People of Basra Hope for Trust, Security

As word spread through southern Iraq on Tuesday that the U.S. had airlifted Iraqi National Congress head Ahmad Chalabi into the region, some Iraqis questioned the leadership credentials of a man who has lived comfortably abroad while so many endured the rule of Saddam Hussein.

“We don’t want any leaders coming from London,” said Saad Mohamed, 30, a trader. “They go out to bars, don’t know anything about Iraq, were paid by the Americans and now think they can just take over the country.”

Chalabi and 500 supporters in the 1st Battalion Free Iraqi Forces were flown to a location near Nasiriyah on Sunday in a move interpreted by some as a Pentagon bid to position him as Iraq’s next president. The expatriate Iraqi, believed to have been born in 1945 to a wealthy banker family, has not lived in the country since 1958.

“We were kids in 1958,” said Kuzem Muhsun, 50, an employee at a wheat trading company. “I’ve never heard of him before. Why not opt for someone from inside who’s witnessed the war and suffering?”

As Basra endured a second day of widespread looting, many residents said that any blueprint for a post-Hussein future must be premised on a basic level of security.

When British troops pulled out of their temporary base at Basra Polytechnic College on Tuesday morning, a cheer arose from hundreds of looters waiting outside the gate in cars three deep. In a cloud of dust, they rushed into the campus to strip air conditioners, oscilloscopes, drafting tables and blackboards from classrooms.

“You must prevent this. This is horrible,” said a computer scientist in tears as he watched his jobsite being shredded. “The whole country will go down. This is very bad.”

Many people here in Iraq’s second-largest city have doubts that the U.S. and British will stay the course against Hussein’s regime. Twelve years ago, after the Persian Gulf War, Washington encouraged Shiite Muslims in the south to rise up against Hussein’s regime. The dictator reasserted control and exacted revenge.

“People are very scared and distrustful,” said Muhi Lefth, 50, sitting on a step in front of his nightclub, which was destroyed in recent fighting.

“Who brought Saddam Hussein back in 1991? The U.S. did. They should have gone all the way.”

Law, Order and Services

Lefth said unifying Iraq’s diverse groups will be tough, especially for an outsider. An important first step in winning trust, he added, would be to restore water and electrical service to the country, enact curfews and guard key sites against thieves.

“British soldiers are letting people burn and loot,” Lefth said. “People don’t trust anyone. They don’t even trust themselves.”

British officials said they lack the manpower and the mandate to become a civilian police force -- even as they acknowledged that the country is in something of a bind.

“We can’t provide law and order. Only a police force can do that,” said Maj. Tim Brown of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. “No one’s actually started planning how it’s going to go after the war. There’s a real vacuum.”

To fill the void, British troops in Basra have begun talks with local representatives about forming a provisional government for the province.

British military spokesman Col. Chris Vernon said in Kuwait that Maj. Gen. Robin Brims met Sunday with a local tribal leader, whom he did not identify.

British officials checked the man’s background and consulted about him with retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who is to oversee the U.S. postwar occupation.

“He does have authority, and we have heard of him,” Vernon said of the tribal leader. “We came away with the conclusion that he was reliable.”

British officials hope for the formation of a broad-based local government. Some members of Hussein’s Baath Party may even be included.

“Their knowledge of the locals is far greater. We’ve only been there 14 days,” Vernon said. “This is better than having the big British army try to run their town for them.”

Some of the difficult choices ahead for planners trying to build a new social order were evident Tuesday at Basra Military Hospital, which was looted Monday and sent its patients to other hospitals.

In a bid to get the facility running again, British troops encouraged director Yaseen Taher to return.

But in addition to being a surgeon, Taher is a military general, a senior Baath Party official and chief administrator for all civilian and military hospitals in the south.

Taher insists that he’s a medical man who has avoided politics and wants only to help rebuild Iraq. He said he has received assurances from the British that his past affiliation would not be an issue. But others suggested that any such understanding may be temporary.

“You have to divide the Baath Party into two parts -- militia and administration,” said Flight Lt. Darren Finch of the Royal Air Force. “If he committed heinous crimes, that will be investigated later as people talk.”

Weighing the Options

For Hassam Sahar, a 45-year-old engineer, it’s still too early to consider whether Chalabi, the expatriate, or someone else is the right person to map out the road ahead.

“We can’t say who is the best leader right now,” he said. “We’ve had 35 years of problems. We need to listen to everyone and then after five or six months choose who is best.”

Other Basra residents were in favor of Chalabi’s candidacy. “We know the Chalabis. His brother is a doctor in Basra, and the family is well known,” said Musel Jowad Lafta, 65, a barber.

Ending Religious Strife

Chalabi is a Shiite Muslim -- as are the majority of Iraqis -- but Lafta said religion was not a key concern.

“There’s no problem between Sunnis and Shiites. That was something created by Saddam Hussein,” Lafta said. “We want to end that whole chapter.” Hussein’s regime is composed primarily of minority Sunni Muslims.

Even as Iraqis begin to debate who is most qualified to run the country after Hussein, others say they see little downside to either an expatriate or a local.

“Any change will be a cause for happiness and celebration,” said Hamid Fayed, 35, a bus driver. “The way I see it, nothing could be worse than the old regime, no matter who it is.”

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Times staff writer David Wharton in Kuwait City contributed to this report.