Word: basra
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Iraq's southernmost city is just an hour's drive from Kuwait. If the U.S. goes to war with Iraq, American forces will almost surely secure Basra early on as they push north toward Baghdad. They will want a continuing presence in the area to keep potentially rebellious Iraqi Shi'ites, who are concentrated around Basra, under control. And if the stories about Saddam Hussein's scorched-earth strategy are true, then Basra, ringed as it is with oil fields, could turn into an environmental deathtrap. "We know we're heading for a disaster," says surgeon Akram Hamoodi, director...
...familiar predicament for Basra. Strategically poised on the bank of the Shatt al Arab, one of the Middle East's busiest waterways, the city has been a juicy target for raiders, including the Persians, Turks and British, for more than 600 years. It was heavily shelled by the Iranians during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. In the 1991 Gulf War, allied forces controlled access to the city but did not need to enter it in strength; the Iraqi army had pulled out without much of a fight. Could Iraqi soldiers turn and run again? That's a prospect nobody...
...drawing from long experience and with a minimum of fuss, Basra is preparing for a prolonged conflict. The hospital is building up its blood bank, aiming for at least a month's supply of 100 pints daily, from the normal demand of 20 pints. "The one good thing about the war with Iran is that it made us experts at this kind of situation," Hamoodi says...
...thing people aren't doing is leaving. Basrans know that the army would not allow a mass exodus. And besides, where would people go? "During the war with Iran, people sent their children to the north, away from the front lines," says Abdul-Razak Mohamed, vice president of Basra University. "But now no place is safe from American bombs...
...when American bombs struck the office compound of an oil company in the center of town, killing four civilians and wounding 27 others, according to official Iraqi figures. The Pentagon says its forces were responding to Iraqi fire. "Bush has enough rockets to hit every home in Basra," says a homemaker who lives next to the compound. "Why should we bother to stock up food when we're all going to be dead soon...