Pseudo Society
2005-01-19, 12:39 AM
Yeah, doesn't sound like this was very effective. Maybe it was at finding out some of the reasons the average Iraqi is pissed, but it isnt making many stand down.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20050119/wl_nm/iraq_insurgents_dc
Iraq Rebels Vent Frustrations at 'Peace Conference'
Tue Jan 18, 7:53 PM ET World - Reuters
By Lin Noueihed
BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - When dozens of suspected insurgents showed up for a "peace conference" in troubled Baquba on Tuesday, they told the governor sponsoring it why they would not lay down their weapons ahead of elections.
Midnight raids by U.S. and Iraqi forces that rudely awaken women and children in the conservative Arab country were unacceptable.
Arbitrary arrests and unemployment were driving more men, young and old, to a raging insurgency.
When the suspected guerrillas and their sympathizers were handed an oath of non-violence, few asked "where do I sign?"
Many of the men -- from clerics to tribal leaders to ex-army officers and ordinary professionals -- just wanted to know when U.S. forces would leave.
"I will not sign because if I sign I will have to stick to it," said Ahmed al-Obeidi, who said he was accused of being an insurgent, and hinted that he actually was.
"I would have signed it if it said no attacks on Iraqi forces, but no attacks on U.S. forces when they are occupying the country?"
The men were seeking money and jobs, not promises of prosperity and security almost two years after U.S. troops invaded.
As they aired their grievances to the governor, police chief and a senior Iraqi National Guard officer, armed U.S. troops lining the walls of the room looked on.
American diplomats sat in the back and listened, the kind of scene that reinforces Iraqi suspicions that Washington is running the show in their country.
GROWING FRUSTRATIONS
One day earlier, gunmen killed eight Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint near Baquba, whose governor, Abdallah al-Jibouri, said he had survived 14 assassination attempts. The violence prompted him to look for new ways of ending the bloodshed.
"Some of them have been deceived and some have done it for money. They sign a piece of paper saying they are no longer insurgents," said Jibouri.
He said whoever signs gains amnesty, making them eligible for jobs in a grim town where thousands were left unemployed after Iraq (news - web sites)'s former U.S. occupation power disbanded the army.
The oath, printed in both Arabic and English, committed signatories not to participate in or support any attacks against Iraqi security forces, the government or U.S.-led troops.
It demands they pledge not to support acts of violence or intimidation against voters during the Jan. 30 polls and not to speak against U.S.-led and Iraqi forces or the elections.
Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) on Tuesday pointed to the Jan. 30 elections as a way to stabilize Iraq by advancing democracy and depriving the insurgency of the motive for opposing a U.S.-picked government.
But those at the conference were skeptical.
"This pledge commits you to not even speak against the Americans. I cannot sign it," said cleric Fouad Attiya, 40.
"If I call from my mosque for occupation forces to leave my country does that make me a terrorist? Is this the freedom and democracy they are bringing us?"
The conference was the third of its kind to be held in Baquba, a mixed city of Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims 65 km (40 miles) north of the capital. But virtually all of those invited to the conference were Sunnis, like Jasem al-Obeidi, who has felt increasingly marginalized since the U.S.-led war that toppled fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
"I was arrested by the Americans and spent five months in Abu Ghraib (prison) because they accused me of being a Wahhabi," said the 64-year-old former army officer, referring to radical Sunni Islamists blamed for many bombings and hostage beheadings.
"I may be a Baathist, but I am not a Wahhabi. They have raided my house three times since then. I live across the road from a National Guard station. Every time someone attacks it they raid my house."
Iraq's majority Shi'ites long oppressed by Saddam are expected to cement their new-found power during the polls.
Some Iraqis say the Americans and the government should not assume all rebels were radicals determined to derail the elections. But night-time raids, checkpoints and arbitrary arrests were merely creating more enemies.
"The raids happen around 3 a.m.," said shopkeeper Mohammed Kamel. "We open the door before then so they don't knock it down."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20050119/wl_nm/iraq_insurgents_dc
Iraq Rebels Vent Frustrations at 'Peace Conference'
Tue Jan 18, 7:53 PM ET World - Reuters
By Lin Noueihed
BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - When dozens of suspected insurgents showed up for a "peace conference" in troubled Baquba on Tuesday, they told the governor sponsoring it why they would not lay down their weapons ahead of elections.
Midnight raids by U.S. and Iraqi forces that rudely awaken women and children in the conservative Arab country were unacceptable.
Arbitrary arrests and unemployment were driving more men, young and old, to a raging insurgency.
When the suspected guerrillas and their sympathizers were handed an oath of non-violence, few asked "where do I sign?"
Many of the men -- from clerics to tribal leaders to ex-army officers and ordinary professionals -- just wanted to know when U.S. forces would leave.
"I will not sign because if I sign I will have to stick to it," said Ahmed al-Obeidi, who said he was accused of being an insurgent, and hinted that he actually was.
"I would have signed it if it said no attacks on Iraqi forces, but no attacks on U.S. forces when they are occupying the country?"
The men were seeking money and jobs, not promises of prosperity and security almost two years after U.S. troops invaded.
As they aired their grievances to the governor, police chief and a senior Iraqi National Guard officer, armed U.S. troops lining the walls of the room looked on.
American diplomats sat in the back and listened, the kind of scene that reinforces Iraqi suspicions that Washington is running the show in their country.
GROWING FRUSTRATIONS
One day earlier, gunmen killed eight Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint near Baquba, whose governor, Abdallah al-Jibouri, said he had survived 14 assassination attempts. The violence prompted him to look for new ways of ending the bloodshed.
"Some of them have been deceived and some have done it for money. They sign a piece of paper saying they are no longer insurgents," said Jibouri.
He said whoever signs gains amnesty, making them eligible for jobs in a grim town where thousands were left unemployed after Iraq (news - web sites)'s former U.S. occupation power disbanded the army.
The oath, printed in both Arabic and English, committed signatories not to participate in or support any attacks against Iraqi security forces, the government or U.S.-led troops.
It demands they pledge not to support acts of violence or intimidation against voters during the Jan. 30 polls and not to speak against U.S.-led and Iraqi forces or the elections.
Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) on Tuesday pointed to the Jan. 30 elections as a way to stabilize Iraq by advancing democracy and depriving the insurgency of the motive for opposing a U.S.-picked government.
But those at the conference were skeptical.
"This pledge commits you to not even speak against the Americans. I cannot sign it," said cleric Fouad Attiya, 40.
"If I call from my mosque for occupation forces to leave my country does that make me a terrorist? Is this the freedom and democracy they are bringing us?"
The conference was the third of its kind to be held in Baquba, a mixed city of Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims 65 km (40 miles) north of the capital. But virtually all of those invited to the conference were Sunnis, like Jasem al-Obeidi, who has felt increasingly marginalized since the U.S.-led war that toppled fellow Sunni Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
"I was arrested by the Americans and spent five months in Abu Ghraib (prison) because they accused me of being a Wahhabi," said the 64-year-old former army officer, referring to radical Sunni Islamists blamed for many bombings and hostage beheadings.
"I may be a Baathist, but I am not a Wahhabi. They have raided my house three times since then. I live across the road from a National Guard station. Every time someone attacks it they raid my house."
Iraq's majority Shi'ites long oppressed by Saddam are expected to cement their new-found power during the polls.
Some Iraqis say the Americans and the government should not assume all rebels were radicals determined to derail the elections. But night-time raids, checkpoints and arbitrary arrests were merely creating more enemies.
"The raids happen around 3 a.m.," said shopkeeper Mohammed Kamel. "We open the door before then so they don't knock it down."