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April 17, 2003

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London Independent correspondent Robert Fisk writes that in Saddam City, now renamed Sadr City, the streets are barricaded by Shia Muslims. At every barricade there are 14 men with automatic rifles.

US troops have issued a "Message to the Citizens of Baghdad," which directs people to stay in their homes at night.

An Arab woman shouted at Fisk: "If I was an Iraqi and I read that, I would become a suicide bomber."

It appears the US is making no effort to catch Saddam Hussein’s cabinet or secret police.

Fisk writes that all across Baghdad Shia Muslim clerics, and Sunni businessmen are saying the same thing: that the Americans have come only for oil, and that soon–very soon–a guerrilla resistance must start.

Marine officers in Baghdad held talks yesterday with a Shia militant cleric from Najaf to avert an outbreak of fighting around the holy city.

In one Baghdad neighborhood, al Adhamiya, Knight Ridder reports thirty people were killed late in unclear circumstances late last week. Residents say they were trying to defend their homes from looters when US tanks rolled in. A resident, Khalid Tarah, said he saw a 10-year-old boy shot as he watched what was going on.

He said: "A year ago, on these streets, we would have yawned if someone had mentioned America to us. Now, look what they have done to us. Everyone feels this pain. Everyone here now wants to kill. Everyone here now wants to kill Americans."

To mark the fourth week of the U.S. invasion of Iraq we’ll spend the hour with MIT Professor and leading anti-war critic Noam Chomsky.

This speech was recorded by Andy Dierenger and Free Speech TV in Boulder, Colorado. The event was organized by community radio station KGNU.

• Noam Chomsky, MIT professor and author of numerous books including Power and Terror: Post 9-11 Talks and Interviews, 911, Understanding Power and Middle East Illusions.