itwill@happen.com Spat the Words

Posted on Sat, Apr. 02, 2005

More Iraqis tipping off security forces,

Yeah, they're figuring out they can settle old scores (and
make some extra cash) by pointing out the house of their
old enemy as being an 'insurgent hideout' .

MARIAM FAM

Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. and Iraqi officials say they have seen an
increase in calls tipping off authorities in recent weeks, and
officials say it's a sign the country's fledgling security forces are
winning the trust of citizens, turning them against the insurgency.

The growing willingness of Iraqis to cooperate with officials is
perhaps also a testimony to the insurgency's own mistakes, which have
cost it the sympathy of some. Many say they simply are tired of
violence that has overshadowed their lives or claimed people they
love.

In a sign the phenomenon is gathering momentum, some Iraqis told The
Associated Press that when they called in information, they were told
others already had reported the same incident.

There were no overall figures available on how many people have
offered information. In one case, Iraqi Fatma peeked out the window of
her Mosul home and saw masked men lobbing mortars at a nearby army
base for the third time. She decided it would be the last, and
reported the men.

"How can an Iraqi kill another Iraqi, can a brother kill his brother?
I cannot let that be," said Fatma, a 26-year-old housewife who asked
that only her first name be used for fear of attacks against
informants. "At first, I used to think of them as holy fighters. But
after what we've been seeing on television, it became clear they were
terrorists."

Like many others, Fatma said she was influenced in part by television
broadcasts featuring the confessions of alleged insurgents.

Critics dismiss the shows, claiming some of the confessions are staged
or coerced. But officials say the programs, which include people
detailing kidnappings and even beheadings, have encouraged people to
report information to authorities. Others are angered by the fact that
many kidnappings are now for financial instead of political gains.

"The confessions have helped convince the people that the security
forces are really working hard to rid the country of terrorism,"
Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kadhim said. "Before, they just
didn't believe it."

Omar Mohammed Abdullah, a 30-year-old college student in Samarra, said
he'd had enough of the explosions that shattered windows and terrified
children in his neighborhood. After the militants refused to take
their fight outside of the city, he reported a group planting roadside
bombs on his street in Samarra, where security forces broadcast the
telephone numbers for hotlines over loudspeakers.

"Before, the people sympathized very much with the resistance. They
were helping and encouraging them," Abdullah said. "Now, the people
are hurting and are seeing no benefit in this. They started attacking
the Iraqi forces because they want chaos to prevail."

In the sprawling, western province of Anbar, U.S. Marines say a tip
line set up nearly a year ago was now getting more than 37 calls a
week, and the tips have led to the detention of suspected insurgents.

But some of those ready to turn in militants say they have no sympathy
for the U.S. forces, either.

"I don't think I would have reported them if they were targeting only
Americans," Abdullah said. "After all, this is an occupier."

The Interior Ministry's Kadhim said the elections further motivated
people to fight the militants, with many voting in defiance of
insurgent threats. Authorities are now capitalizing on that feeling of
empowerment.

A billboard on a main road in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad,
shows an Iraqi woman flashing the victory sign, her index finger
smeared in ink showing that she had voted Jan. 30.

"The Iraqis have defied terrorism. It's time to wipe it out," read the
sign, which provided numbers for calling in information.

There have even been a few reports of Iraqis taking justice into their
own hands. Last month in Baghdad, shopkeepers and residents returned
fire as gunmen sprayed a street with bullets fired from a car. The
clash left three insurgents dead.

But others still support the insurgency or are too afraid to come
forward, and some do not fully trust Iraqi security forces once
believed to be infiltrated by the insurgency.

In Mahmoudiya and some other violence-plagued areas, those who inform
on the militants do so secretly. Others still reject the idea out of
fear or sympathy.

In Ramadi, where the tip line is advertised on local radio stations
and printed on posters and handbills, militant-produced CDs detailing
the confessions and, sometimes, executions of alleged collaborators
and informants are widely circulating.

"We are all against the occupation. I cannot even imagine that we can
cooperate with the occupation against our own people," said Mohammed
Hassan, who owns a computer store in Ramadi.

While he does not support the attacks on Iraqi forces, he complains
that some of the Iraqi soldiers and police "are even worse than the
Americans.

"They're very immoral," he said.

Kadhim said rebuilding trust between the people and the security
forces will take time.

But some - like Fatma in Mosul - are already seeing officials act on
their tips, which has helped win their confidence.

"The Iraqi soldiers want to protect the country. We rely only on God
and them," she said.

Fatma's street is now quieter, but violence still disrupts her city.

"We're deprived of everything," she said. "We want security and
stability. We just want to live in peace."