverneur", estimant que l'actuel ne faisait rien pour juguler le chômage, qui n'a cessé d'augmenter depuis la chute de l'ancien régime, il y plus de neuf mois.

Toujours dans la zone d'occupation britannique du sud chiite, un Irakien résident aux Etats-Unis et travaillant pour la coalition a été tué samedi en compagnie d'un de ses amis, à Bassorah, a annoncé celle-ci.

Pour le grand ayatollah Sistani, l'Assemblée provisoire, prévue par l'accord de passation de pouvoirs, signé le 15 novembre entre le Conseil de gouvernement et la coalition dirigée par les Etats-Unis, n'aurait "aucune légitimité".

"De même la loi fondamentale (provisoire) et les accords de sécurité (éventuels avec les Etats-Unis) doivent être soumis aux représentants élus du peuple pour avoir de la légitimité", a-t-il ajouté, après avoir rencontré le président du Conseil de gouvernement, le sunnite Adnane Pachachi.

Par ailleurs, l'armée américaine a annoncé avoir découvert au nord de Bagdad une cache d'armes contenant notamment 400 roquettes et obus de mortier ainsi que 260 roquettes anti-char et 42 lanceurs, 16 caisses d'explosifs "confectionnés de façon artisanale" et neuf obus de 155 mm .

Le Pentagone a annoncé que 504 soldats américains avaient été tués, près de dix mois après l'invasion du pays par les troupes américano-britanniques.

Depuis le 1er mai, date à laquelle le président George W. Bush a déclaré la fin des opérations de combat majeures en Irak, 366 soldats américains ont trouvé la mort, 237 dans des combats et 129 dans d'autres circonstances.

Nouvelles violences en Irak

Mise à jour le lundi 12 janvier 2004 à 10 h 40

Un soldat américain a été tué et deux autres ont été blessés dans l'explosion d'un engin artisanal lundi à Bagdad, a annoncé un porte-parole militaire américain.

Par ailleurs, l'armée américaine annonce avoir tué dimanche sept Irakiens qui volaient du carburant d'un oléoduc dans la région sunnite de Samarra, au nord de la capitale.

L'armée précise que les soldats américains se sont retrouvés en face d'une quarantaine d'hommes armés de kalachnikov qui se sont mis à tirer.

Manifestation de chômeurs en Irak

Dimanche, une foule d'Irakiens a manifesté devant le siège du gouvernement local à Amara, dans le sud du pays, afin de réclamer des emplois.

La veille, six manifestants avaient été abattus et 11 blessés par la police irakienne et des soldats britanniques, lors d'un premier rassemblement de chômeurs réclamant des emplois.

Selon le chef de service de sécurité de l'hôpital général d'Amara, la manifestation de chômeurs a commencé à dégénérer lorsque certains d'entre eux ont lancé des grenades détonantes en direction des forces de l'ordre.

Les régions chiites pauvres du sud sont particulièrement touchées par le chômage qui s'est aggravé après la chute du régime de Saddam Hussein.

Dimanche, une dizaine de soldats britanniques en tenue anti-émeutes protégeaient le complexe abritant le bureau du maire, le siège de la coalition et un bataillon britannique.

À Mossoul, dans le nord du pays, quatre obus de mortier ont explosé contre les locaux de l'Union patriotique du Kurdistan. Personne n'a été blessé.

À Takrit, des soldats américains ont arrêté une fidèle de Saddam Hussein dimanche matin. Il était recherché dans le cadre de l'enquête sur une fusillade qui avait failli coûter la vie le mois dernier à un soldat américain, selon l'armée américaine. Le militaire avait été sauvé par son gilet pare-balles.

Par ailleurs, des soldats danois ont découvert près de Bassorah des dizaines d'obus qui pourraient contenir un gaz toxique de type moutarde.

Selon l'armée danoise, les 36 obus étaient enterrés depuis plus de 10 ans. Un porte-parole de l'armée américaine a déclaré qu'il s'agissait probablement de vestiges de la guerre qui a opposé l'Irak à l'Iran, de 1980 à 1988.

Écouter le reportage de Roger Auque

Shiite Muslim riot reflects growing frustration with U.S.-led occupation

By Nadia Abou El-Magd, Associated Press, 1/12/2004 14:00KUT, Iraq (AP) Ukrainian soldiers fired into the air Monday to disperse hundreds of Iraqis who rioted for jobs and food as a second southern Shiite Muslim city was rocked by unrest a barometer of rising frustration with the U.S. led-occupation in a region of Iraq considered friendly to the Americans.

Also Monday, the U.S. death toll in the Iraqi conflict neared 500 with the explosion of a roadside bomb in the capital that killed one American soldier and wounded two.

Trouble started in Kut, 95 miles southeast of Baghdad , when about 400 protesters marched for a third straight day on a government building to demand jobs. Someone in the crowd threw a grenade at police and Ukrainian soldiers guarding the building, injuring four Iraqi policemen and one Ukrainian, according to Lt. Zafer Wedad.

The Ukrainians then fired in the air to disperse the crowd, injuring one protester, Wedad said. He said the demonstrators hurled bricks at the building and trashed a post office in the city.

In a similar protest in Amarah on Sunday, waves of protesters rushed British troops guarding the city hall before being pushed back. On Saturday, clashes in Amarah killed six protesters and wounded at least 11.

Unrest in the Shiite areas has spread as the country's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, has spoken out against the U.S.-backed formula for transferring power to the Iraqis.

In a full-page newspaper advertisement Monday, al-Sistani repeated his demand that a proposed provisional legislature be elected rather than chosen by regional committees as called for under a plan endorsed by the U.S.-led coalition and the Iraqi Governing Council.

Al-Sistani is highly influential among Iraq 's majority Shiites.

No details were available about the death in Baghdad of the 1st Armored Division soldier, which raised the American death toll to 495. Most of the deaths have occurred since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1.

Still, U.S. officials said Monday that insurgent attacks against coalition forces declined to an average of 17 a day in the past week, a drop compared to 30 a day before Saddam Hussein was captured on Dec. 13. Most of the attacks are believed carried out by supporters of the ousted regime.

Also Monday, another roadside bomb exploded near an Army convoy in Ramadi, a town west of Baghdad , but the military said no U.S. casualties were reported. Residents said two Iraqis were killed when the Americans opened fire after the attack.

On Friday, U.S. soldiers uncovered a ''large weapons cache'' with the help of an Iraqi in Ramadi, the U.S. military said in a statement Monday.

It said the Iraqi led the troops to a house, where they found dozens of rocket-propelled grenades and a handful of launchers, nearly 220 pounds of explosives, 16 remote controlled homemade bombs and two surface-to-air missiles, the military said in a statement.

Also acting on an Iraqi tip, U.S. soldiers shot dead of the estimated 40 members of an armed gang allegedly trying to steal oil from a pipeline south of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, the Army said Monday.

Meanwhile, the Danish army said Monday that results of a new series of tests to determine whether 36 shells buried in the southern Iraqi desert contain a liquid blister agent could be expected by the end of the week. The shells, thought to be left over from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, were uncovered last week by Danish and Icelandic troops.

Separately, the top U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, said the United States is opposed to the maintenance of armed militias by Iraqi political parties. Groups vying to fill the country's power vacuum will have to lay down arms in a future democracy, he said.

''In a unified Iraq there is no place for political parties having armed groups,'' Bremer told reporters.

Associated Press writer Paul Garwood in Tikrit contributed to this report.

Posted on Tue, Jan. 13, 2004

Crew OK as U.S. copter downed in Iraq

By VIJAY JOSHI
Associated Press

BAGHDAD , Iraq - Hostile fire brought down a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter Tuesday, the third aircraft lost this month west of Baghdad . Coalition troops killed three Iraqis in restive cities outside the capital, relatives and police said.

And in Fallujah, also west of Baghdad , hundreds of Iraqis protested, shouting "Bush, you coward!" after American troops detained a woman while searching for a Saddam Hussein loyalist. The 17-year-old newlywed was freed after several hours of questioning.

The AH-64 helicopter gunship from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment crashed near the town of Habbaniyah , but the two crew members escaped injury, military spokesman Col. William Darley said.

"It was apparently downed by enemy fire," he said. The gunship was providing aerial security for a ground convoy moving in the area, the U.S. Central Command said.

In the same area, a medevac helicopter was downed Jan. 6, killing nine U.S. soldiers. A Kiowa Warrior helicopter was shot down in the area Jan. 2, killing the pilot.

Following the demonstration in Fallujah, gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. forces guarding city hall. The soldiers returned fire, killing two people and wounding four, witnesses, police and hospital staff said.

The dead included a 33-year-old woman shot in the home of her sister, and Ahmed Naji, 37, whose car crashed in a hail of gunfire. Naji's brother and father were seriously wounded, police Capt. Taha al-Falahi said.

"Our rights are gone and lost. See how beautiful democracy is. They take the women away. They kill the youth. We are living in luxury," Naji's cousin Khalil Ibrahim said.

Also Tuesday, Ukrainian troops opened fire to disperse several hundred protesters demanding jobs in Kut, 150 kilometers ( 90 miles ) southeast of Baghdad . One man was killed and two other people were wounded in the second straight day of violent demonstrations in the mainly Shiite Muslim city.

In Baghdad , U.S. troops fired at a car Monday shortly after a roadside bombing in which an American soldier was killed. The driver and a 10-year-old boy were killed, the boy's aunt said.

"The Americans have ruined an innocent family, children and women," said Wijdan Abdel Wahab. "They didn't even bother to look back at them after shooting."

Officials of the 1st Armored Division, in charge of security in Baghdad , said they would investigate.

The military was also investigating another apparent shooting of civilians by Americans - four Iraqis, including a 7-year-old boy, killed in a taxi near Tikrit on Jan. 3. A battalion commander in Tikrit, Lt. Col. Steve Russell, said it was "likely" that coalition forces killed the four.

The incidents reflect the difficulties faced by U.S. soldiers trying to maintain order in Iraq , a country still reeling from the effects of decades of dictatorship, war and international sanctions. The mission has been made more difficult by the cultural differences between the United States and Iraq , a conservative Muslim society.

For example, the detention of the 17-year-old woman sparked outrage in Fallujah. Residents there, like many in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," are religious conservatives and equate a woman's dignity with family honor.

Relatives said the woman, who was married six days ago, was alone at home Monday when U.S. troops took her away. She was released five hours later.

Maher Turki, her brother-in-law, said the soldiers were looking for another of his brothers in the hope he would lead them to Khamis Sarhan, leader of Saddam's Baath party in Fallujah. Turki said his brother was acquainted with Sarhan but was not an associate.

"In all honesty, she was treated well. They only had women soldiers deal with her. They did not harm her. They didn't touch one hair on her head," Turki said.

While anti-U.S. sentiments have been widespread in Sunni areas, occupation authorities also face anger in southern Shiite towns over hardships that persist nine months after Saddam's regime collapsed. Shiites are a majority in Iraq but were long suppressed by Saddam.

Unrest among Shiites may be linked to criticism from their spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, about a U.S.-backed formula for transferring power to the Iraqis. He says a provisional national assembly must be elected directly, not selected from regional caucuses as provided for in a Nov. 15 accord.

(Associated Press reporters Jim Krane and Nadia Abou El-Magd in Baghdad , Sarah El Deeb in Fallujah and Hamza Hendawi in Kut contributed to this report.)

www.albawaba.com
January 13, 2004

At least seven Iraqis wounded during job protest, two Iraqis killed in firefight

At least seven Iraqis were injured when a protest against unemployment in southern Iraq turned violent.

In southern city of Kut , some 100 protestors tossed grenades towards Ukrainian soldiers stationed around city hall offices who then fired off warning shots to disperse the crowd, AFP reported.

"Seven wounded were admitted to the emergency room -- five protestors and two female bystanders," said Dr. Taha ali Abdul Hussein. Six suffered bullet wounds, including one of the women.

On Monday a similar riot in Kut, some 90 miles southeast of the capital, was eventually brought under control by Ukrainian troops who fired in the air after explosives were thrown at them by some demonstrators, Iraqi police official Lt. Zafer Wedad told The AP.

Four Iraqi policemen, a Ukrainian soldier and a demonstrator were wounded on Monday. It all began when around 400 protesters marched on a government building to demand jobs. The demonstrators reportedly threw bricks at the building and trashed a post office, Wedad said.

Kut was the second Shiite Muslim city, which was hit by job riots, stressing mounting anger among Iraqi people about the difficulties they face under US occupation.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi Civil Defence Corps soldier and an alleged attacker were killed in a firefight after security officials found a weapons cache in a vegetable truck, the US Army said, according to AFP.

"As the ICDC were securing the contraband the drivers threw a grenade," killing the ICDC man and slightly wounding another one Monday in Tarmiyah, west of Baghdad , spokeswoman Major Jossyln Aberle said. The ICDC responded, and one attacker was killed, one injured and three captured, she said. (Albawaba.com)

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© Copyright Al-Bawaba.Com 2004

Clashes Rise in Southern Iraq
Jobless Protesters Confront Ukrainian Troops and Local Police

By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 14, 2004; Page A14

KUT, Iraq , Jan. 13 -- The boom of exploding dynamite packets, followed by the rat-a-tat of returning assault-rifle fire, echoed all Tuesday morning through the streets of this gritty, once peaceful city on the Euphrates River , 100 miles southeast of Baghdad .

Angry demonstrators confronted Ukrainian army tanks and Iraqi police at City Hall plaza for the second day in a row. A block away, Ali Aziz, 35, a stocky, out-of-work laborer, watched the battle from behind a schoolyard wall, red-eyed and shaking with anguish.

"I have three children to support, we are living in one rented room and I have to hold up a bucket to the ceiling when it rains," he said. "I helped protect the city offices during the war, but now the old thieves are back inside, and they only give jobs to their friends." The protesters were "out there to defend all our rights," he said.

Officials and witnesses said at least a dozen civilians and police were injured Tuesday, the fifth day of anti-government protests since Jan. 6 in southern Iraqi cities with largely Shiite Muslim populations.

The southern Shiites were systematically repressed during the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, and until recently they largely supported the U.S.-led invasion and the appointed interim government. But in the past week, protests have broken out in the cities of Kut, Amarah and Basra .

There were also several violent incidents in the capital Tuesday. After a roadside bomb blew up an Army vehicle, killing one soldier, U.S. troops fired on a car, killing a man and a 10-year-old boy. Two mortars exploded near the central Baghdad Hotel, incinerating several cars.

The southern demonstrations coincided with a growing split between U.S. officials and a prominent Shiite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who demanded Monday that direct elections be held soon. U.S. authorities plan to hold regional caucuses to choose a national assembly but do not want to schedule elections until mid-2005.

By most accounts, Tuesday's protests in Kut were sparked by local and personal grievances. The crowd of about 1,000 demonstrators, who tried to storm City Hall and break into a bank, included recently dismissed soldiers and laborers who have long been jobless. Their wrath was directed largely at local and regional officials who they said demanded bribes or were former members of Hussein's Baath Party.

"I was a policeman before the war. When I went back to rejoin my station, they said I had to pay $150. Every single department is asking for bribes, and they are all followers of Saddam," complained Mohammed Ali, 23, whose head was wrapped in a bandage after two days of confronting the security forces. "People have gone without jobs for a year, and they are ready to tear down buildings."

Some Kut residents asserted the protests were instigated by extremist Shiite groups who had access to grenades and dynamite, which were thrown at Ukrainian occupation troops on Monday and Tuesday. But the protesters insisted that no political or religious group was behind them.

As the mob grew increasingly aggressive Tuesday, surging toward government buildings and setting off explosions, a local Shiite cleric, Laith Rubaie, intervened at the request of Iraqi police. At about 1 p.m., Rubaie called for calm over a loudspeaker and drew the demonstrators toward his downtown mosque for prayers.

"We are with you, we are beside you, we will demand jobs for you, but please don't use grenades and weapons. . . . You are frightening the women and children," Rubaie called over the din of agitated, argumentative voices. He said he agreed with the crowd that some police were "corrupt Baathists," but he said others were "caught in the middle. They don't want to shoot our own people."

Throughout the day, Iraqi police fanned out across the city, with pistol-brandishing agents careering around corners in unmarked cars and riflemen darting from block to block with their faces hidden by scarves.

Ukrainian occupation troops sat in tanks surrounding City Hall and lay on nearby rooftops with rifles.

Police said a half-dozen officers had been wounded during the two days of demonstrations, and protesters said they had taken several wounded friends or bystanders to hospitals, including a schoolgirl they said was shot in the leg Tuesday.

Many residents -- including doctors, school principals and police officers in riot gear -- said they were concerned about the violence but also sympathized with the protesters. They said the combination of high unemployment and widespread official corruption had driven many people to despair.

Some people complained that occupation authorities had been slow to deliver promised jobs and services, but most blamed Iraqi officials, including both former Baath Party members who managed to retain niches in the bureaucracy and former exiles who were appointed to national and regional posts by U.S. officials but have done little to help the public.

Although calm had been restored by mid-afternoon, the city remained tense and residents said that violence could easily flare again if authorities did not respond to the need for jobs. Aides to Rubaie said he had spoken with provincial officials and then promised the crowd a response to its demands within two days.

"The Shiite people are peaceful and dignified, but when their rights are stolen, no foreign troops can stop them," said Abdul Karim Mustafa, 43, a physician who was watching the protests from several blocks away. "These people are not terrorists, but they are desperate enough to die."

Etranger

La majorité chiite est en train de basculer dans l'antiaméricanisme

Irak : les émeutes minent l'ordre US

Des soldats ukrainiens ont tiré, hier, à Kout, sur des chômeurs qui attaquaient la préfecture à la grenade. Après l'affrontement, qui a fait 7 blessés, un religieux chiite calme les manifestants.AFP

Les émeutes font tache d'huile dans le sud de l'Irak, fief de la majorité chiite. Les Kurdes du Nord exigent une quasi indépendance. Les sunnites virent à l'islamisme. Pour le chercheur Pierre-Jean Luizard (1), qui s'est rendu en Irak à cinq reprises depuis la guerre, la reconstruction américaine est mal en point.

Six morts à Amara samedi, sept blessés à Kout hier. Les manifestations se multiplient dans le sud chiite de l'Irak. Pourquoi ?

Il y a des manifestations contre le chômage depuis juillet, parfois meurtrières. Simplement, on n'entendait pas parler de villes comme Kout ou Amara parce que les soldats de la coalition ne stationnent pas à l'intérieur de ces localités. Le pouvoir y a été remis à des notables, liés aux partis politiques chiites engagés dans le conseil de gouvernement transitoire. Leur clientélisme, la dissolution de l'armée, l'effondrement de l'économie, les mafias qui prospèrent... tout cela alimente une exaspération sociale.

La communauté chiite ­ 52 à 55 % des Irakiens ­ était pourtant restée paisible depuis le début de l'intervention américaine...

Pour la première fois dans l'histoire de l'Irak, les religieux de Nadjaf (sud) ­ le Vatican chiite ­ n'ont pas appelé à prendre les armes contre une invasion occidentale. Les chiites étaient arrivés à la conclusion que seul l'Occident, qui avait maintenu Saddam Hussein au pouvoir jusqu'en 2002, était à même de le renverser. Lorsque les Américains se sont installés, il y a eu l'ivresse de la libération : pour la première fois depuis 1977, les chiites ont pu se rendre en pèlerinage dans leurs lieux saints de Nadjaf et Kerbala... L'administrateur Paul Bremer a intégré au gouvernement provisoire les partis chiites rentrés d'exil, leur distribuant les plus belles villas des dignitaires de l'ancien régime, des téléphones portables... Pour la communauté chiite, qui avait toujours été exclue du pouvoir, c'était tentant.

La lune de miel est terminée ?

Ces partis sont vite devenus des réseaux de clientélisme, comme l'était le Baas sous Saddam. Ils se comportent comme une nouvelle nomenklatura, se sont ghettoïsés. Il suffit de voir leurs dirigeants à Bagdad. Ils vivent barricadés... comme les Américains ! Ils ont perdu leur base. La population s'est retournée. Aujourd'hui, un nom est sur toutes les lèvres : Moqtada Sadr, jeune fils d'un ayatollah chiite assassiné en 1999. C 'est un populiste, une sorte de taliban. Il incarne le chiisme de l'intérieur, antiaméricain, par opposition aux dirigeants rentrés d'exil. Mais il a commis un sacrilège en tentant de prendre par les armes les lieux saints de Kerbala et Nadjaf.

Qui peut, désormais, parler au nom de la majorité chiite d'Irak ?

L'ayatollah Sistani, la plus haute autorité religieuse, est sorti de sa ligne « quiétiste », autrement dit de non-intervention sur le terrain politique. Dans l'urgence. Pour ne pas laisser s'installer le vide et le chaos. Il réclame la tenue rapide d'élections au suffrage universel, selon le principe « une personne = un vote » et, ensuite seulement, le transfert de souveraineté aux Irakiens. Autrement dit : le pouvoir à la majorité arabe chiite et pas de gouvernement nommé par les Américains. Tout le contraire du plan de Paul Bremer. Par son aura, l'ayatollah Sistani détient les clés de l'avenir.

La reconstruction échafaudée par les Américains est menacée ?

La logique communautariste des Américains, qui s'appuient sur les chiites et les Kurdes, est un piège. Les Kurdes du nord (20% de la population) ne se sentent plus : ils réclament leur drapeau, leur hymne, leur monnaie et veulent faire de Kirkouk leur capitale, alors que les Turkmènes et les Arabes y sont majoritaires. Exclus de la nouvelle donne, les Sunnites qui dirigeaient l'ancien système se sont donnés aux islamistes : contrairement aux chiites et aux kurdes, qui étaient coupés du monde, ils peuvent adosser leur guérilla au grand ensemble sunnite. Cette guérilla empêche toute reconstruction, non seulement politique, mais aussi économique.

(1) Auteur de la Question irakienne (Fayard, 20 €)

Recueilli par Bruno RIPOCHE.

Iraq 's Shia Muslims march to demand early elections

By Patrick Cockburn in Kut

16 January 2004

Tens of thousands of Shia Muslims marched through the streets of Basra yesterday demanding early elections for an Iraqi national assembly. They shouted: "No to America " and "Yes to Sistani", after their spiritual leader, Ali Sistani, demanded elections.

The march, attended by 20,000 to 30,000 people, shows that Iraq's Shia Muslims, some 60 per cent of the population, who were denied power by Saddam Hussein, are increasingly fearful that they will be denied political power if a new assembly is selected indirectly by caucuses. The Shias in the south of the Iraq , even more impoverished than people in the rest of the country, are also deeply resentful at the failure of the US-led coalition and the interim Iraqi Governing Council to improve their standard of living nine months after the fall of Baghdad .

The issue has prompted several demonstrations and riots in southern cities such as Amara and Kut, both on the Tigris between Basra and Baghdad , over the past week in which police have opened fire on demonstrators demanding jobs.

In Kut, its streets filled with evil-smelling pools of muddy water after recent rains, the authorities were taking no chances yesterday. Police armed with sub-machine-guns had sealed of the mayor's office, the target of protesters' anger in a riot earlier this week in which one man was killed and three were wounded. Other men in leather jackets, also carrying Kalashnikovs, were on every street corner.

In an effort to quell the anger of the unemployed, which describes most of Kut's population, the authorities had organised a lottery inside a sports stadium where 2,000 applicants were trying for 150 jobs in the border police. Most of those waiting had been soldiers in the Iraqi army before it was disbanded in May by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad . Wahab Hashim said: "Most of us were privates and we only got about $25 (£13.70) a month, but at least it was something."

A hard-faced police lieutenant named Mohammed Nasser, clutching his gun, was quick to explain that the riots earlier in the week had been "organised by foreigners, Syrians, probably, or members of al-Qa'ida, maybe Somalis".

This also turned out to be the official line from the mayor's office, where Nia'ma Sultan Bash-Agha was holding court. The "troublemakers" and "terrorists" had come from other parts of Iraq .

Behind him on the wall was a picture by a local artist showing a snake, representing Saddam, sitting on a pile of skulls and bones, being strangled by a hand with the US and Iraqi flags draped over itsforearm.

Kut is a Shia town but the ex-soldiers were less interested in religion than a desperate desire for employment. A soldier was sitting in a truck guarding an enormous heap of job applications. Hamid Sasa, a graduate from the Technology Institute in Mosul , said: "I tried everywhere looking for a job - health, education, the police - but they have few jobs to give and when they do, they give them to their friends, their relatives or people who pay them bribes."

Omar Hussein, a neatly dressed student who had studied to be an electrician, said that there was another problem: "After the fall of Saddam Hussein the opposition parties came here and have taken all the jobs. They ask if Saddam murdered any of your relatives and if he did not they will not help you."

He added that Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Sciri) had taken charge in Kut, but has little support.

A problem for the US is that the exile parties such as Dawa and Sciri, well represented on the Governing Council in Baghdad , are often considered carpet-baggers in cities like Kut where they have few roots.

The Americans are distant in Kut; most Allied troops are from the Ukrainian army. They are regarded with some contempt mixed with pity by local people. Omar Hussein said: "They are really hopeless - even poorer than we are. Anybody can bribe them with a cigarette. They send one patrol a night into the city to show they are here, but otherwise they don't do anything."

There is no nostalgia for Saddam's rule in Kut, but it has become conventional wisdom among the people of the city that they have fewer jobs and their economic situation is worse than a year ago.