Boris Johnson

The fear, the squalor …and the hope | 19 March 2005

The hunt for Saddam and WMD continues. Anarchy rules. But Iraq is now free, and Boris Johnson rejoices in the triumph of liberty

This article first ran in the 3rd May 2003 issue of The Spectator

Baghdad

We could tell something was up as soon as we approached the petrol station. There was an American tank parked amid a big crowd of jerrycan-toting Iraqis. Unusually, the soldiers were down and walking around, guns at the ready. Then I heard shouting and saw the Americans using their carbines like staves to push back some of the customers, who were evidently trying their luck. Just then a black sergeant near me started shouting at an Iraqi. ‘You, I’ve told you to get away from there,’ he said, swinging his gun round.

The Iraqi appeared to be a phone technician, with pliers and a handset. He was standing before an open relay box, up to his ears in wire, and trying to repair some of the damage that has left Baghdad for three weeks without telephones, electricity, and in some places without running water and sanitation. The American repeated his command; and again. Still the Iraqi did not move, while others vehemently and incomprehensibly tried to explain what he was doing. Then the American seemed to lose his temper.

‘Let me put it this way, buddy,’ he shouted, lifting the gun to his shoulder and aiming at the Iraqi’s head from a distance of a couple of feet. ‘If you don’t move, I’m going to shoot you!’ At this point, since it did not appear out of the question that there would indeed be a tragedy, I am afraid that I intervened. ‘I say, cool it,’ I said – or rather, croaked. Three pairs of US army shades turned on me, and a couple of American guns waggled discouragingly in my direction.

There is gunfire the whole time in Baghdad. It barks around every street corner. Every night is enlivened by the rippling and popping, as if someone were tearing a sheet a few feet away.

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