BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United States insists die-hard supporters of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) are behind a spate of deadly attacks on U.S. troops -- but many Iraqis believe American blunders are more to blame.
They argue it is heavy-handed American raids, along with the failure to restore basic services, that are fueling the violence and insecurity, not Saddam loyalists.
"The Americans are just using the Baath as an excuse to stay in the country...They don't want an Iraqi government. So they just talk about the Baath," said Ali Jassem, a unemployed Shiite Iraqi who lives in a slum.
"We will rise up and fight the Americans. We have just moved from one dictatorship to another."
U.S. forces said on Wednesday they had captured presidential secretary and senior bodyguard Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, number four on the list of 55 most wanted Iraqis.
The U.S. military said some of the millions of dollars also seized in a raid had probably been set aside by members of Saddam's outlawed Baath party to pay supporters of the missing president to kill American troops.
Few Iraqis are likely to be impressed by that claim.
They say many Baathists have fled and some have been killed in apparent reprisal shootings, suggesting that anti-American sentiment, fueled by unpaid salaries, insecurity and failing services is to blame for the violence, not Saddam's henchmen.
"If the Americans really want to know what we are concerned about, it is not the Baathists. It is the lack of electricity and lack of basic services such as garbage collection," said Akram Hussein, an assistant in a compact disc shop.
"This talk about the Baath is an Indian movie made up by the Americans to suit their needs."
FEAR BARRIER BROKEN
Iraqis suggest that the overwhelming terror Saddam once inspired has evaporated. Even though he remains missing since Baghdad fell on April 9, his supporters no longer have the power to intimidate their countrymen, these Iraqis argue.
The capture of Tikriti, a man who rarely left his master's side, may bring U.S. forces closer to finding Saddam.
Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq (news - web sites), has said the uncertainty over Saddam's fate has led some Iraqis to believe the Baath may be back, hampering declared U.S. efforts to set the country on a stable path to peace and prosperity.
"The fact that we have not been able to prove conclusively that he is dead or capture him alive is an intimidating factor for some people in this country," he said on Tuesday.
"It intimidates people into saying 'we don't want to cooperate because we are afraid the Baath is going to come back'."
Towns in Saddam's former Sunni heartland may still have Baath party members who can intimidate Iraqis.
But even there, many residents say the violence is fueled by resentment toward the U.S. occupation and the way troops detain suspects and search houses, not by loyalty to Saddam.
FURY IN STREETS
In Baghdad, shots fired by at least one U.S. soldier killed two Iraqis on Wednesday during a violent protest by former Iraqi soldiers outside the U.S. headquarters in the capital.
U.S. troops backed by tanks and helicopters later conducted a weapons search in west Baghdad. Soldiers manacled an Iraqi man and slammed him onto the pavement as Iraqis looked on.
Such scenes are more vivid in Iraqi minds than the alleged clandestine activities of shadowy Baath party insurgents.
Iraqis seem relaxed about the Baath even in Sadr City, home to at least two million Shi'ites, the majority group that suffered under Saddam's Sunni-dominated government.
Low-ranking Baath member Muayid Ghadad, a security guard at a sewage plant, was sitting on a rusty chair three weeks ago when two men pumped six bullets into his head and chest.
"I think it is because he was in the Baath. He was not a senior member," said his brother Ibrahim, also a low-ranking Baathist.
The neighborhood's senior Baath official and others once spied on workmates, neighbors and even family members. He escaped just before gunmen riddled his house with bullets.
"The Baath is gone and the Americans know it," said Sheikh Kassem Sudani, a Shi'ite cleric, standing over old Baath documents scattered outside a former party office.
"They remind me of the Baath. Every time there is an attack on their troops they say it was terrorists or the Baath. That's what the Baath did. They always blamed someone else."
They argue it is heavy-handed American raids, along with the failure to restore basic services, that are fueling the violence and insecurity, not Saddam loyalists.
"The Americans are just using the Baath as an excuse to stay in the country...They don't want an Iraqi government. So they just talk about the Baath," said Ali Jassem, a unemployed Shiite Iraqi who lives in a slum.
"We will rise up and fight the Americans. We have just moved from one dictatorship to another."
U.S. forces said on Wednesday they had captured presidential secretary and senior bodyguard Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, number four on the list of 55 most wanted Iraqis.
The U.S. military said some of the millions of dollars also seized in a raid had probably been set aside by members of Saddam's outlawed Baath party to pay supporters of the missing president to kill American troops.
Few Iraqis are likely to be impressed by that claim.
They say many Baathists have fled and some have been killed in apparent reprisal shootings, suggesting that anti-American sentiment, fueled by unpaid salaries, insecurity and failing services is to blame for the violence, not Saddam's henchmen.
"If the Americans really want to know what we are concerned about, it is not the Baathists. It is the lack of electricity and lack of basic services such as garbage collection," said Akram Hussein, an assistant in a compact disc shop.
"This talk about the Baath is an Indian movie made up by the Americans to suit their needs."
FEAR BARRIER BROKEN
Iraqis suggest that the overwhelming terror Saddam once inspired has evaporated. Even though he remains missing since Baghdad fell on April 9, his supporters no longer have the power to intimidate their countrymen, these Iraqis argue.
The capture of Tikriti, a man who rarely left his master's side, may bring U.S. forces closer to finding Saddam.
Paul Bremer, the top U.S. administrator in Iraq (news - web sites), has said the uncertainty over Saddam's fate has led some Iraqis to believe the Baath may be back, hampering declared U.S. efforts to set the country on a stable path to peace and prosperity.
"The fact that we have not been able to prove conclusively that he is dead or capture him alive is an intimidating factor for some people in this country," he said on Tuesday.
"It intimidates people into saying 'we don't want to cooperate because we are afraid the Baath is going to come back'."
Towns in Saddam's former Sunni heartland may still have Baath party members who can intimidate Iraqis.
But even there, many residents say the violence is fueled by resentment toward the U.S. occupation and the way troops detain suspects and search houses, not by loyalty to Saddam.
FURY IN STREETS
In Baghdad, shots fired by at least one U.S. soldier killed two Iraqis on Wednesday during a violent protest by former Iraqi soldiers outside the U.S. headquarters in the capital.
U.S. troops backed by tanks and helicopters later conducted a weapons search in west Baghdad. Soldiers manacled an Iraqi man and slammed him onto the pavement as Iraqis looked on.
Such scenes are more vivid in Iraqi minds than the alleged clandestine activities of shadowy Baath party insurgents.
Iraqis seem relaxed about the Baath even in Sadr City, home to at least two million Shi'ites, the majority group that suffered under Saddam's Sunni-dominated government.
Low-ranking Baath member Muayid Ghadad, a security guard at a sewage plant, was sitting on a rusty chair three weeks ago when two men pumped six bullets into his head and chest.
"I think it is because he was in the Baath. He was not a senior member," said his brother Ibrahim, also a low-ranking Baathist.
The neighborhood's senior Baath official and others once spied on workmates, neighbors and even family members. He escaped just before gunmen riddled his house with bullets.
"The Baath is gone and the Americans know it," said Sheikh Kassem Sudani, a Shi'ite cleric, standing over old Baath documents scattered outside a former party office.
"They remind me of the Baath. Every time there is an attack on their troops they say it was terrorists or the Baath. That's what the Baath did. They always blamed someone else."
