Home
No fanfare as the saviour of Baghdad flees
Martin Chulov
December 16, 2011.
As the US troops leave, others feel they have been left in the lurch, writes Martin Chulov in Baghdad.
IT IS not just the American military who are leaving Baghdad this week. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal is also packing his bags. But his exit will not have the fanfare or media profile of that of the US military, which once upon a time hailed him as the city's saviour.
Sheikh Mustafa will be gone by Monday, just like the rump of the US presence in Iraq. He will leave for the Kurdish north, far from the al-Qaeda groups that continue to hunt him, having finally conceded that life in their cross-hairs is untenable.
American forces, meanwhile, will leave after a trooping of the colours, saying that stability has been restored after more than eight gruelling years. Iraq has readied itself this week for a moment big on symbolism, but, like so much of the war and occupation, what appears to be big in symbolism is subject to claims that it is lacking in substance.
Sheikh Mustafa is a former general in Saddam's army who helped the US oust al-Qaeda from the southern half of the capital. He believes he and thousands like him are being left in the lurch by the Americans.
He was a prominent leader of the Awakening Council, a group supported and funded by the US in early 2007 to turn on al-Qaeda. The 2000 men under his control, and the 130,000 nationwide who eventually formed a huge US-backed militia, were partly responsible for what is seen as one of the war's turning points. Without them, US officers and White House officials have conceded, Iraq would have slipped further into an abyss.
''The Sahawa members haven't got what they deserved,'' said Sheikh Mustafa, using the Arabic term for the group, which also became known as the Sons of Iraq. ''They deserve what they were promised, and [the US] did not deliver on their promise.
''They tell us there is an Iraqi government … But there are Sahawa members who cannot defend themselves.''
In four years Sheikh Mustafa has survived six explosions aimed at killing him. This year his personal guard has been literally cut down from 12 to seven, by five different attacks.
His son has been poisoned, along with his animals. His wife and daughters never leave home for fear of attack. In the past three years every one of Sheikh Mustafa's senior colleagues in the surrounding area of Dora has been killed or wounded.
Across Iraq, all Sahawa leaders have similar stories.
What remains of the lauded band of rebels is being picked off by an enemy that is relentless and, according to men like Sheikh Mustafa, undefeated.
''I wish I could put my head on a pillow and sleep comfortably,'' he said. ''Is it better than before? Of course it isn't. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with anyone, you just had to be careful not to go near his chair.''
GUARDIAN
Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Martin Chulov
December 16, 2011.
As the US troops leave, others feel they have been left in the lurch, writes Martin Chulov in Baghdad.
IT IS not just the American military who are leaving Baghdad this week. Sheikh Mustafa Kamal is also packing his bags. But his exit will not have the fanfare or media profile of that of the US military, which once upon a time hailed him as the city's saviour.
Sheikh Mustafa will be gone by Monday, just like the rump of the US presence in Iraq. He will leave for the Kurdish north, far from the al-Qaeda groups that continue to hunt him, having finally conceded that life in their cross-hairs is untenable.
American forces, meanwhile, will leave after a trooping of the colours, saying that stability has been restored after more than eight gruelling years. Iraq has readied itself this week for a moment big on symbolism, but, like so much of the war and occupation, what appears to be big in symbolism is subject to claims that it is lacking in substance.
Sheikh Mustafa is a former general in Saddam's army who helped the US oust al-Qaeda from the southern half of the capital. He believes he and thousands like him are being left in the lurch by the Americans.
He was a prominent leader of the Awakening Council, a group supported and funded by the US in early 2007 to turn on al-Qaeda. The 2000 men under his control, and the 130,000 nationwide who eventually formed a huge US-backed militia, were partly responsible for what is seen as one of the war's turning points. Without them, US officers and White House officials have conceded, Iraq would have slipped further into an abyss.
''The Sahawa members haven't got what they deserved,'' said Sheikh Mustafa, using the Arabic term for the group, which also became known as the Sons of Iraq. ''They deserve what they were promised, and [the US] did not deliver on their promise.
''They tell us there is an Iraqi government … But there are Sahawa members who cannot defend themselves.''
In four years Sheikh Mustafa has survived six explosions aimed at killing him. This year his personal guard has been literally cut down from 12 to seven, by five different attacks.
His son has been poisoned, along with his animals. His wife and daughters never leave home for fear of attack. In the past three years every one of Sheikh Mustafa's senior colleagues in the surrounding area of Dora has been killed or wounded.
Across Iraq, all Sahawa leaders have similar stories.
What remains of the lauded band of rebels is being picked off by an enemy that is relentless and, according to men like Sheikh Mustafa, undefeated.
''I wish I could put my head on a pillow and sleep comfortably,'' he said. ''Is it better than before? Of course it isn't. Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with anyone, you just had to be careful not to go near his chair.''
GUARDIAN
Read more: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
