June 21, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 20,1424

BAGHDAD: The United States insists diehard supporters of Saddam Hussein are behind a spate of deadly attacks on US 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 fuelling 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 Shia Iraqi who lives in a slum.

“We will rise up and fight the Americans. We have just moved from one dictatorship to another.”

US 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 US 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, fuelled 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.”

According to Iraq’s first opinion poll, released on Thursday, around 73 per cent of Baghdad residents say US troops have failed to bring security to their troubled city.

However, only 17 per cent of respondents said US-led forces should quit Iraq forthwith. Around 51 per cent wanted them to stay until a permanent government can be elected.

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 US forces closer to finding Saddam.

Paul Bremer, the top US administrator in Iraq, has said the uncertainty over Saddam’s fate has led some Iraqis to believe the Baath may be back, hampering declared US 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.

Towns in Saddam’s former Sunni heartland may still have Baath party members who can intimidate Iraqis. But even there, many residents say violence is fuelled by resentment towards the US occupation and the way troops detain suspects and search houses, not by loyalty to Saddam.—Reuters