BY ROHAN PEARCE
On May 19, tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad. They chanted, "We will not sell this country", and demanded that the US military end its occupation of the country.
It was the latest sign that Washington's May 6 appointment of Paul Bremer as "administrator", replacing retired general Jay Garner, had done nothing to convince Iraqis to accept a US-installed puppet regime and Washington to grab Iraq's oil.
On the same day, according to the New York Times, a small group of oil workers protested at the oil ministry to demand that members of the Baath Party reappointed by US officials, be sacked. At the State Oil Marketing Organisation, added the NYT, "employees are disgruntled by the decision by the acting director general, Ali Rajat Hassan, to hold on to some old Baath Party members. Workers there plan to hold in-house elections on [May 21]."
As the occupation continues, with no firm commitment to respect the Iraqis' right to self-determination by the US, anger is growing. At a May 16 meeting in Baghdad with leaders of Iraqi exile groups, John Sawers, a British diplomat, commented: "It's quite clear that you cannot transfer all powers onto some interim body, because it will not have the strength or the resources to carry those responsibilities out."
Sawers' comments appear to indicate that Washington's plans to form a national assembly to rubber stamp the US occupation have been put off in response to the continuing anti-US mobilisations and the failure of the US to find Iraqis with any credibility among the masses willing to be part of such a puppet assembly. An Iraqis at the meeting told the NYT: "They want broader support because they are desperate to get the oil pumping."
On May 21, Bremer announced that a conference of Iraqi groups willing to participate in such a process will now be held in mid-July — a month later than planned, according to the BBC. Bremer told journalists that the delay was to "to broaden our reach with partners we're talking to". According to Lebanon's Daily Star, he also stated that it is likely to be "more than a year and less than two years" before the US forces allow the formation of an elected Iraqi government.
The day before, representatives of Iraqi organisations met with David Manning, a British foreign policy adviser, and announced that they planned to issue a formal statement protesting against the occupation regime's plans to create an "interim authority". A Kurdish representative told the NYT that the plan "will deprive Iraq of independence, sovereignty and diplomatic relations, which is not good for you or for us".
Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, is witnessing what US/British-style "democracy" really involves. A May 22 Washington Post report described the planned "election" of a council for the city: 300 "US-selected representatives of Kirkuk's four main ethnic groups and other 'independents' sit in an auditorium and select a council of 24, supplemented by six others chosen by the Americans. From this council, the members will vote for a mayor and his deputies."
Sporadic attacks against US-led occupation forces continue. On May 18, 400 US soldiers were ambushed after they entered Hawijah, near Kirkuk. A US military official told the Post it was "an intense, focused, organised and sustained firefight", which left some 16 Iraqis dead and one soldier wounded. In Baghdad, the Post reported on May 21: "For the first time in several days, US military commanders awoke to no reported troop casualties during the night."
On May 21, US soldiers fought Iraqis on the outskirts of Fallujah, the town where up to 18 protesters were shot dead by US troops in April. Iraqi witnesses to the clash told journalists that US troops opened fire randomly, killing at least two civilians. Mohammed Hadi, an Iraqi who lives in Fallujah, told Associated Press: "The Muslim and Arab people of Fallujah do not accept the American presence here... Attacks will increase because all the people are against them."
From Green Left Weekly, May 28, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.