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ロイター・ワシントンポスト：最も特権的なバグダッド大学の米兵殺害で米将校は不安。
最早、侵略者が安全な場所はない。
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14822-2003Jul6.html?nav=hptop_tb
washingtonpost.com
U.S. Soldier Killed at Baghdad University
By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, July 6, 2003; 5:03 PM
BAGHDAD, July 6 -- A U.S. soldier was shot fatally in the neck today as he walked out of a student cafeteria at Baghdad University after buying a soft drink, according to witnesses who said the gunman then melded into the crowd of frightened students fleeing the sound of gunshots.
The midday attack at Iraq's most prestigious university unsettled U.S. military officers, who said that until today, the campus had been tranquil and welcoming toward U.S. soldiers even as assaults against troops have escalated across the chaotic city.
Students and faculty members who were lined up and searched by U.S. military police as they left the university grounds after the attack said that the soldiers -- some of whom live in a building on the campus -- are far too complacent and unaware of the undercurrent of hostilities present at the university that was personally run by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's son, Uday.
A U.S. military spokesman here said the soldier was a member of the 1st Armored Division and had been assigned duty patrolling the university. The soldier was evacuated for medical treatment after the 12:30 p.m. shooting and died several hours later, the spokesman said. The military has not released the identity of the soldier.
At least twenty-seven American soldiers and six British troops have been killed in hostile actions since President George W. Bush declared an end to major hostilities.
The scope and audacity of assaults against U.S. soldiers and Iraqis cooperating with American-led military and reconstruction operations in Iraq is intensifying almost daily, a trend troubling to both Americans and Iraqis. The tactic used in today's shooting also was similar to the killing of freelance British videographer, Richard Wild, 24, who died after being shot in the head at point-blank range with a small-caliber pistol at noon on Saturday as he interviewed a group of Iraqis on a busy Baghdad street. On Saturday night Iraqi men in a white pickup truck charged U.S. soldiers on a Baghdad street and fired a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at them. The troops shot dead two of the attackers, according to news services.
Today, some Baghdad University students said they feared the presence of U.S. troops inside the campus could begin to endanger the students they are trying to protect.
Students and faculty members cited the university campus as an example of an institution where superficial calm masks the presence of elements still loyal to Hussein and vociferously opposed to the U.S.-led occupation forces.
"We still have many Baathists working here and they hold secret meetings," said Khalid Abel Chalabi, a 23-year-old mathematics student. "And we have many student members of the Baathist party."
During Hussein's presidency, his son, Uday, maintained a special interest in Baghdad University, the largest and most prestigious educational institution in the country. He occupied an office on campus, admission was contingent on Baath Party membership and all senior staff and faculty, many of whom remain in their jobs today, were Baath Party loyalists, according to students and faculty members.
Even though U.S. soldiers have become a common sight patroling the sprawling campus or travelling to and from the building where they are housed, the broad-shouldered soldier who strode alone into the cafeteria of the engineering school just after noon today aroused attention.
"When that soldier went into the cafeteria, I told my friends, 'He doesn't understand anything, he's crazy,'." said Ali Jumaa, 26, who said he was sitting outside the student center and witnessed the attack. "He was an easy target."
"We were watching him, he was something different," said Jumaa, who said he had just finished a tutoring session with students inside the student center and was sitting outside in the shade chatting with friends.
"While he was coming down the steps from the cafeteria we heard a pistol shot," continued Jumaa, a gaunt man with pocked cheeks and thin beard. "I saw him fall down just in front of me," he said motioning about 10 feet away. "He was shot in the back of the neck. We all ran."
Jumaa also said he saw the gunman, who Jumaa said carried a very small pistol and wore a the white or light blue shirt that was part of the required uniform under Hussein's rule, but that has since been abandoned by most students. "He ran with the others who were running away," said Jumaa.
Jumaa's account could not be independently corroborated because U.S. troops sealed off access to the university for hours as they searched for the suspect and military officials declined to discuss details of the incident.
Lt. Col. Peter Jones, commander of the Task Force 16 Infantry which is responsible for the security of the southern Baghdad area where the university is located, described the incident as "an aberration."
"We have a very good relationship both with the students and the faculty," Jones said. "They desire our presence in and around here."
But as several dozen military police and other soldiers swarmed around the main exit to the campus and required all those leaving the university to undergo a body search, the sentiments expressed toward the soldiers presence on campus was decidedly mixed.
"They always come to patrol," said Noor Adel, a 21-year-old computer science student, dressed in a conservative long coat and a pastel headscarf. "They enter places they don't have the right to go. They're not supposed to go inside to watch girls."
"They're not watching girls!" snapped an angry Rawaa Mohammed, 25, an architecture student standing in line behind Adel and wearing a bright yellow headscarf. "They are protecting us!"
Reuters contributed to this report.
The Washington Post Company
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