14-10-2003, 07:29
Article: The War in Al Anbar - Part 1
As the world knows, the war in Al Anbar has hit the Iraqi and Syrian people hard. The economic situation before the war was already beginning to take its toll on the people of Al Anbar, but with the war and most of the funds diverted to defense, Al Anbar suffered an almost total collapse of the economy and of the government.
As the friction built up between Al Anbar and Ell, the government was forced to cut the budgets of most if not all of the ministries and divert all funds to the armed forces. Massive fortifications were built along the Western Asia border, along the coast, and along the Eye Ran border. Procurement of new weaponry to defeat a coastal landing and antitank weaponry put a severe strain on the already stagnant Al Anbar economy.
When the war began on October 5, all the oil production facilities were destroyed by both Ellan bombing and by the government who did not wish the oil facilities to fall into enemy hands. This caused further burden on the country as it could no longer count on the revenue of oil. This then caused a second problem, internal consumption. The stocks of fuel and oil were bombed early in the war by Ell and its allies. Only a few warehouses remained unbombed. After the first few days of the war, all the oil and fuel simply disappeared from the (state) owned gas stations.
If you were lucky enough to stock up on fuel before the war or in the first few days, you could not go anywhere without permission. Most car travel was only allowed within the district in which you live. To travel between districts and cities you would need to visit the local Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party headquarters and get a sticker on your papers that allowed you to travel between districts and cities.
Even as a journalist, with all the required papers to travel between cities, I found it difficult. To travel between Baghdad and Tikrit required you to pass through no less than five checkpoints. One in the Baghdad outskirts, three enroute to Tikrit and one in the south side of Tikrit. Then, of course, not to mention all the checkpoints inside the cities to make sure you do not travel outside of your districts.
I was warned constantly by the Ba'ath party officials and the soldiers manning the checkpoints that there were periodic flights overhead by Ellian and other enemy forces that simply bombs any cars that are passing along the highways at that time. I saw proof of this as I drove along. I saw several bombed out cars that had been moved to the side of the road so as to allow traffic to continue.
(Continued in Part 2.)
As the world knows, the war in Al Anbar has hit the Iraqi and Syrian people hard. The economic situation before the war was already beginning to take its toll on the people of Al Anbar, but with the war and most of the funds diverted to defense, Al Anbar suffered an almost total collapse of the economy and of the government.
As the friction built up between Al Anbar and Ell, the government was forced to cut the budgets of most if not all of the ministries and divert all funds to the armed forces. Massive fortifications were built along the Western Asia border, along the coast, and along the Eye Ran border. Procurement of new weaponry to defeat a coastal landing and antitank weaponry put a severe strain on the already stagnant Al Anbar economy.
When the war began on October 5, all the oil production facilities were destroyed by both Ellan bombing and by the government who did not wish the oil facilities to fall into enemy hands. This caused further burden on the country as it could no longer count on the revenue of oil. This then caused a second problem, internal consumption. The stocks of fuel and oil were bombed early in the war by Ell and its allies. Only a few warehouses remained unbombed. After the first few days of the war, all the oil and fuel simply disappeared from the (state) owned gas stations.
If you were lucky enough to stock up on fuel before the war or in the first few days, you could not go anywhere without permission. Most car travel was only allowed within the district in which you live. To travel between districts and cities you would need to visit the local Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party headquarters and get a sticker on your papers that allowed you to travel between districts and cities.
Even as a journalist, with all the required papers to travel between cities, I found it difficult. To travel between Baghdad and Tikrit required you to pass through no less than five checkpoints. One in the Baghdad outskirts, three enroute to Tikrit and one in the south side of Tikrit. Then, of course, not to mention all the checkpoints inside the cities to make sure you do not travel outside of your districts.
I was warned constantly by the Ba'ath party officials and the soldiers manning the checkpoints that there were periodic flights overhead by Ellian and other enemy forces that simply bombs any cars that are passing along the highways at that time. I saw proof of this as I drove along. I saw several bombed out cars that had been moved to the side of the road so as to allow traffic to continue.
(Continued in Part 2.)