Global Policy Forum

By Dean Yates

A United States soldier shoots an 11-year-old boy carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. Ordinary Iraqis grab their own guns to help insurgents fight an American convoy. Tracer fire lights up the Baghdad sky when Iraq's football team scores a goal. Whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or not, Iraq is deadly enough with just the guns kept at homes, shops or cars across the country.

For many Iraqis, owning a gun is part of their tribal culture. For others, it is about protecting their families following Saddam's chaotic downfall in April and the state of lawlessness that descended on the country under US occupation. It all adds up to another headache for US-led authorities. "You won't find any home in Baghdad without a machine gun or a pistol," said Raghdan Thamir Abdullah, owner of a licensed Baghdad gun shop called Top Gun, in honour of his favourite actor Tom Cruise and the movie that helped cement his career.

Iraq has long been awash with weapons. Saddam's regime stockpiled huge quantities of AK-47 assault rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers and shoulder-fired missiles. Iraqis were allowed to keep guns at home, but could be jailed for up to two years for brandishing them in public. When Saddam fell, Iraqis looted abandoned military bases and bunkers.

Recent incidents highlight just how armed Iraqis are. Last Friday, an American soldier on patrol in the flashpoint town of Ramadi west of Baghdad shot an 11-year child in the foot after he had walked out of a house and pointed an AK-47 at him. The US military said the soldier acted in self-defence. On Sunday, insurgents attacked a US convoy delivering new currency to banks in the town of Samarra, sparking a clash the US military said killed 54 guerrillas, an account disputed by Iraqi police who said only eight civilians were killed. There were reports ordinary residents grabbed their own guns and joined the battle.

Iraqis often fire weapons during wedding celebrations and other festive occasions. Last month when Iraq beat North Korea 4-1 in a soccer match in Jordan, each goal was marked with gunfire in Baghdad. Upon the final whistle, automatic weapons and tracer fire erupted across the entire city for half an hour.

For a young man in post-Saddam Iraq, guns equal masculinity. Saddam himself perpetuated the belief. In a now infamous image, the fugitive leader wears a three-piece suit and a black hat as he fires a shotgun with one hand to mark his birthday. While US soldiers closed down many open-air gun markets that sprang up after the invasion to topple Saddam, buying a weapon is easy. In Baghdad's Sadr City, an impoverished suburb where few foreigners venture, all sorts of firearms are for sale.

US efforts to get Iraqis to voluntarily hand in weapons, small arms can be kept at home, have been largely fruitless. "To have a weapon reflects Iraqi customs, although maybe not as much in the cities. However, most teenagers now carry weapons in their cars, they consider it a sign of their manhood," said Muhammad Ahmed, the owner of an electrical goods shop.

Abdullah said that during Saddam's rule he sold mainly hunting rifles. Now it is pistols for protection. His customers are merchants, doctors and businessmen. His own protection at home, three shotguns and a pistol. But the hunters who scour Iraq's deserts for boar have stopped buying. "They can't risk it. American soldiers will shoot anyone they see carrying a gun," said Abdullah.

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