BAISA, Iraq, 4 November 2003 — Iraqis in the village of Baisa say they couldn’t have asked for a better present during Ramadan — a US helicopter shot down in their fields.
“We usually celebrate Ramadan at the end of the month. Now we are celebrating in the beginning after these infidel Americans were shot down,” taxi driver Abdullah Hussein said. As more US helicopters patrolled over this typical Iraqi farming village yesterday, he said: “Now we want to take them down as well.”
Sixteen American soldiers were killed on Sunday when a missile struck their Chinook helicopter — the bloodiest single strike on US troops since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April.
Anger has been boiling up in Baisa, located in Iraq’s Sunni Muslim heartland from where Saddam drew much of his support, in the weeks leading up to the fasting month of Ramadan.
Iraqis said US troops, who often come under attack from roadside bombs or rocket-propelled grenades in the nearby town of Fallujah, had swept through the village hunting guerrillas. People who failed to provide information on fighters were arrested after US troops conducted aggressive searches, several villagers said.
“I know of several people who were arrested, including the local cleric and his family,” farmer Kareem Mansour said. “They put sacks over people’s heads and took them away.”
US officials have repeatedly blamed fighters loyal to Saddam and Muslim militants who cross the border from neighboring countries for attacks that have killed at least 136 American troops since President George W. Bush declared major combat over on May 1. A few Baisa residents said they knew of a Syrian man who trained guerrillas. Others said Saddam’s supporters were behind the violence.
They said US troops made even more enemies on Sunday night. “They just shoot at anything. They heard a noise and then they shot at one of our cows. When we stood on the roof and shone a light, they shot the lamp,” said Hussein Issawi, a customs official.
Anger and resignation prevailed among the American combat troops of Camp St. Mere, just a few kilometers from the spot where 16 of their brothers-in-arms died in the downing of a Chinook helicopter.
“It sucks, it pisses me off,” says Spc Wesley Allstead, 22, of the 82nd Airborne Division’s Third Brigade Combat Team, who says he heard about the deaths when talking on the phone with his wife. But the death of American soldiers did not come as a shock to Allstead, who has become used to the almost nightly fire US patrols face around Fallujah, a hotbed of resistance to the US-led occupation, 50 kilometers west of Baghdad.
“Any mission is dangerous. This is Iraq,” he says, swatting away a fly and pointing to the vast expanse of dust that surrounds the camp set up at a former Iraqi military base.
“Every time we go on mission, it goes through our minds — today it could be one of us,” he says, grimly. But when he enlisted, he knew he might have to put his life on the line, he says.
Another soldier, toting an assault rifle and clad in full combat gear, hadn’t even heard about Sunday’s deaths. He too was angry when told 16 US soldiers, many from the 82nd Airborne Division, had died in the downing of their chopper. “We try to help these people, and they kill us,” said Pvt. David Hall. The soldiers were killed as they headed to Baghdad airport en route to the United States or Germany for 20 days of rest and relaxation.
“It’s awful to think of their families,” said Hall. “I can’t help but think what it would do to my wife and kids if I got killed just as I was heading out,” said Hall. He saw the shooting of the chopper as a wakeup call to troops who may have become complacent.
“It makes us notice what the situation really is here,” he said. “They have guys shooting at us all the time, anywhere there are Americans is a target.”
Hall and other soldiers admit they have become used to daily attacks, including mortar rounds that land almost nightly within the camp’s perimeter, but until now, always away from troops or buildings.
