US occupies Iraq

The United States of America and Britain occupied most part of Iraq and are slated to appoint American officials to govern the country for the coming two years.

By the time this publication went to press, Iraqis were robbing offices in Baghdad, tearing Saddam's pictures while the Iraqi leadership seemed as if it disappeared.

Meanwhile, having bullied the whole world and ignored the will of the international community, America was still behaving in an arrogant manner.

Not only the US waged a war against Iraq, it accused Syria of supporting Baghdad by supplying night goggles and other kinds of weaponry.

Syria, for its part, categorically denied Washington's allegations saying it had made its choice: It took the side of the Iraqi people in its fierce battle with the invading American troops.

Inside Baghdad, people were living in disaray. Not only they were isolated after the US hit all means of telecommunication, the US bombardment of power plants and its random bombing even worsened the situation.

"Thirteen years of sanctions and now this war," said Tayseer al-Naqib, a Baghdad resident.

"As if the embargo did not already make our lives miserable, now the Americans are here to make sure that we lose what was left of this country," she added.

Jabbar Azzawi, a resident of the Mansour Quarter in Baghdad, said that during the first two gulf wars, Mansour was not under attack, "today, they suddenly discovered that our area threatens world security.

"So what if officials were hiding here, does it mean that America can kill a couple of families in Mansour?" he told Alternative.

Azzawi regretted that humanity was running out of its mercy. He also slammed most Arab countries for "sitting back and watching war on their televisions as if it were a movie or something."

He argued that only Lebanon, Syria and Yemen "had some guts to announce their support," adding that Arab countries should dissolve their league and declare themselves members of the American federation.

About the possibility of American rule in post-conflict, Jabbar said that after all what was happening, he would not be surprised "if someone from Likud rules Baghdad."

Meanwhile, worldwide anti-war protests intensified after the start of the war on March 20 even though their pace slowed down some days after the war.

Among the Arab capitals, Cairo witnessed the more turbulent of all activities as demonstrators took to the streets to protest, not only the US-led war on Iraq, but the silence of most Arab governments.

"It is a pity that an Arab state is under attack while other states are providing military basis for the aggressors," actor Mahmoud Yassin told Alternative during a rally for Egyptian actors and singers in Cairo.