Jeff White
October 20, 2003, 07:29 PM
London Sunday Telegraph
October 19, 2003
This Is Jabir: Policeman By Day, Terrorist By Night
As US post-war casualties in Iraq hit treble figures, Damien McElroy meets a uniformed officer who plans the very attacks on American soldiers that he is paid to prevent
By day, Jabir Said is a uniformed officer in Iraq's new police force. Recruited by the Americans, given responsibility for guarding the local mayor, he sits in quietly on liaison meetings with US troops.
By night, the coalition loyalist returns home to change into a long white gown and blend back in with the local resistance - planning and taking part in the very attacks on American soldiers that he is paid to prevent.
Despite his double life, Jabir, 29, says that he does not hate foreigners but he cannot tolerate an occupation that has split the country "between Sunni, Shia, Kurd and Jew".
Jabir, who has a three-year-old daughter, accepted work with the Iraqi police to provide his family with the income that their small farm cannot generate. The American-led government in Baghdad has raised police wages, hoping to build a loyal corps of officers. It has not worked with Jabir.
"I have good relations with the American soldiers in my work but I live in a different situation," he said. "The Americans have given us nothing - no jobs and no hopes. They are thieves. They break into our houses without warning and stand on our heads. This is why the people are getting more hurt and more angry. This is why we want revenge."
The uncertain loyalties of men such as Jabir, who are being paid to help the coalition restore order especially in the Sunni Triangle area west of Baghdad, have contributed to the sagging morale of the US military in Iraq. On Friday, the number of American troops killed in the post-war period topped 100 after a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Attacks average between 22 and 30 on any given day.
Months into his dual role as daytime coalition ally and night-time saboteur in the heart of the Sunni Triangle west - which remains largely loyal to Saddam Hussein - Jabir has experienced both the highs and lows of underground resistance. On Friday his village, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, was mourning a woman shot dead in the courtyard of her home, from where the local resistance had launched a mortar attack on the nearby military base.
Earlier, the self-declared mujaheddin, or freedom fighter, had been elated by a "successful" operation launched against the occupying forces. Jabir helped to carry out a daring attack on an American convoy that was led, he said, by a former Iraqi general and three Syria Fedayeen fanatics.
A contact in Baghdad with an acquaintance in the village had supplied the initial tip-off that Jabir was willing to talk. Jabir, who asked The Sunday Telegraph to change his name, claimed that a roadside bomb was detonated under four Humvee vehicles and two lorries before five locals - including Jabir - fired rocket-propelled grenades and a Russian-made heavy machinegun into the stranded convoy.
"The resistance here is growing stronger every day," Jabir said. "First because Americans are occupiers and we will fight them until they leave the country, and second we fight to return Saddam Hussein to power because he is the only man who can return Iraq back to safety within an hour."
When he first wore the armband of the Iraqi police, Jabir was accused of collaboration. To win the trust of his underground comrades, he allowed a car to pass a joint Iraqi-American checkpoint although he saw guns and ammunition in the boot.
"At work the Americans ask us to supply information on who is behind the attacks but I can't because I would be betraying my brothers and cousins," he said. "Even last week they came and asked the mayor who was in the ambush. I stood there and said nothing." Instead, Jabir turns over intelligence about the Americans to a resistance cell.
He believes the resistance will triumph because members are willing to die. "My mother encourages me," he said. "My friends ask to go on an operation the night before their weddings. They don't care about their lives."
October 19, 2003
This Is Jabir: Policeman By Day, Terrorist By Night
As US post-war casualties in Iraq hit treble figures, Damien McElroy meets a uniformed officer who plans the very attacks on American soldiers that he is paid to prevent
By day, Jabir Said is a uniformed officer in Iraq's new police force. Recruited by the Americans, given responsibility for guarding the local mayor, he sits in quietly on liaison meetings with US troops.
By night, the coalition loyalist returns home to change into a long white gown and blend back in with the local resistance - planning and taking part in the very attacks on American soldiers that he is paid to prevent.
Despite his double life, Jabir, 29, says that he does not hate foreigners but he cannot tolerate an occupation that has split the country "between Sunni, Shia, Kurd and Jew".
Jabir, who has a three-year-old daughter, accepted work with the Iraqi police to provide his family with the income that their small farm cannot generate. The American-led government in Baghdad has raised police wages, hoping to build a loyal corps of officers. It has not worked with Jabir.
"I have good relations with the American soldiers in my work but I live in a different situation," he said. "The Americans have given us nothing - no jobs and no hopes. They are thieves. They break into our houses without warning and stand on our heads. This is why the people are getting more hurt and more angry. This is why we want revenge."
The uncertain loyalties of men such as Jabir, who are being paid to help the coalition restore order especially in the Sunni Triangle area west of Baghdad, have contributed to the sagging morale of the US military in Iraq. On Friday, the number of American troops killed in the post-war period topped 100 after a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Attacks average between 22 and 30 on any given day.
Months into his dual role as daytime coalition ally and night-time saboteur in the heart of the Sunni Triangle west - which remains largely loyal to Saddam Hussein - Jabir has experienced both the highs and lows of underground resistance. On Friday his village, on the eastern bank of the Tigris, was mourning a woman shot dead in the courtyard of her home, from where the local resistance had launched a mortar attack on the nearby military base.
Earlier, the self-declared mujaheddin, or freedom fighter, had been elated by a "successful" operation launched against the occupying forces. Jabir helped to carry out a daring attack on an American convoy that was led, he said, by a former Iraqi general and three Syria Fedayeen fanatics.
A contact in Baghdad with an acquaintance in the village had supplied the initial tip-off that Jabir was willing to talk. Jabir, who asked The Sunday Telegraph to change his name, claimed that a roadside bomb was detonated under four Humvee vehicles and two lorries before five locals - including Jabir - fired rocket-propelled grenades and a Russian-made heavy machinegun into the stranded convoy.
"The resistance here is growing stronger every day," Jabir said. "First because Americans are occupiers and we will fight them until they leave the country, and second we fight to return Saddam Hussein to power because he is the only man who can return Iraq back to safety within an hour."
When he first wore the armband of the Iraqi police, Jabir was accused of collaboration. To win the trust of his underground comrades, he allowed a car to pass a joint Iraqi-American checkpoint although he saw guns and ammunition in the boot.
"At work the Americans ask us to supply information on who is behind the attacks but I can't because I would be betraying my brothers and cousins," he said. "Even last week they came and asked the mayor who was in the ambush. I stood there and said nothing." Instead, Jabir turns over intelligence about the Americans to a resistance cell.
He believes the resistance will triumph because members are willing to die. "My mother encourages me," he said. "My friends ask to go on an operation the night before their weddings. They don't care about their lives."