Residents in Baghdad grow resentful of U.S. occupation

Some residents felt safer under Saddam's strict rule.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A year after the fall of Baghdad, disappointment infects the Iraqi capital like a virus.
The mood here is grim at best, angry at worst and filled with a feeling that the United States failed to live up to the promise it brought to this city along with its soldiers when it toppled the decades-long dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.
From the poor Shiite slums to the better-off Sunni neighborhoods, to parts of the city that are religiously mixed, it is hard to find people who are pleased with the results of a yearlong U.S. military occupation and efforts at building a democratic society.
While many people are quick to thank the United States for ridding the country of Saddam's brutal reign, most capital residents interviewed said they just wish U.S. forces would go home.
The resentment is fed by a number of factors, including shame that an outside power had to rid them of Saddam.
Another factor is the continued lack of security here and elsewhere in the country, something that leads a small minority to yearn for the days when the old regime's terror tactics ensured that the streets were safe at night.
And members of the Iraqi Governing Council, seen by many as puppets of the United States, have already convinced a number of Baghdad residents that if they get the chance to vote, these will not be their candidates of choice.
In Fallujah
Further fueling the resentment is the military action in Fallujah, where U.S. Marines are battling insurgents for control of the primarily Sunni population of 200,000.
On Thursday, the eve of the anniversary of the U.S. taking control of Baghdad, Sunni and Shiite Muslims were donating food, medicine and clothing to be delivered to Fallujah.
"What the Americans are saying about democracy is a bunch of lies," said Adnan Sediq, 41, a computer programmer in Adhameya, a middle-class Sunni Muslim neighborhood in northwestern Baghdad. "They use democracy as an excuse to do what they want. Now they are killing people in Fallujah for democracy."
After decades of totalitarian rule, Iraqis in Baghdad and elsewhere are finding it difficult to see the plan behind the promise of a better life through democracy. Many residents see their leaders, and thus the course of the country, being dictated by the United States. They say the U.S.-appointed members of the Governing Council are not representative of Iraqis but rather largely composed of exiles who returned for reasons of self-interest.
"They need to listen to everybody, not just [Ahmed] Chalabi," said Sediq, referring to the Iraqi Shiite who lived in exile for years and grew close to the Bush administration as it moved toward action against Saddam.
Chalabi isn't the only member of the interim government being criticized. "This government they offer is an American government, not an Iraqi government," said Mohammed Ali, the only name the photo studio owner in the poor Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City would give. "They all are rich and came back to get richer. They spend their days drinking whiskey and brandy."
No joy
Some 2 million people live in the dank and dismal Sadr City slum, where hordes of goats graze near barefoot boys playing soccer in the dusty streets. The neighborhood is a stronghold of the Al-Mahdi militia, and eight U.S. soldiers were killed there in ambushes Sunday.
"There was joy in the streets a year ago," said Ali. "Now the economic situation is terrible. There is no security."
These are sentiments not heard publicly inside the so-called Green Zone, where the Coalition Provisional Authority administers the country from one of Saddam's many presidential palaces.
"What a difference a year can make in the life of the Iraqi people," coalition administrator L. Paul Bremer said last month in marking with fanfare the 100 days before the scheduled hand over of control to Iraqis on June 30.
But even the most optimistic American officials acknowledge that for many Iraqis the difference is far too modest. The hopes that an Iraqi people drunk on freedom and thirsty for democracy would greet U.S. soldiers as liberators have proved every bit as unfounded as the hopes of the Iraqi people: that the U.S.-led invasion and occupation would right wrongs, settle scores and, most of all, provide almost instant peace and prosperity.
Baghdad today is a far more dangerous place for the average person than it was when the statues of Saddam still stood.
Many conversations with Baghdad residents begin and end with a lament about crime and violence. Even Iraqis who say they feel safe in their immediate neighborhood -- and polls show that many do -- say the general lawlessness of the capital at best unnerves them and at worst imprisons them in the small, safe zones.
Even attending Friday prayers, one man said, is a leap of faith.
"It's true that Saddam was a thief, but he was just one thief," said Mohammed Daoud, 50, a technician who has been jobless since Baghdad fell.