Holiday gunfire keeps US forces on edge
BAGHDAD -- Revelers greeted the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan yesterday with dawn prayers and celebratory bursts of gunfire, and tensions were heightened in the shooting zones of Iraq as the US military tightened security following the brutal killings of two American soldiers over the weekend.
The US-appointed interim Iraqi government raided the Baghdad bureau of Al-Arabiya, one of the Middle East's largest television news networks, and banned its broadcasts -- accusing the network of "inciting murder" for airing a tape last week of a voice it claimed to be that of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
Apache attack helicopters swooped low over the Iraqi capital, and A-10 Warthog warplanes circled in the skies south of the city as thousands of Sunni Muslims streamed to Abu Hanifa Mosque for morning prayers marking the arrival of Eid al-Fitr, the usually joyous festival that comes at the end of a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting.
The increased air patrols followed a series of small explosions that rattled the city earlier in the day and lasted into last night.
"This is supposed to be our happiest time, but there is no feeling of joy this Eid," said Mohammed Mukhtar, owner of a dry cleaning shop in the Baghdad neighborhood of Al Jamia'a. "We are a people under the shame of foreign occupation, so how could we celebrate?"
The Ramadan holy month drew to a close with an attack on a pair of American soldiers Sunday in the northern city of Mosul. After the soldiers were shot in an ambush in broad daylight near the city's heart, their bodies were dragged from their vehicle and struck repeatedly with chunks of concrete by a mob.
The Pentagon yesterday identified the soldiers as Command Sergeant Major Jerry L. Wilson, 45, of Thomson, Ga., and Specialist Rel A. Ravago IV, 21, of Glendale, Calif.
US forces were on high alert yesterday and braced for a fresh round of attacks. The jitteriness was heightened by occasional bursts of gunfire into the air by Eid merrymakers.
"It's very stupid for people to be shooting guns at a time like this, but it is the custom," said Mohammad Hamid, an employee of the national Oil Ministry. "It makes the Americans even more nervous and willing to shoot."
Along with the holiday shots, the crackle of more serious gunfire rang through Baghdad's streets last night, punctuated by occasional explosions.
During the day, some drivers used the tradition of making noise on Eid as an excuse to mock the American presence, leaning hard on their car horns as they passed US military points. The young US soldiers hunkered behind sandbags and razor wire, clutching their weapons and staring down their harassers.
Not all sentiment was against the American forces.
"I thank God that the US has rid Iraq of the curse of Saddam Hussein," said Ali Safy, a computer technician. "And I pray to God that the Americans stay until Saddam's terrorists stop trying to start a civil war in our beloved land."
If the usual spirit of festivity was missing, many Iraqis still sought to celebrate Eid by bringing gifts to neighbors, making rounds to the homes of relatives, and paying visits to family graves.
But for American soldiers, it was just another day of taut nerves and occasional clashes with an elusive foe.
Near Mosul, insurgent attackers detonated a roadside bomb and then opened fire on a US military patrol, wounding one American soldier, according to the military. The Americans responded with automatic weapons fire.
Mosul has become the latest major shooting zone in an increasingly deadly conflict pitting shadowy bands of insurgents -- some believed to be ardent supporters of Hussein, others thought to be radical Muslims using the chaos as an opportunity to target the United States -- against the American forces.
Farther north, an oil pipeline was blazing after saboteurs set fire to crude oil that leaked from a crack caused by an earlier blast, according to Adel al-Qazzaz, director general of the Northern Oil Co. The fire near the oil refining town of Baijii was the latest attack on the country's critical oil infrastructure. Iraq, believed to possess the second largest oil reserves in the world after Saudia Arabia, has been forced to import petroleum because of regular attacks on major pipelines.
Back in Baghdad, the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council -- the interim government -- defended its crackdown on press freedom after raiding the offices and banning the broadcasts of Al-Arabiya.
"Al-Arabiya is inciting murder because it's calling for killings through the voice of Saddam Hussein," said Jalal Talabani, president of the council. He said the network will be banned from reporting from Iraq "for a certain time."
Al-Arabiya chief Baghdad editor Wahhad Yacoub confirmed last night that the network has agreed to stop its news operations in Iraq until the issue is resolved.
