Losing Hearts And Minds
Unmoved by Bush's visit, Iraqis blame the U.S. for civilian deaths and razed homes

Mohammed Ali Karam wants to kill a U.S. soldier. He doesn't love Saddam Hussein, and he was happy in April when U.S. Marines rolled through his Baghdad neighborhood on their way to liberate the capital. But he turned against the Americans the night he saw his brother Hussein, 27, take two bullets in the neck. At 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, Karam says, he and three of his brothers were driving to a neighborhood where the pumps were working in order to get water for their home. Hussein, in the passenger seat, talked about having his new suit tailored for his upcoming wedding. That's when 82nd Airborne paratroopers, crouched in an observation post across the street, opened fire–after rounds struck their position, they say. Three of the brothers ran to the safety of a creek bed, but Hussein didn't make it. In the car, said Karam, the soldiers found Hussein but no weapons. Hussein died on the way to the hospital, three days before his wedding.

U.S. troops face a difficult task in trying to root out the insurgents who want to drive them out of Iraq. But in pursuing this enemy, the Americans are frequently guilty of excesses that are turning ordinary Iraqis into foes. Bush's Thanksgiving visit meant little to Iraqis, who cite three areas of concern: the killing of innocents, the "disappearance" of countrymen detained by U.S. forces, and the destruction of buildings, including family homes.

It's hard to say how many Iraqi civilians have been killed in the fighting. The U.S. military does not track civilian casualties in wartime. Hospital records are unreliable, and because Iraqi Muslims usually bury their dead swiftly, deaths are not always recorded. The Project on Defense Alternatives in Cambridge, Mass., estimates that about 200 Iraqi noncombatants have been victims of coalition firepower since May 1, when President Bush announced the end of major hostilities.

The widespread arrests and detentions are no less troubling to Iraqis. U.S. officials are holding roughly 5,000 "suspected terrorists" in custody in Iraq, including 300 with foreign passports. But officials aren't always able to say where the detainees are, frustrating Iraqis desperately looking for friends or family members who have disappeared.

A U.S. intelligence official in Iraq says even he has trouble locating detainees he wants to talk to or get released. "There's no accurate list," he told TIME. "It's a big problem." It may also be a violation of the Geneva Conventions. "There is a responsibility to at least notify families that someone is arrested," says a Red Cross spokesman.

The Geneva Conventions also prohibit occupying powers from destroying property, unless it "is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations." Around Tikrit this month, U.S. forces demolished more than a dozen facilities, including private homes. Colonel James Hickey, 1st Brigade commander in charge of the area, told TIME that every targeted house had been either a source of direct fire on coalition troops or had been used to store weapons.

Some property owners dispute that claim. One is Laith Klabos, 22, who grows apricots in Boasil village. On Nov. 19, U.S. soldiers wrecked his family's house. Klabos insists his family had no weapons and was not helping the resistance. "Is this the democracy they promised us? They come and blow up our houses?"

—from TIME, December 8, 2003

Questions

1. What is the estimated number of noncombatant Iraqis killed since May 1?

2. What treaty governs treatment of civilians and soldiers in wartime?