- Two pictures put up in an internet café in Baghdad
make for a vivid statement of how Iraqis have come to see U.S. occupiers.
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- One shows a woman in the United States hugging her dog.
A second shows a hooded Iraqi prisoner sitting on the ground, hands tied
behind his back. A soldier holds a gun to his head.
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- The picture seems to get worse in Iraq every day, and
it also gets worse for the United States in Iraq.
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- Iraqis are incensed already over widespread damage caused
by U.S. military operations to their mosques both in Fallujah and southern
Iraq, and by the photographs documenting torture in Abu Ghraib prison.
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- Now the killing of 40 wedding guests, mostly women and
children, in a military helicopter attack, have enraged people further.
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- "The Americans must have no religion," Hashmiya
Al-Abdulla, a housewife in Baghdad said of the slaughter at the wedding.
"Anyone with religion cannot torture people, destroy mosques and homes,
or kill people at a wedding ceremony. They worship force, not God."
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- In Haditha, a small city northeast of Baghdad on the
banks of the Euphrates River, shop-owner Ali Zamhuir speaks of the consequences
for the United States. "U.S. companies will never be able to work
in Iraq after what their military has done here. The mujahideen will never
allow it."
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- U.S. actions seem to have improved the image of Saddam.
"Even Saddam wasn't as cruel as the Americans," said Tassin Awad
in Haditha. "Even he didn't torture like the Americans. Everyone in
Haditha believes Saddam was a criminal, but would prefer him over the Americans."
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- Iraqis are less than optimistic about the "transfer
of sovereignty" June 30.
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- "The Americans have fulfilled none of their promises,"
said Sa'adoun Aziz, an unemployed construction worker. "Where is the
rebuilding?"
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- Many people want Saddam back because the present situation
is terrible, he said. "After June 30 the oil, finance and trade ministries
will remain in the hands of the Americans, and we will have no army of
our own."
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- Aziz pointed across the Euphrates to a damaged electricity
tower. "This is freedom."
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- At his home in Haditha, Hammed Abdulla believes the attack
on the wedding party was intentional. "The Americans are provoking
people on purpose to get a reaction," he said. "Iraq is sitting
on top of a volcano."
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- He added angrily, "I would like to see Mr. Bush
and tell him that Saddam is better than he is."
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- Schoolteacher Mohammed al-Hakim said "the Americans
are speaking of freedom and democracy while they are the cruelest, most
brutal army ever."
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- Sitting nearby, an unemployed school manager too says
June 30 will bring no change. "They will not pull out after June 30,"
he said. "But the Americans cannot control Iraq. America promises
so many things, but they have fulfilled none of them."
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- Several men and women around him nodded in agreement
as he spoke. "They promised prosperity, yet they have destroyed everything.
They shot up the wedding party because they are the terrorists."
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- One man added, "They said they would bring real
freedom, but we see our people tortured in prison, looted, and their homes
raided."
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- Daily attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq remain high, and
many Iraqis believe this number will only increase as June 30 approaches.
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- The highway through the desert to Haditha bears several
scars from improvised explosive devices that have detonated under U.S.
military vehicles patrolling the area. They are only one sign of Iraqi
anger with U.S. forces.
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