Clash illustrates ire of Saddam loyalists

The gunbattle was one of many clashes after Saddam's capture.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- It began as a pro-Saddam Hussein march in the capital's Adhamiya district and turned into a raging gunbattle with U.S. armored units surrounding a dozen fighters. When the smoke cleared, seven Iraqis lay dead.
A week after the bloody exchange, the bitterness left behind in this northwest Baghdad neighborhood with strong ties to Saddam and his Sunni sect illustrates the challenges still facing the U.S.-led coalition, even with the former dictator behind bars.
In Sunni enclaves such as Adhamiya, there is increasing hostility toward occupation forces. The ill feelings derive not only from die-hard loyalty to Saddam but also from mounting frustration over the breakdown of municipal services and security and Sunnis' sense of exclusion from Iraq's reconstruction. Many residents here are former Baath Party members or bureaucrats who were purged from the government and haven't received a paycheck in months.
'Creating enemies'
"The Americans are creating enemies for themselves who will help the terrorists," said Amar Hashimi, a respected former Iraqi army general and member of the Adhamiya neighborhood council.
"Before, a minority was against the Americans," said Sheik Sabbah Naja Adhamiy, another council member and local religious leader. "Now it's the majority."
On Sunday, the shootout was the focus of the weekly neighborhood council meeting, and U.S. army officers attended to discuss it. But reconciliation proved elusive: Hashimi and 11 other members of the 25-person council walked out after the Americans refused to apologize. Many council members -- including President Luqman Jassim and Hashimi, the district's representative on the Baghdad City Council -- said they might resign.
Tried to stop march
The gunbattle in Adhamiya was one of many clashes that erupted following the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam. The clash occurred as U.S. troops tried to disperse a pro-Saddam march down the main street of the district.
Some marchers wore ski masks and carried firearms as they demonstrated in the shadow of the 800-year-old Abu Hanifa shrine, a destination for thousands of Sunni pilgrims. The square in front of the shrine was the last place Saddam was seen in public, on April 9, before going into hiding.
The Coalition Provisional Authority has decreed all such marches illegal. Army Col. Peter Mansoor, commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, and Lt. Col. William Rabena, both of whom attended Sunday's council meeting, initially sent a small Iraqi police force backed by a score or so of U.S. troops, including military police, to disperse the crowd.
But when one of the American MPs was fired upon and four U.S. troops were wounded by a grenade, the commanders sent in reinforcements. Soon, some 300 U.S. troops backed by 10 Abrams tanks and four Bradley fighting vehicles were converging on the square. Before long, U.S. troops were taking fire from gunmen using AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, and the firefight was on.
When the shooting stopped, seven Iraqis lay dead, including two innocent bystanders, Hashimi said.
Mansoor told the council the use of overwhelming force was justified after his troops were fired on with AK-47 rounds and RPGs. He told the council to send a message to the "armed thugs that if they want to turn Adhamiyah into a battle zone, bring it on."
But Hashimi and other residents says the incident could have been avoided had the marchers been left alone.