In Iraq, people will tell you Saddam is a student, and Bush is his teacher. Now the "teacher" has come to Iraq to get his "student." There's almost no one in Iraq, regardless of whether they are pro or anti Saddam or whether they support or are against the U.S. invasion, who will disagree that the reason the U.S. invaded Iraq is to control its oil and colonize their country.

It's easy to find evidence to justify the Iraqi's complaints everywhere, the U.S. bombing and invasion have destroyed government ministry buildings (1, 2, 3), Ba'ath party offices, police stations, TV buildings, many stores, private houses, public utilities and telecommunication systems (destroyed since the first Gulf war, and never repaired due to sanctions). Yet the US military intentionally spared the Ministry of Oil building. It is back in business, and the US wants Iraq to ship oil soon. Most Iraqis believe the US invasion is about oil, not about liberation; many believe Saddam was an "Ali Baba" - a thief - but go on to say that the U.S. is an even bigger "Ali Baba."

At the gas stations in Baghdad, hundreds of cars line-up in the heat, their drivers waiting for hours to fill their tanks. Iraq's oil resources are the second richest in the world, but after the war Iraq's domestic oil supply plummeted leading to the current energy crisis. Everyday people need to wait in the long lines or pay if they can for the alternative: expensive (yet convenient) black market oil traded in the street.

Al-Daura oil refinery general manger Dathar Al-Khashab says they produce gasoline for the Baghdad market. His plant was heavily damaged by U.S. bombing during the Gulf war of 1991, but this time Americans didn't attack them, and the facility was basically unharmed. Under the U.S. occupation Al-Khashab says "U.S. force here now, this is not imaginary, this is a fact, so we are practical people, we have to deal with it, to deal it with the best of our country."

According to an unofficial survey, Iraqi's unemployment rate since May is up to 90 percent, and those few lucky ones who have a job and manage to get paid for it make just around USD $20-$30 a month. Those who work for the U.S. contractors doing manual labor on the military bases could earn twice then average, but are considered to be traitors by most Iraqis.

Widespread poverty doesn't mean that Baghdad doesn't have food or drink, or that no one can afford it. There's plenty of rich people, foreigners, and they can get anything they want. For less than USD $3.00 you can eat like a king. Many rich people have satellite phones, imported goods, satellite TVs (which were banned under Saddam's regime, rich people are now able to buy them freely after the war) and American-made GMC 8-passenger trucks are everywhere; yet most poor Iraqis have had their lives ruined by the war. They have no money, no water and no help.

Health Hazards
Many Iraqis are very angry at the U.S. troops and U.S. corporations who claim to have come "to rebuild Iraq" yet house themselves in the air-conditioned rooms of the once beautiful palaces of Saddam, while desperate and angry Iraqis outside the fences swelter and rage in 120 degree or more heat everyday. There have been almost no efforts by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to cleanup the buildings destroyed by the U.S. So far the most visiable "rebuilding" has been to replace the Saddam monument with a new "Freedom" monument in the main square next to the Palestine Hotel.

The clouds of dust from the destroyed buildings fill the air and are a great public health hazard.

Even worse, Depleted Uranium or DU weapons were widely used by U.S. forces in crowded urban areas during the attacks. DU debris is laying around the city and country side in the rubble of buildings or destroyed Iraqi tanks.

Film producer Gerard Ungermen and Audrey Brohy, the producers of the acclaimed documentary "Hidden Wars of Desert Strom", revisited Iraq in July. Using a radiation meter, they were there to check the radiation levels of Depleted Uranium (DU) bullets found at the Ministry of Planning building in central Baghdad. The Ministry was fired on by U.S. during the war, although it was not a military target. Looters were then allowed to swarm through the buildings, which are full of highly toxic spent DU rounds. The facility is now completely destroyed.

Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor reporter in Baghdad, says that in comparison with the previous 1991 Gulf War I, the U.S. fired more DU rounds this time into heavy populated civilian areas. "It's not very dangerous if you're few feet away from the DU rounds," Peterson says, but he worries that the children will pickup the heavy funny looking DU bullets as toys (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

The failure of U.S. occupation forces and its CPA to rebuild Iraq's influstructure, the single-minded focus on capturing Saddam, the priority given to the granting of oil and infrastructure contracts to companies such as Halliburton with its blatant ties to vice-president Dick Cheney -- these realities lead many Iraqis to conclude that the U.S. occupation is an exercise in American arrogance and is a U.S.-Israeli consipircy to colonize Iraq.

Who is the Iraqi Resistance?
On July 13, under heavy U.S. military escort, there was a celebration of the formation of the 25-member Interim Iraqi Administrative Council. Most of its members are exiled Iraqis, such as the Iraqi National Congress, based in New York, who are funded by the U.S. to run post-Saddam Iraqi puppet regime. Most of these Iraqi National Congress members have not been in Iraq for a long time, they were airlifted by the U.S. to Baghdad from overseas.

They have promised to form a new permanent government, draft a new constitution and hold free elections soon; yet the U.S. administrator -- the highest authority of occupied Iraq -- will hold the ultimate power to approve or veto the council's decisions. "This is a U.S. puppet regime," many Iraqis told me (1, 2). Just a few hours after the ceremony, an Iraqi resistance ambush against the U.S. military in Iraq resulted in one U.S. soldier dead and six wounded.

The biggest irony is that is is the Americans who are now blocking Iraqis from forming a new government. The U.S. acts to prevent a new Iraqi government that will not enact the U.S. agenda. The U.S. wants to install pro-western puppet regime. However, the U.S. created government doesn't have enough credibility in Iraq to survive.

Many people believe that if there were a truly Iraqi-run government formed tomorrow without U.S. interference, it would likely be run by powerful Shia Muslims from the south. Shia Muslims comprise the majority in Iraq Muslim society consistuting approx 50 to 70% of Iraqi population.They actually run an effective de-fecto local government in southern Iraq and they don't like Saddam, who was a Sunni Muslim who had persecuted Iraqi Shias for decades. They also against the U.S. occupation. They openly advocate that the future Iraqi government should be an Islamic government, and that the U.S. should leave as soon as possible.

Because of their importance, they are represented in the U.S. sponsored Interim Iraqi Administrative Council by Mohammad Al-Haiddary, Imam of Al-Khielany Mosque, Baghdad. He is the leader of the Shia community in Baghdad who was exiled to Iran and has recently returned to Baghdad, says they will use peaceful way to achieve their goals.

It's important to understand that many people in Iraq hate Saddam -- especially large numbers of Iraqi Shias. Many are even glad that the U.S. invaded Iraq to oust him. However this does not mean that they support U.S. troops and occupation.

On July 22 U.S. troops killed Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay in the northern city of Mosul. Hours before U.S. command in Iraq General Sanchez' announcement, people in the Baghdad had already knew and fired celebratory gunshots into the sky marking the news. U.S. President George Bush described it as "positive news" and "further assurance to the Iraqi people that the regime is gone and won't be back."

Qusay, Saddam's second son, bears blame for his role in organizing what U.S. calls the "die-hard" Saddam loyalists to attack U.S. troops. Qusay was one of his father's most trusted lieutenants and was widely seen as the heir apparent. "This is very important. This will contribute considerably to reducing attacks on coalition soldiers" says Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress in New York.

However, the continuing daily attacks and killings against U.S. troops have completely shattered the wishful thinking of Chalabi and the U.S.

It's important to understand that most Iraqi resistance are not die-hard Saddam supporters, rather they are organized by the local clans and religious clerics who don't have connections with Saddam's inner circle. They are the ones who control local politics, even during Saddam's period, he needed to consult with them to get what he wanted.

Fallujah, 70 Km west of Baghdad is the historical Sunni Muslim religious center, also the center of the Iraqi resistance, many people believes if there's a call for "Jihad" against Americans, it will most likely come from places like Fallujah. Therefore, the opinions from the people in that town can be indicative of the future of Iraq resistance.

One such person, is Abdul Al-Lah Al-Azez from Saad bin Abiy Wakas Mosque in Fallujah was one of the city council members last June who negotiated a deal with U.S. troops after they occupied the city (1, 2).

Given a rare chance, we interviewed Colonial Al-Akid Jaf Sadk Hussin Al-Shmary, he was a "istkbarat" or military intelligence officer from the 51st mechanize unit in Al-Basra area (1, 2)

Asking why he would come to me and make the interview with us, he said "I don't care… for the death the life will come to you,
I showed something to the media, so if I will die, I will die once and the Imam Ali said anyone in this life will taste the death, I didn't afraid from the battle, do you want me to afraid from some solider who put the handcuff on me."