Arab Youth Head Towards Iraq To Be "Freedom Martyrs"

by N Janardhan

The Iraqi government says that more than 5,000 volunteers are ready to "defend the honor of the Arabs and Muslims" by fighting and sacrificing their lives against "colonialists" who aim to "partition" the country.

According to U.A.E.-based Iraqi-American academic Mahir Ali "suicide bombers" is a term made famous by Israel to run down the independence struggle of the Palestinians. "Freedom fighters is more apt because these volunteers are willing to die for a cause, which is defending Arab land and sending the occupiers back to where they belong."

Emphasizing that there is no better way to categorize the U.S-led attack than invasion, Ali said: "I don't know if non-Arabs would refer to this differently." He reiterated statements from Baghdad that the volunteers were not just Iraqis, but from "all Arab countries, without exception."

Reports indicate that hundreds of youth have left Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel and Saudi Arabia to join the war.

"Why not?" asks Ali. "Any invader will be resisted. The Vietnamese did it in the past and the Palestinians are doing it now. The volunteers heading for Iraq are driven neither by ideology nor religion; it is new-found nationalism -- a feeling driven by the love for their land under threat from foreigners, and a fear that the United States will not stop with Iraq," he said.

"The action of these young people proves their awareness, like all the Arabs, that the whole Arab nation is targeted by the U.S.-British aggression, not just Iraq," Ali added. "It is a natural reaction of self-defence, because the battle for Iraq is the battle of all the Arabs."

Arab volunteers have generated great interest around the world following an incident involving an Iraqi "self-sacrificing" army officer who killed four U.S. soldiers in a car bomb explosion at a checkpoint near Najaf over the weekend.

Referring to the checkpoint incident, Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said on Tuesday: "We will use any means to kill our enemy in our land and we will follow them into their land."

Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath Party is secular and has been traditionally discouraged by Islamists, but the regime has recently appealed to Muslims to fight against the invaders. On Tuesday, Saddam himself called on all Arabs and Muslims to launch a "jihad" or holy war.

The Iraqi government has rewarded the "martyr," Lieutenant Ali Jaafer Musa al-Noamani, with a promotion to the rank of colonel and his family $34,000.

The fact that such martyrdom would appeal most of all to Iraqi Shi'ite -- and Noamani was a Shi'ite -- could prove problematic for the coalition forces, which are still hoping for a rebellion from the majority sect against Saddam, a Sunni.

The Shi'ite-Hizbollah was the first in modern times to use martyrdom with a devastating attack in 1983 that killed almost 300 U.S. marines in Beirut.

The Iraqi regime hopes that such action will make the invaders more jumpy, causing them to treat Iraqi civilians with suspicion and hostility. This would increase resentment and anti-Americanism, making it harder than ever for the coalition forces to win the Iraqi "hearts and minds."

Saddam already has a long track record of encouraging self-sacrificing attacks, rewarding Palestinians with sums ranging from $25,000 - $100,000 for targeting Israelis. The rewards have so far reportedly totalled 34 million U.S. dollars.

Jordan, from where many of the volunteers are entering Iraq, is one Arab country with high admiration for Saddam when compared with other Arabs who sympathize more with the people of Iraq. Majority of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin and they see Iraq as a steady source of support for their cause against Israel.

Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad claims to have sent a first wave of freedom fighters to Baghdad. "The al-Quds Brigades brings to our people and nation the good news of the arrival of its first martyrdom (attackers) to the heart of Baghdad to fulfil the holy duty of defending Arab and Muslim land," the armed wing of the group said on Monday.

Abdullah Qattan, a university student in Dubai, questions the U.S. double standards. "If killing of (U.S.) troops by Iraqi soldiers in civilian clothes is terrorism, how would they (West) explain U.S. soldiers' actions that are resulting in the death of thousands of civilians? What about American secret service agents planting bombs and targeting government officials in many countries around the world? Civilians are dying there too."

While most of the volunteers are non-Iraqis, there are hundreds of Iraqis in exile who are either returning or want to go back to fight for their homeland. More than 1,000 Iraqis living in Scandinavia have reported volunteered to return to their native country. Many of these dissidents are said to have been granted a pardon by the Iraqi governments and issued new passports.

In an effort to stop the volunteers from crossing into Iraq, the United States is moving to ban access to Iraq's western desert and roads leading to it from Jordan and Syria.

"These volunteers might not be able to stop the invaders from toppling Saddam. But they would certainly make it difficult for Washington to control the Iraqi people. Every step an American takes will be dangerous and risky in post-war Iraq. They would be trapped there like in Vietnam," Qattan added.