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Profile: Gun Sales Up In Iraq
Morning Edition: January 15, 2003
Iraqi Gun Sales Soar
BOB EDWARDS, host:
Most Iraqis are preparing for a possible US attack by stocking up on flour, water and other essentials. A Baghdad rifle shop owner says many are buying guns after the government asked for help in defending the homeland. NPR's Kate Seelye reports.
KATE SEELYE reporting:
Gun shop owner Yassin al-Jabbouri is not the kind of guy you'd want to face in a duel. Tall and imposing in his black-checked headdress, the man with the booming voice says he's an excellent shot.
Mr. YASSIN AL-JABBOURI (Gun Shop Owner): (Foreign language spoken)
SEELYE: `If I blindfolded myself and toss a coin up, I'll be able to hit it,' he says, `just from listening to the sound of the air.' The chief of a Bedouin tribe, Jabbouri says he's been shooting guns since he was nine. He's now the proud owner of El-Huddah(ph), the oldest gun store in Baghdad. On the walls hang a variety of hunting rifles, from Italian Berettas to cheap Turkish and Brazilian copies. Behind glass cases lie Cobra Magnum revolvers, along with a variety of bullets and gun holders. Jabbouri shows off one of his favorite models, a heavy black 9mm gun. Made in Iraq, it sells for the equivalent of about $200.
SOUNDBITE OF GUN BEING COCKED
Mr. JABBOURI: (Foreign language spoken)
SEELYE: `This is named after the famous Muslim leader, Tarik Ibbin Zyant,' he says proudly. It's his most popular gun, adds Jabbouri, and he says he's selling a lot of them these days.
Mr. JABBOURI: (Foreign language spoken)
SEELYE: `More and more people are worried about the dangers of an American attack,' he says, `so they're arming themselves to defend their country, their families and their honor.' Jabbouri says 12,000 members of his tribe live in the Baghdad area and they're all armed and ready, he says, to defend Saddam Hussein.
Mr. JABBOURI: (Foreign language spoken)
SEELYE: `We're fighters,' says the 50-year-old sheik. `We've been fighting occupiers for hundreds of years--the Persians, the Turks, the British. We're ready to fight the Americans as well.'
There are some 150 Bedouin tribes in Iraq who form a critical base of support for Saddam, himself of Bedouin origin. Jabbouri's shop is festooned with pictures of the president, whom Jabbouri calls the symbol of the country. He admits that his rifles won't do much to stop an invading American Army. `However,' says Jabbouri, `once an actual war starts, the government will take additional steps.'
Mr. JABBOURI: (Foreign language spoken)
SEELYE: `We know the government has plenty more weapons to hand out to the people,' says Jabbouri, `then America will see what we have.' In past weeks, the government has held pro-Saddam street parades featuring groups of men, women and children marching with an array of weapons. Saddam himself has been calling on the Iraqi people to get ready to fight. Thirty-three-year-old El-Huddah customer Ali Hamdahn(ph) says he's already bought his gun.
Mr. ALI HAMDAHN: (Foreign language spoken)
SEELYE: `I'll use it against the enemy,' says Hamdahn `to defend our country.' But off the record some Iraqis says worry about a US attack is not the real reason for the rise in gun sales. They say it has much more to do with the internal situation and fear of the chaos and anarchy that might erupt should the current government fall. Kate Seelye, NPR News, Baghdad.
EDWARDS: The time is 19 minutes past the hour.
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