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March 28, 2003

Tanks & Soldiers Suppress Iraqi Uprisings

Today people are asking why the Iraqi people haven’t yet risen up to welcome us. This LA TIMES story may explain it:

Phone Calls in Code Keeping Iraqi Americans in Touch

From Basra, the brother of San Diego resident Najem Al Ekabi, 51, described a town under siege, with water and electricity cut off, schools and shops closed and constant explosions from missiles and artillery.

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Earlier in the week, relatives told him of uprisings against Saddam Hussein’s regime in at least some parts of the city, but those now appear to have been quelled, Al Ekabi said.

The regime has stationed tanks, soldiers and their weapons throughout the city—especially in the Shiite Muslim neighborhoods that fostered the earlier uprising, Al Ekabi said.

“He has planted people everywhere, using schools, hospitals, spiritual and religious sites,” Al Ekabi said. “That’s why it’s very hard to rise up.”