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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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November 20th,
2007 - Fallujah Now Under a Different Kind of Siege |
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Fallujah Now Under a
Different Kind of Siege By Ali al-Fadhily Inter Press Service November 20, 2007 Fallujah - Three years after
a devastating U.S.-led siege of the city, residents of Fallujah continue to
struggle with a shattered economy, infrastructure, and lack of mobility. The city that was routed in
November 2004 is still suffering the worst humanitarian conditions under a
siege that continues. Although military actions are down to the minimum
inside the city, local and US authorities do not seem to be thinking of
ending the agonies of the over 400,000 residents of Fallujah. "You, people of the
media, say things in Fallujah are good," Mohammad Sammy, an aid worker
for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Fallujah told IPS, "Then why don’t you
come and live in this paradise with us? It is so easy to say things for you,
isn’t it?" His anger is due to the fact
that the embattled city is still completely closed and surrounded by military
checkpoints to make it look like an isolated island. Those who are not
genuine residents of the city are not granted the biometric identification
badge from the U.S. Marines, and are thus not allowed to enter the city. Since the November 2004
U.S.-led attack on the city, named Operation Phantom Fury, which left
approximately 70 percent of the city destroyed, the U.S. military has
required residents to undergo retina scans, and finger-printings in order to
gain a bar-code for identification. "This isolation has
destroyed the economy of the city that was once one the best in Iraq,"
Professor Mohammad Al-Dulaymi of Al-Anbar University told IPS. "All of
the other cities in the province used to do their wholesale shopping in
Fallujah, but now they have to find alternatives, leaving the cities
businesses to starve," he explained. All of the residents
interviewed by IPS were extremely angry with the media for recent reports
that the situation in the city is good. Many refused to be quoted for
different reasons. "Fallujah is probably
the city that had the most of media coverage in the history of the
occupation," Hatam Jawad, a school headmaster in Fallujah told IPS.
"People are tired of shouting and appearing on TV to complain, without
feeling any change in their sorrowful living situation. Some of them are
afraid of police revenge for telling the truth." Many residents told IPS that
U.S.-backed Iraqi Police and Army personnel have detained people who have
spoken to the media. "I am not going to tell
you whether it is good or bad to be a Fallujah resident," 55-year-old
lawyer, Shakir Naji, told IPS. "Why don’t you just ask what the prices
of essential materials are and judge for yourself? Kerosene for heating is
almost one U.S. dollar per liter, a jar of propane gas is 15 dollars, and it
is not winter yet when the prices will definitely be doubled." Water and electricity
services are at a minimum in the city. An Oxfam International report released
in July found that 70 percent of Iraqis do not have access to safe drinking
water. Since the November 2004
siege, entire neighborhoods remain totally destroyed, and with no water or
electricity. Most of the businesses in Fallujah remain closed. "We depend upon the
private sector for electricity," Fatima Saed, a woman whose husband was
detained in 2005 and has not been released yet told IPS. "In my
situation, to pay 50 dollars a month [for electricity] is a disaster because
I have to cut it from the quantity and quality of food that I buy for myself
and my kids." The Oxfam report also
stated, "At the beginning of May 2007, the Central Office for Statistics
and Information Technology (COSIT), part of the Iraqi Ministry of Planning,
released a survey highlighting the fact that 43 percent of Iraqis suffer from
‘absolute poverty’. The poverty of many families is rooted in unemployment,
which affects probably more than 50 percent of the workforce." Fallujah General Hospital,
situated across the Euphrates River from the city, is still functioning, but
with a minimal number of specialist doctors and medical supplies. The only
doctor who would speak to IPS did not want his name published. "The manager of this
hospital is a good man and he is trying hard to improve the services, but the
Ministry of Health in Baghdad still treats us here as a bunch of terrorists.
We are suffering both corruption from the ministry and ignorance about
Al-Anbar Province from this (Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki)
administration," he explained. "We do not have enough medicines,
and the equipment brought to us by contractors is still in boxes and seems to
be part of the corrupt contracts of the province. It is impossible to work
under such conditions." People coming for treatment
or surgeries in the hospital appeared desperate to get their essential needs
met. "We have to buy cotton,
bandages, medicines and all we need from private pharmacies,"
35-year-old Muath Tahir, a teacher who had his appendix removed three days
earlier told IPS. "Those who can manage would go to the private hospital
for better treatment, but my 230 dollar salary is not even enough for my
daily needs. This city has become impossible to live in." External link: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/hard_news/archives/iraq/000684.php |