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Postwar Iraq
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Looking for trouble
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The CO was shouting into his headset now: "I want this moving now, now, now," he screamed, and there was another burst of gunfire overhead. Then they were there, the Warriors, with their 30mm cannon and chain guns, appearing over the crest of the bridge, just as the cavalry should. And there at last was a chance, a chance of getting out of there alive, before that man with the RPG worked out how to fire in a straight line, before any of the bullets bouncing all around the soldiers in the street finally found their mark. |
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ODAY al-Dibaj clasps the bars of his prison cell, his hair cropped close to his head, his beard neatly trimmed. He speaks fast, and passionately. The people love Muqtada al-Sadr, Dibaj says, because Sadr loves his country and supports all the good people in Iraq. Around him, the 20 or so other men with whom he shares his filthy cell in Basra's main prison press forward, agreeing with him, talking over him. Behind them, in between the slogans painted on black sheets, a picture of Sadr dominates the rear wall. April 17, 2004 |
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Scots Guards sweep desert to thwart operation by insurgents AN entire British battlegroup was scrambled into action in southern Iraq last night after reports of a group of insurgents on the move south of Basra. More than 400 soldiers from the Scots Guards and Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment raced out of their bases to sweep an area of desert 40km square south of the Sunni town of Az Zubayr. 1-02-2005 The Scotsman |
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AHMED'S head is turned away to one side, his mouth open, the blood which streaks his face already dry. His right hand is by his side, the left curled across his stomach. The fingers stop a few inches from the inch-wide hole just above his groin. Someone has tried to stem the bleeding from another hole in the top of his chest, but there was too much blood. It has soaked his T-shirt, which is pulled up to expose the wounds, and poured down his body, mingling with his sweat, leaving pale rivulets across the skin. September 17, 2004 |
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IN THE darkness by the side of the road, Robert Grieve's Land Rover rolled over and over, bullets ripping through it and out the other side. The rocket-propelled grenade had hit the tyre and bounced off, but the force of the blast had tipped the vehicle over. As it came to rest, Grieve leaned forward just as his driver leaned back. In that moment, a bullet flashed between them, where their heads had been a second earlier. April 24, 2004 |
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THE streets of old Basra are silent, as they have been for hours since the pre-election curfew began. The shopkeepers keeping guard on their roofs against thieves taking advantage of the empty streets have abandoned their watch; the night vision equipment on the helicopter traversing the sky above the city shows fewer and fewer human forms. In the back streets around one of the old town's polling stations, British soldiers wait January 16, 2005 |
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THERE is a cloud of black smoke hanging over the area of Basra adjacent to the Shatt al Arab waterway as the Land Rovers approach the palace that Saddam Hussein built but never used. The soldiers providing top cover are the first to see it. Someone says they heard a bang from that direction as they left the police station a mile or so away. September 25, 2004 |
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Post-election Iraq is calm, but will it last? MY NAME? My name is Hanif Masoor, he says. He is smartly dressed, his dark blue jacket bearing the word Security picked out in yellow thread in English and Arabic. It is pitch black in the countryside on the southern edge of Basra, the full moon long gone. From the marshes all around comes the sound of bullfrogs croaking. It fills the air. February 2, 2005 |
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FIREPOWER AND FEAR RULE ON THE ROAD TO BASRA ALI Baba," said the man standing at the checkpoint, drawing his finger across his throat and gesturing to the road ahead. "Ali Baba," he said, his arms stretched out towards the soldiers imploringly. In Iraq, "Ali Baba" means thieves. His car had been shot up just a short distance from the police positions and he was in fear for his life. The soldiers had slowed down to weave through an Iraqi police checkpoint about half- way between the eastern town of al Amarah, close to the Iranian border, and Basra, Iraq's second city, when they saw the man waving and shouting for them to stop. His colleague, too, was shouting and beckoning for the two Land Rovers to stop. There was something so insistent, so desperate about their cries that Lieutenant-Colonel Jonny Gray, the senior officer in the first vehicle, told his driver to pull up. April 20, 2004 |
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BRITISH TROOPS 'IN IRAQ FOR TEN YEARS' BRITISH troops may have to stay in Iraq for up to ten years to ensure security, the commanding officer of British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra told The Scotsman yesterday. Brigadier Nick Carter's warning came as the security situation in southern Iraq deteriorated after a day in which British troops came under sustained attack from supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtadr al- Sadr, in the town of Al Amarah. April 19, 2004 |
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Copyright ©2005 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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