RESISTANCE SPREADS IN IRAQ: REBELLION SHAKES BRITISH OCCUPATION

RESISTANCE SPREADS IN IRAQ: REBELLION SHAKES BRITISH OCCUPATION

By John Catalinotto

August 18, 2003--The British occupiers of southern Iraq are beginning to run into the same trouble as the U.S. occupiers in the rest of the country: the Iraqis want them out.

For three days beginning Aug. 9, the city of Basra exploded in mass protests against the British occupation. People on the streets threw stones at the troops in scenes that reminded many of the Palestinian Intifada.

Basra is Iraq's second-largest city, located near the Kuwaiti border in the far south of Iraq. Some 40,000 British troops have replaced the old Iraqi state in Basra and the region around it. Four months of occupation have left the region with inadequate electricity and fuel--and the increasing humiliation of being ruled by the old colonialists.

Imperialist Britain was the colonial power in Iraq for the first half of the 20th century. In the period from 1920 to 1922, it took 70,000 British troops to crush a rebellion. That was a time when far fewer Iraqis were armed or knew how to handle modern weapons than now.

British troops in the region are reputed to be more experienced in exercising police powers than the heavily armed and shielded assault forces in the U.S. military. Some served in the occupation of the northern provinces of Ireland, suppressing the liberation struggle in that oldest British colony.

But by Aug. 10 these troops had put their helmets and body armor back on and were firing bullets over the heads and rubber shells at the feet of the rebelling Iraqis. In some cases they shot directly at Iraqis.

On Aug. 10, British forces shot an Iraqi protester dead after a crowd tried to block four four-wheel-drive vehicles from crossing the main bridge leading to the airport and British military headquarters.

A Nepalese guard from Global Security, a private company hired to provide security for "coalition" bases, was also killed by gunfire while delivering mail from Kuwait to United Nations staff in Basra.

The Basra office of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)--the name used by the occupation regime--said in a statement on Aug. 10: "There has been widespread unrest in Basra today in response to the current critical fuel and power shortage. Many districts have had minimal power for four days now."

Temperatures in Basra have exceeded 122 degrees Fahrenheit, which means the general atmosphere fluctuates between a sauna and a steam bath, depending on the humidity. Once the electricity failed, no air conditioners or other cooling devices were available. On top of this, fuel shortages meant no one could use individual generators to produce power, while long lines of automobiles waited at gas stations for available gasoline.

DON'T MINIMIZE ORGANIZED RESISTANCE

While growing physical discomfort may have sparked this latest mass protest, it would be wrong to minimize the organized resistance in southern Iraq.

CPA spokesperson Steven Bird said that, since the protests had begun, stones and other missiles had been thrown at a number of Western vehicles and its employees had been on high alert all day. (The Scotsman, Aug. 10)

Bird said there was an "element of organization" in attacks against the British Army and civilian administration workers but that "it is not clear who is behind this."

The British forces have grown more concerned about organized resistance since an Aug. 5 gun battle in which a British 12-person unit at an outpost was surrounded by an armed group of about 20 resistance fighters armed with AK-47s. It took a Quick Reaction Force of 40 troops in a Chinook helicopter plus armored Warrior vehicles to keep the unit from being overrun.

All coalition troops were then ordered to leave Al-Husaia. That town, where the battle took place, is just 15 miles from Majar-al-Kabir--where resistance fighters killed six British military police officers in June. According to the Aug. 6 British newspaper The Mirror, "both towns are in a fiercely independent area where tensions are growing over the British presence."

Along with these signs of organized resistance is the growing mass anger as the CPA occupation fails to restore services. One British reporter captured the mood on a line of hundreds of drivers waiting for gas. "'I've been queuing since 8 p.m. last night,' snarled Abdul Ruzak, 40, a taxi driver. Every car you see here has done the same--we have families to feed. Cut the ears off the British. We wish Saddam was back.'" (The Scotsman)

Basra is in an area that had a history of opposition to the former Iraqi leader. It looks like the British occupation is in for big trouble.