Baghdad: 'The sky is burning'

U.S. warplanes bomb Baghdad as street battles rage

Azzaman, January 12, 2007

U.S. troops are deploying massive air and ground fire power against heavily populated residential areas in Baghdad as a prelude to the start of the campaign to retake the city they invaded nearly four years ago.

“The sky is burning,” one witness refusing to be named said of the aerial bombing of mainly Sunni-dominated districts of Haifa, Sheikh Omar and Alawi.

The latest military drive to retake Baghdad, home to nearly six million people, comes following the failure of many others the U.S. military has undertaken since landing here.

In those offensives – and certainly in this one - the victims have been innocent Iraqis and the city’s rickety infrastructure. Witnesses say U.S. bombing has already knocked out several power lines and water mains in these areas.

The residents are without electricity and running water and there is no verifiable count of casualties.

U.S. and Iraqi troops say they have killed or captured scores of armed men or insurgents but residents refute those claims, saying many of the dead belong to militiamen whom they accuse of wearing military uniforms.

Baghdad is perhaps the world’s largest city in area. Baghdadis are fond of living in one or two-story houses and are known to dislike living in apartments.

The move to have the city under control comes when armed groups, militias and insurgents have emerged as a force to reckon with which has so far put the U.S. and Iraqi military at bay.

Many here believe the campaign will probably lead to more destruction and loss of life rather than eliminating or even weakening the power of anti-U.S. or government forces.

The city is already suffering from lack of basic services and security as whole quarters are now under the mercy of either militias or insurgents.

The declared aim of the U.S. military campaign against Baghdad is to rid the city of armed groups.

That means fighting both Sunni and Shiite armed men – in other words the whole city. To regain control of Shiite-dominated quarters, the troops will have to take on Shiite militia groups and to subdue Sunni quarters the troops will have take on the Sunni insurgents.

Right now it is not clear how the government will order its own troops to mount attacks on Shiite militia groups which either belong to or are affiliated with top officials in the government including the prime minister.

One reason for the success of the insurgents is their ability to melt down among the population. And the militias will simply hide or wear the Iraqi police or military uniforms.