READY TO EXPLODE -- Hope Fades for Future in Iraq (UK Mirror)

[IrateCitizen]

READY TO EXPLODE Jul 3 2003


HOPE FOR FUTURE FADES IN IRAQ

From Tom Newton Dunn In Basra


FORMER Iraqi soldier Najab fingered his pistol and glared at two British soldiers trying to calm an angry crowd protesting at crippling shortages.

Speaking outside one of Saddam Hussein's old palaces just 50 yards from the British HQ in Basra, he said: "Our patience has run out. We've no money to feed ourselves, we haven't been paid for six months and we're fed up with broken promises.

"We've told the British today that if we're not paid by Friday, we'll arm ourselves with guns again and start killing every foreigner we see in Iraq."

This is Basra three months after British tanks rolled in to a rapturous welcome. Instead of jubilation there is frustration. In the broiling summer heat this is a city waiting to explode.

READ THE REST HERE

[Paschall]

1. "Rapturous welcome"? "Rapturous"?

I guess I missed that episode. But that was the spin and it makes today's failure all the more scandalous.