Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-13erhevokaÇapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
TIME AUGUSTtS,2003
car bombing of the Jordanian embassy in
Baghdad-the deadliest incident of any kind
since the fall of Saddam's regime. Though
.senior intelligence officials say they don't
yet know who was behind the blast, Lieut.
General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of
allied forces in Iraq, declared it the work of
terrorists. A senior intelligence official tells
TIME that among the sUspects is Ansar al-
Islam, a group of Islamist fighters-Iraqi
Kurds and Arabs-with suspected links to al-
Qaeda. "They Gouldbe among those 'p.ossi~
bly involved;' the official says (see box).
While many Iraqis expressed outrage
at the perpetrators for attacking a civilian
building, the bombing seemed to have fueled
just as much bitterness at U.S. forces for
failing to prevent the attack and coming too
late to rescue the victims. Minutes after the
blast, looters ransacked the embassy, tore
up the Jordaniàn flag.and stomped on a
portrait of Jordanian King Abdullah's father.
By the time soldiers from the 1st Armored
~;;:... . . , ~
~~. -' '.~ ,'~'
:ï R. A Q~ COL LAB 0 R A T,OR 5 .
By BRIAN BENNETT
TIKRIT
-,
HEN FAYEKKUDAYARABBASQUIT HIS JOB TRANSLATING FOR
U.S. troops at the end of May,he thought the threats against
him and his family would end. Abbas had worked for the
Americans because the $40-a-week salary went a long way
toward taking care of his wife and daughters. At first he
tolerated harassment from some of his neighbors, who
accused him of betraying his country by cooperating with the occupying
forces. But as resistance to the U.S. intensified, Abbas found himself
in even greater danger. A month after he stoppeq wotking with the
Americans, his name showed up on a list of "traitors" being circulated
. among anti-U.S. insurgents. Then a grenade exploded in his garden,
and someone scrawled ABBASMUST BE KILLED on the wall of his home.
Abbas, 58, was standing last week in an
alley a block from his house in Samarra, 20
miles south ofTikrit, when two men with red
scarves wrapped around their heads
. turned the comer on a blackJawa motorcycle.
One of them shot Abbas in the leg and sped
off. Abbas lay bleeding in the alley for an
hour until an ambulance arrived. None ofhis
. neighbors went to his aid. 'They were fright-
. ened;' he said later from his hospital bed, his
right leg bandae:ed up to his waist, "that
" .
TARGET Though Abbas had quit his job, he
was shot for having worked with Americans
Division arrived, some30 minutes later,
the crowd had turned hostile. "Screw you,
Americans!" screamed a young Iraqi in a
white T shirt. "Screw you!"
Though that kind of anti-American
rage is by no means universal among
Iraqis, officials fear that the rising militancy
of those opposed to the U.S. may be dis-
suading them from assisting U.S. troops,
m~ybe they would be the next on the list:'
With U.S. forces trying to close in on sharing intelligence on the whereabouts of
Saddam Hussein and a new Iraqi governing Saddam's loyalists and collaborating in the
council trying to assert its authority, armed rebuilding effort. According to Titan, the
insurgents are expanding the scope of their. cOmpany that manages the translators for
attacks to sow fear among ordinary Iraqis the U.S. military, at least a dozen translaand
discourage them from cooperating with tors have been killed in the past month by
the U.S. The targeting of civilians escalated anti-American militants. Other translators
to terrifying new heightS last Thursday, hired by U.S. troops say they lie about their
when at least eight and as manyas 19people jobs for fear of reprisal. When Aymen, 36,
were killed and more than 50 injured in a an interpreter for the 3rd Infantry Divisions
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