RESISTANCE CONTINUES: IRAQIS AMBUSH U.S. OCCUPATION FORCES/ NO BLOOD FOR OIL--BRING GI'S HOME NOW!
By Sara Flounders
May 29, 2003--Iraqis are resisting colonial occupation in Iraq.
"These have been some of the bloodiest times for U.S. forces in Iraq since the end of the war," ABCNews.com reported May 28, "and there are few signs that the situation is going to get better anytime soon."
In Fallujah, several Iraqis in a pickup truck opened fire at a U.S. military checkpoint on May 27, killing two troops and wounding nine. One witness said the firefight lasted four hours. (AP)
When the gun battle ended, a U.S. helicopter and Bradley fighting vehicle lay in wreckage. One Iraqi man held up a piece of the helicopter to ABCNews. "Let Mr. Bush see this," he said.
The mood in Fallujah, a working-class town on the outskirts of Baghdad of 200,000--many of whom had jobs in government-built factories before the imperialist war destruction--is especially angry. On April 28 and 30, U.S. soldiers fired into protest rallies, killing a reported total of 18 civilians and wounding dozens.
In its coverage of the Fallujah firefight, the May 28 New York Times quotes a man it identifies as a brigadier in the disbanded Iraqi Republican Guard: "Mr. Zobai said guerrilla teams had been formed to exact revenge on American forces."
The article also quotes an enraged farmer. "The Americans have really hurt us," he said. "They didn't come here to give us liberty, or free us. They came here to invade us.
"We want to be free. We can govern ourselves. A million Saddam Husseins would be better than having one American soldier in our streets."
NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT
Hours after the Fallujah gun battle, two U.S. military police were wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a Baghdad police station.
On May 25 there were three separate ambushes against U.S. troops in Baghdad--all along the highway between the city center and the airport.
Each attack used a different tactic.
A mine was placed on the highway and detonated as a Humvee with four soldiers drove past. All four were wounded.
Hours later someone dropped a grenade from an overpass.
Later a Humvee with three military police officers hit a trip wire, triggering an explosion. No injuries were reported.
On May 26, one soldier was killed and another wounded when their convoy was ambushed in northern Iraq. In Baghdad, a land mine destroyed a vehicle, killing one soldier and wounding three.
Several other acts of resistance to the occupiers failed.
Some U.S. intelligence sources are brushing off these attacks as a "last gasp" of former Iraqi resistance. But according to ABCNews, "Some commanders say privately they believe the recent attacks are a sign that opposition to American troops is getting more organized." (May 28)
What is clear is that anger at the occupation is deepening, evidenced by the sheer number of demonstrations and protests in recent weeks as tens of thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets in political protests to demand an end to occupation.
They have also demanded payment of pensions and long overdue paychecks, distribution of food and restoration of electricity.
After the recent announcement by U.S. civil administrator L. Paul Bremer III officially disbanding the national army, Iraqi soldiers reportedly marched on a U.S. command center demanding their back pay. And they reminded the occupiers that all of them still had their weapons at home.
There are already reports that many U.S. soldiers in Iraq are angry at being kept there after having been promised they would be sent home at the end of the war. The Pentagon generals are sacrificing the lives of young women and men in an illegal and brutal occupation that has not an iota of justification. The international movement against the war needs to support this heroic resistance against occupation. The movement in the U.S. has an added motivation for continuing the struggle. It must save the lives of Iraqis and U.S. youth by demanding: "Bring the troops home! U.S. out now!"
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