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IRAQ: Questions Hover over Killings
By Peyman Pejman
MOSUL, Jul 25 (IPS) - The two-storey stone house was still smouldering 48 hours after a dozen U.S. missiles nearly destroyed its foundation, killing Ouday and Qusay, the two sons of fugitive Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
And as the Pentagon released the pictures of the two deceased, many Iraqis still wondered whether the ruthless two were really dead. While some found the pictures convincing enough, others criticised the United States for releasing the graphic and bloody pictures.
The Fadayeen Saddam, a militia group controlled by Uday, issued a video tape praising Saddam's son for "choosing martyrdom" rather than face capture by the U.S. forces.
The group said on the tape that the United States would be mistaken if it believed that the killing would reduce attacks on the coalition forces. The Mosul attack would only increase the intensity of the resistance, it said.
More than a dozen U.S. army and intelligence forensic officers continue to comb the Mosul house while dozens of other 101 Airborne Division soldiers who carried out the attack set up camp in the semi-built house next door.
On the streets of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, with a population of Sunni Muslims and Kurds, reaction to the capture was mixed.
Some 50 people, ranging from youngsters to men in their late 40s, chanted pro-Saddam slogans in front of the demolished house before international television cameras.
"With our spirits and to the last drop of our blood, we are with you Saddam," one of the slogans said.
Ahmed Mohammed Abdel Ghaffar, a carpenter, was more blunt.
"We want Saddam back," he said. "He was good for this country. He provided security. People who died in that house were four Iraqi martyrs. I don't care what their identity was. They are martyrs."
Others were less blatant. Some were happy the two sons, known for their ruthlessness, were gone. Others pretended the news did not matter.
It is not clear who led the U.S. troops to the house. The house owner, Abu Nawaf al-Zubeidi, is said to be a tribal leader with close ties to the Saddam regime.
Stories across the street from his house suggested that he had bragged about the presence of Ouday and Qusay to the owner of a nearby house, who in turn alerted the U.S. troops. Others said Zubeidi himself was the informer.
In Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Richardo Sanchez, commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq, refused to give any details about the informer, saying only that he had been taking into protective custody. Coalition forces have confirmed that the owner of the house and his son were arrested during the attack, but have not confirmed whether he was the informer.
The coalition forces had offered a 15 million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest or killing of each of Saddam's sons. Sanchez said he believed the informer would receive the money.
The sequence of the battle is somewhat unclear as well.
U.S. forces said that after receiving the tip they went to the house and asked permission to search it. When the occupants rejected the request, the forces surrounded the place, and attacked it after an hour.
Abdel Jabbar Mohammed Aref, who says he lives on the street and was an eyewitness to the event disputes the U.S. claim.
"About 9:10 am a Toyota Land Cruiser stopped in front of the house, and after two minutes the U.S. troops surrounded the place," he told IPS. "A BMW came out of the back-door garage of the house and started driving towards the soldiers. They stopped the car, arrested the passengers and took them to a nearby house.
"Then the soldiers threw in grenades and tried to open the door. They entered the house and faced gunfire, and were forced to leave the premises. Then people inside the house started attacking the soldiers from three corners of the second floor and that's when it all started. The Americans just poured missiles into the place."
Going by local and by official U.S. accounts, four soldiers were wounded, none seriously.
People in Mosul also claim that U.S. soldiers shot into a demonstration that took place near the house simultaneously, killing one Iraqi and injuring several others. The account could not be confirmed.
A day after the Mosul attack, the Al-Arabiye television station showed another tape-recording of Saddam in which he urged the Iraqi people to continue to resist the coalition forces, and promising that "the battle is not over."
The network said the tape was recorded on July 20, before the Mosul attack, and does not contain any references to Saddam's sons.
Since the attacks, other reports have emerged, implying that the U.S. soldiers did not know Saddam's sons were in the house, and acted only on tips that the house included "some high level Baath Party officials." (END/2003)
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