Shiite Slum Proves Tough for U.S. Troops

Shiite Slum Proves Tough for U.S. Troops
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Standing on a street lined with shuttered stores, Karim Habib watched four U.S. tanks rumble through the impoverished Shiite enclave of Sadr City, past what was left of a police station blown up a few days earlier.

Once grateful to Americans for ridding them of Saddam Hussein, many in this Baghdad slum have come to hate U.S. troops for bringing chaos — and not much else — to their door.

"It's like these tanks are rolling over my own body," Habib said bitterly. "I don't care if the fighting hurts our businesses as long as we don't see them (the Americans) in our country."

It seems like the fighting never stops in Sadr City, where insurgents pop out from behind crumbling walls to fire rocket propelled grenades at U.S. tanks, raid police stations where U.S. forces are deployed and set roadside bombs timed to explode when American convoys pass.

"Sadr City is the heart of darkness and to control it is very, very difficult," said Amatzia Baram, an expert on Iraq at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington. "These guys want to fight."

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040613/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_heart_of_darkness&cid=540&ncid=1480

certainly more astute than the average ameriKan....

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Habib, who manufactures soft drinks, said the Americans asked for trouble by making false promises and then attacking the people who were making good on efforts to alleviate poverty.

"They are the ones who made the people fight them," he said of the Americans. "They said they would rebuild the country and give the people their rights. It's all lies."