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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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February 23rd,
2007 - Fallujans Defiant Amidst Chaos |
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Fallujans Defiant Amidst Chaos By Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily Inter Press Service 23 February 2007 Fallujah - Resistance
attacks against U.S. forces have been continuing in Fallujah despite military
onslaughts and strong security measures. Two U.S. military onslaughts
in 2004 left the city in a shambles and displaced an estimated 250,000 of the
350,000 residents of the city. The military operations, and
more that followed have done nothing to reduce resistance in and around
Fallujah city in the al-Anbar province to the west of Baghdad. Last month U.S. forces
introduced a new phase of 'security' along with local Iraqi police, and
supported by some local Sunni militias. Resistance groups have taken
the fight to the security forces. In one instance resistance fighters in four
cars attacked one of the biggest police stations in the city with rocket
propelled grenades and machine guns. Chief of the city council
Abbas Ali Hussein was killed by unknown assassins. He was the fourth chief of
council killed in the city within 12 months. "The big failure of the
U.S. troops in Fallujah came when they began bringing Sunni secret police
into the city," a member of the city council told IPS. "The
situation in Ramadi, Hit, Haditha and all over al-Anbar province is now
catastrophic." IPS has reported earlier
that the U.S.-led coalition had backed local militias near Fallujah in an
effort to combat growing resistance in the area. Many residents in Fallujah
believe the U.S. military also continues to support Shia militias. Amidst the chaos and
violence, residents blame occupation forces for their problems. "Americans are paying
our own people to kill each other," a local tribal chief told IPS.
"This is very nasty revenge." The tribal chief said U.S.
forces provoked armed resistance in Fallujah early in the occupation when
they killed 17 unarmed demonstrators on Apr. 28 and 30. Khattab, a resident of
Fallujah who never believed in violence before, has changed his mind after
being detained by U.S. forces and held in Abu Ghraib prison and Camp Bucca
near Basra for over a year. "The Americans are now
hiding behind their mercenaries," he told IPS. "I wish I joined
those brave men I thought wrong for fighting. U.S. jailers have done me a
favor because they have brought me to my senses, and made me believe in the mujahideen
(resistance fighters)." Local police told IPS that
an average of five attacks were being carried out every day in Fallujah on
U.S. military patrols, and another five against Iraqi security forces. In recent incidents a U.S.
tank was burnt Feb. 17 when gunmen attacked a convoy near the al-Wahda bridge
just west of Fallujah, according to an Iraqi police source who spoke with the
independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity. The
source added, "the gunmen used RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) in the
attack." On Feb. 20, an Iraqi
security patrol was attacked by gunmen and a Humvee vehicle was destroyed in
central Fallujah, again by RPGs. The Multi-National Forces in
Iraq regularly announce the killing of U.S. soldiers "while operating in
al-Anbar Province." The exact location is usually not specified. To date, 1,172 coalition
soldiers have died in al-Anbar province, according to the website Iraq
Coalition Casualty Count. That is more than any other province in the
country, including the volatile capital Baghdad. And it is a substantial part
of more than 3,100 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. U.S. forces continue to
claim success by way of killing "insurgents". In one instance this
was by way of an air attack on suspected safe houses for resistance fighters
in Amiriya town near Fallujah. The U.S. forces reported 13 dead in the
attack. Ahmed al-Ami, a doctor at a
Fallujah hospital where the dead and wounded from the air strike were taken,
told reporters that more than 30 bodies, including those of seven children,
were brought in. In the face of all this, the
city remains defiant. "We cannot let the
blood of our sons which Americans spilled in this holy city go in vain,"
a 35-year-old teacher from Fallujah told IPS. Like most others, he did not
want to give his name. "This time all of us
will be the resistance against the Americans because they obviously want to
finish us off and pull us up by the roots," he added. Raids and arrests continue
to provoke such anger. Recently Iraqi police, who
many locals believed to be members of a Shia militia, arrested many people
including the manager of the local Oil Distribution Directorate and the
secretary-general of the al-Raya human rights non-governmental organization,
Khalid Abdullah Hameed. The oil manager was released
after four days while Hameed is still in detention. Several refugees who fled
Baghdad have demonstrated against his detention. "Khalid helped us
settle in a building and provided us with everything we needed, but the
police took him and two of us, who were released later," a refugee told
IPS. Many in Fallujah refuse to
talk, even on condition of anonymity. "We advise you to leave
the city right now because we can never tell when the situation will
explode," a resident told the IPS correspondent. "This time it will
be serious and those secret policemen do not like media men." External link: http://electroniciraq.net/news/2920.shtml |