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Monday August 11th, 2003

Hundreds of Iraqis threw stones and burned tires in Basra on Sunday as a violent protest of severe power and fuel shortages spread in the southern city.

An American soldier was killed and two others wounded in a bomb attack in the central Iraqi town of Baquba, the U.S. military said Monday, as tensions simmered in the British-run southern city of Basra.

Quite apart from issues of Arab resentment, religion and the remaining bands of Saddam Hussein loyalists, there is one simple reason why the stabilization of Iraq is proving so frustratingly difficult. By comparison with other similar peacekeeping missions in recent years, the place is very seriously under-policed.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation began its first operation outside Europe in its 54-year history on Monday when it took command of peacekeepers in the Afghan capital. However, a resurgent Taliban guerrilla movement has posed mounting security problems for reconstruction work and elections due to be held next year.

The abd al-Kerim family didn't have a chance. American soldiers opened fire on their car with no warning and at close quarters. They killed the father and three of the children, one of them only eight years old. Now only the mother, Anwar, and a 13-year-old daughter are alive to tell how the bullets tore through the windscreen and how they screamed for the Americans to stop.

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