Falluja: Put in what you find

[pandora]

"My thoughts too have turned towards Falluja...the BBC correspondent there says the city is in ruins, streets full of bodies...a mini-holocaust in the making with a potential of 30,000 to 50,000 killed." Redstar

Starting a new link on Falluja to focus on offensive by US

BBC link to reporters in the field is:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3992137.stm
According to the BBC, the British Parliment is worried about images of massacres reaching the public and affecting public opinion. This link has various reporters some are less bias than others and reacting to the barbarity around them.

Unfortunately I'm not the barbarian, wish I was all there was. The real barbarians are ourselves who condone these actions. It pains me to read the paper because it is so slanted.

Went to check Al Jazeera today, but had been hacked, no access to English version, do others have some problems? Ah finally got through, and it looks amazing, finally a real web source okay here ya go. No it's not as "slanted as you would think, becoming more centrist as it becomes the only non-American source.
http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage/

Information on humanitarian issues there is at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CC3...B128D2997D9.htm (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CC347D0D-663E-4BE6-A2C9-BB128D2997D9.htm)

Right now using your computer to send information is the way to spread information and stop this.
Talk left is also a good source they are here:
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/008666.html

Am afraid to look at the evil that has been committed, but can not do this. We must be aware of the monstrosties being committed in our name to help put a stop to this through public awareness.

Found an interactivist website with some reports at:
http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?s...d&tid=15&tid=14 (http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=04/04/16/0155225&mode=nested&tid=15&tid=14)


I am so sad that people are suffering tonight, they waited till the day after Ramaddan when people were weak from fasting,
and the day after the election they planned it when they were secure.

I pray the people there can protect themselves from this, by hiding and doing what they can. The images of men on the floor worried me, would they be imprisoned, tortured, slaughtered.
I hope not the later. The US when it can't get it's way with torturing prisoners opts to kill them.
Here are some pages I found on the results of the fighting:
Civilian casualities: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6E7...7C9A8FC6DAC.htm (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6E722418-6B50-4D2A-93E1-77C9A8FC6DAC.htm)
Hospitals:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D6E...27BF5094113.htm (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D6E6534F-75E3-4830-B5ED-827BF5094113.htm)
Mosques:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6E7...7C9A8FC6DAC.htm (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6E722418-6B50-4D2A-93E1-77C9A8FC6DAC.htm)

Being it was the final day of Ramaddan and that those who were too poor to leave the city may have gone to pray many casualities may have happened in the mosques particularly with children. Many were able to vacate, but not the poorest.

The "other side" is also reacting to this, I hope that the Iraqi National Guard which has been kidnapped is released.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CC3...B128D2997D9.htm (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CC347D0D-663E-4BE6-A2C9-BB128D2997D9.htm)

[pandora]

Sunni government quits interim government over attacks on Falluja
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AB2...FB45F516C23.htm (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AB208D9C-56DA-4F15-986F-AFB45F516C23.htm)

[Agent provocateur]

What strategy do you guys think the insurgents in Fallujah should resort to? In my opinion they should retreat and melt into the population but not before laying many roadside bombs where U.S. convoys may frequent. Then at good opportunities they should ambush isolated soldiers stationed at various checkpoints with some suicide-bombers doing some constructive distractions in other parts of the city. I guess that is what they are pretty much doing.

[pandora]

This is probably what they will do, unfortunately many civilians are stuck there

[Hiero]

SBS news - US stated that the city will fall in 48 hours.

[chebol]

Check Green Left Weekly's coverage of the attack on Fallujah and details of upcoming protests on our “Fallujah — from the other side” page.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/fallujah.htm

[pandora]

Nice one Chebol, it had a lot of the articles I found plus some on the global protests of this action around the world.
Yes boys and girls, make no mistake the U.S. is attacking a city, much like the cities you and I know, and killing the inhabitants.
This is why I believe they will not even allow any mundane pictures get out of the marines in the city or the city itself in the newspapers. Because many people would be horrified to see a city the size of one they know being destroyed by troops.

[1949]

The Killing of Fallujah (http://rwor.org/a/1258/iraq-fallujah-occupation.htm)

[redtrigger]

I was watching the news last night and it said that insurgents now control over 1/3 of the neighborhoods in Fallujah. If that is what the coalition is admitting, then I wonder how high it actually is?

[h&s]

I saw on the news yesterday some footage from a reporter with the marines. He showed a clip of a Marine shooting an injured, unarmed insurgent at point blank range (nothing graphical shown though), but did not say anything to condem it. It was murder, and the Murdoch media just ignore it. :angry:

[pandora]

Originally posted by hammer&[email protected] 12 2004, 04:35 PM
I saw on the news yesterday some footage from a reporter with the marines. He showed a clip of a Marine shooting an injured, unarmed insurgent at point blank range (nothing graphical shown though), but did not say anything to condem it. It was murder, and the Murdoch media just ignore it. :angry:
By showing this crap and not responding to it, they are trying to create an atmosphere in the American publics eyes that this is okay.

THIS IS NOT OKAY. You are supposed to jail prisoners and give them medical treatment. That was murder, by any standard, doing that on camera is especially disruptive, and gives evidence to their atrocities, I worried after Abu Gaber prison where they got caught red handed that they would pull this crap.

It's our job to spread this all over the internet and word of mouth, talk to people about this, they can't get away with this. Why do you think they tried to shut us down, because they want to commit crimes like this and the public to nod and say okay.

Then they can bring in a military junta where we are, and it will be okay.

Don't kid yourself the assault on Falluja is a practice run for Western cities, don't believe me, that's fine, but people on the ground in Nicarqua said the same thing, it was like they were practicing. For us.

You think these people don't see 50 years down the line.
See the "Spook Who Sat Near the Door"
It's about the urban areas of the United States going off like Falluja and the marines doing the fighting, very interesting.

[KrazyRabidSheep]

uh, maybe this was covered already, and i don't have a link to any news stories or anything, but i heard that the first day the troops were going after the hospitals so they could deny healthcare to anybody they so wished (probably military aged males). . .from what i remember, they were using them as barracks, troops move in, kick out a bunch of patients, and fill it with american troops. . .safer then a tent i guess

Anyone else hear about this? have a link? i think it was online somewhere

Fuck up the health care system, and the country's practicaly U.S.jr

Ah, well. . .it also seems that just about every Alam in the Muslim world is calling for a Jihad now. . .even some saudi ones have told the americans to sit on it. . .maybe they can hold out long enough like vietnam

[KrazyRabidSheep]

exciting news. . .i just went to yahoo from here and found a new news story
___________________________________
Police Lose Control of Mosul Amid Uprising

7 minutes ago

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government rushed reinforcements Friday to the country's third-largest city, Mosul, seeking to quell a deadly militant uprising that U.S. officials suspected may be in support of the resistance in Fallujah — now said to be under 80 percent U.S. control.

Police in Mosul largely disappeared from the streets, residents reported, and gangs of armed men brandishing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers roamed the city, 225 miles north of Baghdad. Responding to the crisis, Iraqi authorities dismissed Mosul's police chief after local officials reported that officers were abandoning their stations to militants without firing a shot.

Elsewhere, insurgents shot down a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter near Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, wounding three crew members, the military said. It was the third downed helicopter this week after two Marine Super Cobras succumbed to ground fire in the Fallujah operation.

In Fallujah, U.S. troops pushed insurgents into a narrow corner in the southern end of the city after a four-day assault that has claimed 22 American lives and wounded about 170 others. An estimated 600 insurgents have died, according to the military.

Despite the apparent success in Fallujah, violence flared elsewhere in the volatile Sunni Muslim areas, including Mosul, where attacks Thursday killed a U.S. soldier. Another soldier was killed in Baghdad as clashes erupted Friday in at least four neighborhoods of the capital. Clashes also broke out from Hawija and Tal Afar in the north to Samarra — where the police chief was also fired — and Ramadi in central Iraq (news - web sites).

The most serious incidents took place in Mosul, a city of about 1 million people, where fighting raged for a second day. Gunmen attacked the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party in an hourlong battle that a party official said left six assailants dead.

Militants also assassinated the head of the city's anti-crime task force, Brig. Gen. Mowaffaq Mohammed Dahham, and set fire to his home.

"With the start of operations in Fallujah a few days ago, we expected that there would be some reaction here in Mosul," Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of U.S. forces in the city, told CNN from Mosul.

Ham said he doubted the Mosul attackers were insurgents who fled Fallujah and said most "were from the northern part of Iraq, in and around Mosul and the Tigris River valley that's south of the city."

Capt. Angela Bowman, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Mosul headquarters, said "some of these attacks are in support of the resistance in Fallujah."

In a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera television, Saif al-Deen al-Baghdadi, an official of the insurgents' political office, urged militants to fight U.S. forces outside Fallujah.

"I call upon the scores or hundreds of the brothers from the mujahedeen ... to press the American forces outside" Fallujah, al-Baghdadi said.

"We chose the path of armed jihad and say clearly that ridding Iraq of the occupation will not be done by ballots. Ayad Allawi's government ... represents the fundamentalist right-wing of the White House and not the Iraqi people," he continued — a reference to the interim Iraqi prime minister, who gave to the go-ahead for the Fallujah invasion.

In addition to firing the Mosul police chief, Iraqi authorities also dispatched four battalions of the Iraqi National Guard from garrisons along the Syrian and Iranian borders.

Most of the reinforcements are ethnic Kurds who fought alongside American forces during the 2003 invasion — a move which could inflame ethnic rivalries with Mosul's Sunni Arab population. Nevertheless, it appeared Iraqi authorities had no choice given the apparent failure of the city's police force to maintain order.

At a U.S. camp near Fallujah, Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said U.S. and Iraqi forces now occupy about 80 percent of the city, and that clearing operations are continuing to find caches of weapons and ammunition. Army and Marine units moved to tighten their security cordon around Fallujah, backed by FA-18s and AC-130 gunships.

The largest pocket of remaining resistance fighters were cornered Friday in the city's southwest as airstrikes and strafing runs continued.



"The rout is on," said a 1st Cavalry Division officer. "It won't be long now."

Iraqi forces were charged with searching every building in Fallujah, working from north to south, the military said.

In the city's north, U.S. forces reported roving squads of three to five militants shooting small-arms fire and moving easily through narrow alleyways. Troops were finding numerous weapons caches, the military said.

Time magazine's Michael Ware, embedded with U.S. forces, said troops of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment who spearheaded the first push into the city early Monday found entire houses that were booby-trapped.

Fighting was so fierce that, on one occasion, U.S. troops fought insurgents room to room, just a few feet away from each other in the same house.

Troops have cut off all roads and bridges leading out of Fallujah and have turned back hundreds of men trying to flee the city during the assault. Only women, children and the elderly can leave.

The military says keeping men aged 15 to 55 from leaving is key to the mission's success.

"If they're not carrying a weapon, you can't tell who's who," said an officer with the 1st Cavalry Division.

The Fallujah operation threatens to enflame passions within the Sunni community, not only against the American presence but against the Shiite majority, whose clerical leaders have by and large remained silent over the killings of Muslims in the city.

An audiotape purportedly made by al-Qaida-linked terror suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi encouraged his fighters in Fallujah and said victory was near. He accused Kurds and Shiites in the Iraqi forces of abandoning their religion and said the offensive had been blessed by "the infidel's imam," Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leading Shiite cleric in Iraq.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities launched the Fallujah operation to restore government control so that national elections can go ahead by the end of January as planned. However, hardline Sunni clerics are calling for a boycott to protest the Fallujah attacks.

In Baghdad, Iraqi security forces, backed by U.S. troops, arrested one of those clerics, Sheik Mahdi al-Sumaidaei, and about two dozen other people after a raid of his Baghdad mosque uncovered weapons and photographs of recent attacks on American troops, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

Mosul area deputy Gov. Khissrou Gouran said gunmen tried to storm a food distribution center in the city's Yarmouk area but were forced back by National Guardsmen and security guards. The gunmen were trying to destroy election registration cards held at the center, Gouran said.

In Washington, President Bush (news - web sites) met with his top ally in the war, British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), and warned that with Iraqi elections approaching, "the desperation of the killers will grow and the violence could escalate." But he said victory in Iraq would be a blow to terrorists everywhere.

Fallujah militants fought Marines to a standstill last April during a three-week siege, which the Bush administration called off amid public criticism over civilian casualties.

Many, if not most, of Fallujah's 200,000-300,000 residents fled the city before the assault. It is impossible to determine how many civilians not involved in the insurgency were killed.

Commanders said they believe 1,200-3,000 insurgents were holed up in Fallujah before the offensive.

origional post @ http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...n_re_mi_ea/iraq (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq)

[Agent provocateur]

Yeah I saw that article too about the police losing control. It excited me like crazy. I love it so much. I tell you these Iraqis can fight. They don't give a fuck that the U.S. is the greatest power on earth. But I really think the U.S. is going to be in Iraq for many years to come. The U.S. "leaders" are afraid to lose face in this war. So they will pretty much call a draft to raise recruitment levels. We got some bad days ahead before it gets any better.

[KrazyRabidSheep]

I tell you these Iraqis can fight. They don't give a fuck that the U.S. is the greatest power on earth. But I really think the U.S. is going to be in Iraq for many years to come.

That's eastern culture for you. In the west people don't know shame, devotion, honour, duty, sacrifice. They are more concerend with preserving their own lives then looking at the whole picture. Think of the Samauri, think of the Egyptian and Turkish Jihads, think of the Viet Cong, think of the Kamakazee.

Yes, this will take a while, and very quite possibly will turn into another Vietnam. However, the short war was the U.S.'s only hope of victory. The war is lingering on, which means the Iraqis are going to win. Eastern culture does not give up: either it is crushed, or it thrives.

[ComradeChris]

I just saw the news. Estimated 600 dead "insurgents" and 27 dead Americans.

Apparently the Rebels in Falluja are sparking people to uprise in what was previously though "safe-zones" by the Yanks.

[KrazyRabidSheep]

I just saw the news. Estimated 600 dead "insurgents" and 27 dead Americans.

Apparently the Rebels in Falluja are sparking people to uprise in what was previously though "safe-zones" by the Yanks.

27 is more then what it's been. . .but still not very good.

20 civilians and militia for every soldier? How about the "Iraqi Police"? These are really just auxilary troops to the U.S., but they're still Iraqis. If the U.S. hadn't stepped in, they wouldn't be taking so many losses. (Don't get me wrong, the Kurds/Shiites/Sunnies aren't exactly fond of each other, but they don't kill 600 in a couple days, either)

I'd like to see an estimate of Iraqi deaths vs. Americans. . .Seems to me that it should be over 100:1

Such a terrible loss for the American people

[Maynard]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4008619.stm


We Had To Destroy Fallujah in Order to Save It By Edward Herman

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2004-11/08herman.cfm


Rocket The Vote: Election Weapons Washington Is Determined That Iraqis Will Democratize -- Even If It Kills Them by Naomi Klein

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...=15&ItemID=6624 (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=6624)

US will lose more by 'victory' by Dahr Jamail

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...=15&ItemID=6626 (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=6626)

Australia and Fallujah by Tony Kevin

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...=15&ItemID=6620 (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=6620)

Fallujah: The “Frontlines Of Empire” by Mike Whitney

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...=15&ItemID=6605 (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=6605)

U.S. Declares War on Fallujah Medical Workers by Brian Dominick

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cf...=15&ItemID=6614 (http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=6614)

Iraqis condemn US assault in Fallujah by Shaalan Ahmed, Jizhi Li

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/...ent_2211948.htm (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/12/content_2211948.htm)

Four Times Fallujah Equals? by Tom Engelhardt and Mark LeVine

http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=3969

Some articles that could be worth a read.

[refuse_resist]

Friday, November 12th, 2004
Iraq on Fire: Resistance Spreads as the Fallujah Death Toll Rises

As the US siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah continues, Iraqi resistance fighters are stepping up their campaign against the US occupation across Iraq. We go to Baghdad to speak with Dahr Jamail, one of the few independent reporters in Iraq. As the US siege of the Iraqi city of Fallujah continues, Iraqi resistance fighters are stepping up their campaign against the US occupation across Iraq. In Fallujah, at least 18 US soldiers have been killed since the start of the American ground attack on the city on Monday while more than 100 US soldiers seriously wounded during the offensive arrived in 2 planeloads at the US military hospital in Germany with more expected to arrive over the weekend. The injured soldiers are the latest in a steady stream of arrivals at the hospital since the siege of Fallujah began. The military claims it has killed more than 600 resistance fighters in the city. But with almost no unembedded journalists operating in the city, independent information is very difficult to obtain. The reporting of journalists embedded with the US military is subjected to heavy restrictions from US forces. But Fallujah residents who have managed to escape the city describe the bodies of dead civilians laying in some streets and aid groups say the city is now facing a humanitarian catastrophe. There are an estimated 50,000 civilians remaining in Fallujah. Many of the city"s 300,000 residents fled the city ahead of the US offensive. Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesperson says that 2 US Super Cobra helicopters have been downed in separate incidents.

In other areas of Iraq, the resistance has taken control of some key areas of the country, raising questions about the US counterinsurgency strategy. Some analysts say the recent gains by the resistance are a direct result of the US focusing its campaign in a city where most of the fighters had already moved to other areas of Iraq. It now appears that the US is facing a dramatic escalation of a coordinated resistance across the country. In Iraq"s third largest city, Mosul, five Iraqi police stations were bombed and the Iraqi resistance has taken over major portions of the city. Reuters is now reporting that the US has begun airstrikes in Mosul. Meanwhile, parts of Ramadi and Sammarah have now been seized by the Iraqi resistance. In Baghdad, The Asia Times is reporting that resistance groups have taken control of several suburbs on the outskirts of Baghdad. We go now to the Iraqi capital where we are joined by independent journalist Dahr Jamail, one of the few unembedded journalists in Iraq right now.


[i]November 12, 2004
“Iraq is burning with wrath, anger and sadness…”

Leaving the hotel is always an adventure. Last night, with a full beard and a kefir draped around my shoulders, Abut Talat wisks me out into the chaotic streets of occupied Baghdad.

As we traveled around the capital, we took side roads, winding varying routes towards our destination, never daring to take the direct, most obvious path. Aside from the obvious threat of kidnapping which is my greatest concern, we travel accepting the fact that anywhere, anytime, we could be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whether that take the form of a car bomb like the one yesterday which detonated near a US patrol on Sa’adoun street, killing 17 people and engulfing 20 cars in flames, or a full scale battle between occupation forces and resistance fighters like that which occurred in al-Adhamiya today.

The damp night air appeared as a haze which exaggerated the ever-present of smog in the capital. Driving around Baghdad always provides an assortment of smells-from beef kebobs cooking on the roadsides as vendors stoke their fires, or more commonly, as the stench of raw sewage as one passes through yet another un-reconstructed sewage infested area.

One of our stops is at the home of Dr. Wamid Omar Nathmi, a senior political scientist at Baghdad University. An older, articulate man who vehemently opposed the regime of Saddam Hussein, he is now critical of the US policy which is engulfing Iraq in violence, bloodshed and chaos.

He told me that during the buildup to the siege of Fallujah, he had sent John Negroponte, the current so-called ambassador of Iraq, a letter which, along with several other points, asked him, “Do you think that by occupying Fallujah you will stop the resistance?”

Of course his letter was ignored, and now we watch in fear as the resistance is spreading across Iraq like a wildfire, fanned by the pounding of Fallujah.

Dr. Nathmi added, “Certainly the US military can eventually suppress Fallujah, but for how long? Iraq is burning with wrath, anger and sadness…the people of Fallujah are dear to us. They are our brothers and sisters and we are so saddened by what is happening in that city.”

He asked what the difference was between what is occurring in Fallujah now to what Saddam Hussein did during his repression of the Shia Intifada which followed the ’91 Gulf War. “Saddam suppressed that uprising and used less awful methods than the Americans are in Fallujah today.”

Dr. Nathmi is a brilliant man and certainly a warehouse of informative analysis about the events in Iraq. He was quick to point out another flaw in the US policy here, of how the US disbanded the entire Iraqi Police force in Ramadi the day before the siege of Fallujah began.

He held up his hands and asked, “Who will provide security in Ramadi now, angels?”

“I can assure you, it is well over 75% of Iraqis who cannot even tolerate this occupation,” he said a little later when discussing the Bush administrations attempts to whitewash the situation in Iraq. “The right-wing Bush administration is blinded by its ideology, and we are all suffering from this, Iraqis and soldiers alike.”

After our interview, we stopped by Abu Talat’s home for a coffee and so I could say hello to his family. His son Hissan somberly asked me, “When will the Americans leave, Dahr?” I had no response. “I don’t know Hissan. I really don’t know.” He then said, “I don’t think they are ever going to leave Iraq.”

I snuck back into the car and we wound our way across Baghdad, noting that most of the city sat in darkness. “Baghdad is running on the generators Dahr,” said Abu Talat, “Even my home has been without electricity since 9am this morning.” It was after 8pm.

He insisted we stop for ice cream, which I most certainly did not refuse, then he dropped me back at my hotel.

Today dawned a grey, windy day, with fighter jets scorching the sky en route to Fallujah.

Of course the flames of resistance have now engulfed other parts of Baghdad and Iraq alike. Here in Baghdad, the Amiriyah, Abu Ghraib and al-Dora regions have fallen mostly under the control of the resistance.

A friend of mine who lives in al-Dora said, “The resistance is in control here now, they are controlling the streets.”

What few US patrols still roam the streets are attacked often. This fact underscored earlier as several large explosions nearby shook the walls of my hotel this afternoon.

Abu Talat was once again trapped in his neighborhood and we were unable to conduct an interview when fighting broke out nearby his home. He called me and said, “The Iraqi Police found a car bomb, and when they were warning people about it US troops showed up and were immediately attacked with RPG’s. The fighting raged for at least half an hour, and several soldiers were wounded and taken away. Now fighter jets are flying so low over our neighborhood, using their loud voices to terrorize people.”

Huge areas within the cities of Ramadi, Fallujah, Baquba and Mosul are now controlled by the resistance. Will the slash and burn tactics of the US military in Fallujah be applied to those areas next?

Meanwhile, over near the Imam Adham mosque a huge demonstration organized by the Islamic Party (which just withdrew from the so-called interim government and recently called for a boycott of the elections), broke out. It was comprised of well over 5,000 angry people denouncing Ayad Allawi and demanding his resignation.

They also demonstrated to show that they were unafraid of the US military.

And they called for jihad against Allawi.

http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/...000110.php#more (http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000110.php#more)

[KrazyRabidSheep]

baby killers

you wanna see the real heros in iraq? look at that dude in the white labcoat

[hawarameen]

some more pictires, not best quality but you see whats happened

its sick really sick!

[hawarameen]

children are not spared either

[hawarameen]

look into his eyes, take a long look

[hawarameen]

a mother tries in vain to protect her child

[dso79]

The US wanted to control the hospital in order to keep such pictures of dead and injured children away from the general public.

As for the Resistance, I think they're doing pretty well. Most guerrillas have fled Falluja before the offensive and are now attacking the occupiers where they are weak (Mosul), while the martyrdom squads that stayed in Falluja have already achieved their goal of inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders. Furthermore, the US' warcrimes in Falluja should generate enough anger to provide the Resistance with plenty of new recruits. The US, however, didn't achieve shit and their commanders have already signalled their disappointment.

[pandora]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13 2004, 03:47 AM
uh, maybe this was covered already, and i don't have a link to any news stories or anything, but i heard that the first day the troops were going after the hospitals so they could deny healthcare to anybody they so wished (probably military aged males). . .from what i remember, they were using them as barracks, troops move in, kick out a bunch of patients, and fill it with american troops. . .safer then a tent i guess

Anyone else hear about this? have a link? i think it was online somewhere

Fuck up the health care system, and the country's practicaly U.S.jr

Ah, well. . .it also seems that just about every Alam in the Muslim world is calling for a Jihad now. . .even some saudi ones have told the americans to sit on it. . .maybe they can hold out long enough like vietnam
I thought I saw a link to a bombed hospital by Al Jueereza, I will look for it, thanks for the pictures. It's hard to get info here.

Am looking for city shots especially with the tanks, but these are especially hard to get, they relay to much info about the quality of life for those who live there.

I know in Nicarqua reports say that hospitals were bombed by the US including people on the ground.

[gaf]

war does only have one face ."destruction" and wage........not democraty and peace......
...double lie........

[KrazyRabidSheep]

For anyone looking for picture from Iraq, it is more difficult to get ones from Americans and Brits. . .they are censored.

You need to look for independant correspondants, not reporters with the troops.

Almost half of the good pics I have found are from French/German/Italian sites

Here's a German one, I believe. Just keep in mind even though he is in American uniform, he is still a victim of brainwashed America.

[bunk]

25 American dead is not really heavy casulties but at least it rises every day.

[hawarameen]

a small confession,

the pictures i showed were tame really but they were not from falluja

they were from halabja, when the saddam you all seem to love gassed 5000 civilians, thats 2000 more than the number of dead on 9/11.

is your blood still boiling or has it started to simmer now you know those pictures were not from falluja, i guess the latter.

the shite rebels you are supporting are worse for the future of iraq than america and possibly even saddam. do you really want another religious government denying womens rights, human rights?

i am among the first in the queue for the anti america club but it looks as though i have competition for the 'we love saddam' and the 'shite rules' fan clubs.

i was in iraqi kurdistan this year and i heard not one gunshot, not one soldier. people are living free, they are free to criticize their government, poke fun at them on tv. a luxury you all seem to be taking for granted and a luxury that may be short lived. nobody is without jobs in iraqi kurdistan the government rations given to each family are enough to feed two families.

so who is responsible for the poverty in the rest of iraq, shites, and lots of it too. parts of iraq is being run by iraqis and being run very well too and the rest of the country can be peace full with no invaders (US and other opportunists) but for the power hungry shite leaders who fight purely to gain power and wealth.

and yes the US are invaders but they have for the most part left iraqi kurdistan and they are getting on with their lives, lives without a brutal murderous dictator. my 'world changing' experience came not when 3000 americans died (god forbid that one american dies, we cant have that) but when 5000 people were gassed in their homes. can ANY of you for ONE MOMENT imagine what that must have been like? where do you run? where do you hide from air!?

there is not ONE humanitarian amongst any of you.

[KrazyRabidSheep]

I have about 3 or 4 thoughts
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Okay, comrade, I don't really appriciate the humanitarian remark, it was a little hasty.

If you scroll back in the posts, I never said a word in support for either the Americans, nor Kurds, Sunnies, Shiites. Every now and then I may shun or criticise, but that is because nobody is going about this right (Americans not least).

The only peoples have I given a word of praise to is the doctors and the Alam. The doctors are looking after people's lives, and the Alam are looking after the Musim world. If that is un-humanitarian, then I guess I am.

When I posted the U.S. soldier, did I say "Rah, rah, let's do it again?" No, I said he was a victim! That is why I'm posting the pictures, to raise our people's awarness.

Perhaps I have been knocking on American troops too much, but I have tried to stay as neutral as possible. Exclaiming that there must be another way, without so many civilian casualties, without locking up militray aged men, without withholding and censoring the media, without denying healthcare and food to people who need it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"The government maintains control of the various security forces. Police and border forces under the Ministry of Interior are responsible for internal security.

Citizens do not have the right or the legal means to change their government. Security forces continue to abuse detainees and prisoners, arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, and hold them in incommunicado detention. Security forces commit torture.

Prolonged detention without charge is a problem. Security forces commit such abuses, in contradiction to the law, but with the acquiescence of the Government.

The govornment continues to intimidate, abuse, and detain citizens and foreigners. Most trials were closed, and defendants usually appeared before judges without legal counsel. The Government infringed on citizens' privacy rights. The Government prohibited or restricted freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, and movement.

Discrimination and violence against women, discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, and strict limitations on worker rights continue."

I have a confession, not a word of this is about Iraq, but one of the U.S. allys and friends in the Middle East.

Did you know that women in Saudi Arabi are not even citizens?

Why does the U.S. leave Saudi Arabia in peace? Why do they support them?

Because the live on the biggest fucking oil field in the world.

The Kurds live in Northern Iraq. That is where oil is. Why were there no soldiers there? Because the Kurds are happy to have the country with the largest oil demand in the world as a steady costumer. The Kurds are not fighting back because they are all going to get so stinking rich.

If they did not have the oil, the Kurds would enter the fray, too. They would be fighting American troops, Sunnies, Shiites. If they didn't think they could make an extra buck by humouring the Americans, they'd be killing just as many babies, all in the name of "an United, Independent Kurdish Nation".

Don't get me wrong, the Kurds have been oppressed. . .so has every single other minority in the history of the world. However, the U.S. and Kurds are only content with the present situation because it is most convienient and profitable. . .the same reason that Saudi Arabia isn't constantly shunned for their oppressive govornment.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Iraq is in a precarious paradox.

The ethnic groups will not live together, yet they will not let the others leave.

As long as they are together, they will kill and torture each other. . .don't ask me why, it makes little sense to me, too.

But the Sunnies and Shiites will not let the Kurds form an independant country because the entire wealth of Iraq rest under Kurdish feet. If they did, what would be left of Iraq would be one of the poorest countries in the world, utterd in the same breath as Puru, Haitai, Laos.

I would support different nations, and they could just fence each other away, except would it be right to let the Kurds become as rich as Saudi princes, while the others have everything taken away? Yet it is not right for them to be together, because they fight like little children.

[DaCuBaN]

there is not ONE humanitarian amongst any of you.


Frankly, you've just thrown yourself into the pan by "deluding" your so-called comrades. Shame on you! Why lie? A lie to further your own goals? To further your own cause?

Shit, this has me fuming. I'm going to stop talking now, lest I say something I'll regret. Suffice to say, the thought is there.

[bunk]

The gassing in Falluja? Wasn't that the one the U.S covered up for Saddam? Am i not mistaken that they supplied the weapons and said that Iran did it?

[dso79]

the pictures i showed were tame really but they were not from falluja

It was quite obvious those pictures weren't from Falluja, since the injuries just aren't consistent with the sort of weapons the US uses.

What happened in Halabja is terrible, but has nothing to do with what is happening in Falluja now. This thread should focus on the situation in Falluja, and by posting those pictures of dead Kurds you seem to be trying to deny the Fallujans' suffering.


the shite rebels you are supporting are worse for the future of iraq than america and possibly even saddam. do you really want another religious government denying womens rights, human rights

I support the Iraqi Resistance as a whole, which consists of many different kinds of ethnic, religious and political groups that have one common goal: ending the occupation.


so who is responsible for the poverty in the rest of iraq, shites, and lots of it too. parts of iraq is being run by iraqis and being run very well too and the rest of the country can be peace full with no invaders (US and other opportunists) but for the power hungry shite leaders who fight purely to gain power and wealth.

The people responsible for this mess are the people who imposed the sanctions and who started this war: the US and their stooges. The Resistance is not fighting to gain wealth and power, but to protect their country, their homes and their families.


i was in iraqi kurdistan this year and i heard not one gunshot, not one soldier

The violence in other parts of Iraq was initiated by the US, the Resistance is just responding.

As for the Kurds, many of them betrayed their country and sold out to the US. It's sickening to see how they are now fighting alongside US troops in Falluja, killing their fellow countrymen.

[pandora]

Originally posted by [email protected] 14 2004, 06:58 PM
a small confession,

the pictures i showed were tame really but they were not from falluja

they were from halabja, when the saddam you all seem to love gassed 5000 civilians, thats 2000 more than the number of dead on 9/11.
...
i was in iraqi kurdistan this year and i heard not one gunshot, not one soldier. people are living free, they are free to criticize their government, poke fun at them on tv. a luxury you all seem to be taking for granted and a luxury that may be short lived. nobody is without jobs in iraqi kurdistan the government rations given to each family are enough to feed two families.

...
where do you run? where do you hide from air!?

there is not ONE humanitarian amongst any of you.
Rather interesting I had just been remarking to another comrade that what I didn't like about the photos you showed was that they were simply close ups with no context, and therefore one could not ascertain where they were taken.

The U.S. military media machine [USMMM my own little abbreviation] is doing much the same thing, if you look on the cover of the NYTimes, it's only close ups of marines. No wider shots that show context, they could be taken anywhere.

The result being that there is no information on what has actually been done to the city in visual terms. The devastation is ignored, as is to the reason these troops are so worn out.

One soldier trying to take a cat out of the country had a mental breakdown when the cat ran away, he told the papers that he had, "Wanted to get one living thing out of that country." and when he couldn't he had a mental breakdown.

This tells a lot more of what is hidden then the headlines, the devastaion of Iraq is unimaginable, as long as it is far away it is okay I suppose to many.

+++On your remark about Saddam gassing Northern Kurds, well now, wasn't that done under the auspices of the CIA with US weapons. We have always supported cultural hemogenization of tribal races as part of "development" just ask the Mayan now "Zapatista"

The market targets non-conformist indigenous groups on a global scale. Rumsfield was shaking hands with Saddam at this point because he was attacking IRan.

So your point is lost on me. The assault you mention was just another piece of US domination in the Middle East, perhaps not condoned openly, but tolerated

As far as your ascertions on Iraqi Kurdistan, that is wonderful, isn't that the area that the wealthiest of Iraq fled to prior to Saddam being overthrown? From reports even getting into those areas was difficult if one was not well off.

The US always trys to cushion the blow for the wealthiest. Same policy was followed in Cuba pre-Castro and in Chile, but for the average people it is different, according to those who have returned from port areas the biggest problem was corruption among the US appointed Iraqi's mostly ex-pats who run a small mafia taking half of the average workers $5 a day for the price of employment.

Massive unemployment for most of Iraq has led to general unrest, and my friend saw the young men going to mosque because they had no work and did it was unsafe to wander the streets with the US forces constantly threatening.

Often they would be thrown on the ground searched and bound which messed with their machismo being a patriarchal country he saw this as being the greatest factor in rising dissidence because these young men felt their manhood was threatened. Then they go to mosque and join with other young men also pissed off at the foreign invader and whal la. War.

The programs you state are not being exercised on a national basis in Iraq, but even if they were they would still hurt the pride of the people. Iraqis want jobs to rebuild their infrastructure and fix their country.

Seeing as we bombed the heck out of them and destroyed most of their infrastructure we have to pay for that, but we want guarentees that are not our right to repair that infrastructure, thus we will not repair it except for or use.

Don't try to romantize these battles. Welfare handouts in Iraq as in Zapatista areas are small recompense for lost land.

[refuse_resist]

This isn't in Falluja, but I'm sure this is very similar to what's going on there.

http://www.sunflower.com/~420/oct/oct3samarra.jpg

[KrazyRabidSheep]

This is kinda off-topic, but there has been much photo swapping in this thread

I'm starting a small website. It's not much, just one of those tripod-insta sites. Anyway if anyone has any good photos about Falluja, N.Ireland, Venuzuela, or anywhere else people are killing one another, I'd be glad to post them. This is not a liberty or political cause website, just about violence.

Send me an e-mail with something in the subject to let me know it's not spam. Also a body with a discription of the photo, where it was taken, where you found it, if you know who took it, who's in it, etc. and i'll put it up sometime. I need to know where you got it (URL), otherwise I will not post it. Also in the body, give your name however you'd like it listed (initials, alias, whatever) if you want credit for submitting the photo.

I'll post the website in this thread this week, after I have some context. . .I've just started it: it's part of a project I'm doing for college.

[email protected]

[pandora]

The hospitals can be looked at a little through aljazeera.net
found the link to the hospital that was hit go to http://englixh.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/554...4881BDE0A2E.htm (http://englixh.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/554FAF3A-B267-427A-B9EC-54881BDE0A2E.htm)
and then look for "Hospital hit as fighting rages in Falluja" November 9,2004

The objective is clear, to refuse access to medical care for anti-US fighters. The Red Cross is also been petitioning for the right to treat Iraqis.

The US is trying to refuse access to medical services for none Americans or US supporters. Murder.

"Warplanes have bombed a government clinic in the centre of Falluja as US ground forces engaged in pitched battles with fighters defending the city" reads the header. And then:
Residents said the one-storey Popular Clinic which had been receiving wounded anti-US fighters and civilians was hit overnight as US-led forces pressed into the city.

We're not talking about invading the hospital, they bombed it by air killing everyone, "Iraqi journalist Abu Bakr al-Dulaimi said the overnight bombings lasting for more than 10 hours targeted everything in the city including the hospital, houses and cars."

--That would explain why we can't get pictures of the city.
"Al-Dulaimi said the hospital's staff, doctors and patients, have all fallen victim to the assault. He said such fierce bombings have not been witnessed since the Iran-Iraq war.

The US military refused to comment.

Well there goes your theory, ground reporters who are Iraqi say it is as fierce as the Iran-Iraq war so your theory that that was worse ridiculous nonsense, and considering US interests in that affair, very sad.

[Severian]

Reminds me of Bosnia:
Men between 15 and 55 not allowed to flee Falluja fighting (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=246764)

"Hundreds of men trying to flee the assault on Fallujah have been turned back by U.S. troops following orders to allow only women, children and the elderly to leave."

In line with earlier reports that the besiegers' psyops broadcasts were calling on the women and children to leave, but not men.

"Once the battle ends, military officials say all surviving military-age men can expect to be tested for explosive residue, catalogued, checked against insurgent databases and interrogated about ties with the guerrillas."

In other words, all men in the town will be either killed or imprisoned for a longer or shorter time. Most of the population has fled Falluja.

[socialistfuture]

mr T dude bush vs saddam, bush vs osama... at some point u realise they are all rightwing fucks and wee support none in this conflict, tho we hope america will be defeated coz there can be no demoracy.. true democracy under an occupation.
as peter tosh said i dont want peace.. i want equal rights and justice..
those two things are a prerequisit for peace.
bush doesnt want a true demoracy for iraq he wants to privise the country, take the oil and do prove to the world america is the sole superpower and can do what it wants.. and finish daddies war.

its sick all who are killed by the war, wether imperialist yanqui's or other foreigners or iraqi's of different ideologies.

you can blow the world to pieces but not too peace.

free the middle east from tyrany by letting the people of the middle east make their own decisions. death to imperialism and fundamentalism.

[h&s]

Originally posted by [email protected] 15 2004, 02:12 AM
Reminds me of Bosnia:
Men between 15 and 55 not allowed to flee Falluja fighting (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=246764)

"Hundreds of men trying to flee the assault on Fallujah have been turned back by U.S. troops following orders to allow only women, children and the elderly to leave."

In line with earlier reports that the besiegers' psyops broadcasts were calling on the women and children to leave, but not men.

"Once the battle ends, military officials say all surviving military-age men can expect to be tested for explosive residue, catalogued, checked against insurgent databases and interrogated about ties with the guerrillas."

In other words, all men in the town will be either killed or imprisoned for a longer or shorter time. Most of the population has fled Falluja.
Basically if your a guy in Fallujah you're fucked. If you try to escape you will be classed as an escaping terrorist (insurgent I know, but the troops don't know the difference) and shot.
If you stay you're likely to be killed by shrapnel/armour piercing bullets/'precision' guided bombs/troops mistaking you for a 'terrorist.'
If you stay you are going to be found with weapon resuidues on you and imprisoned as a 'terrorist.'
And they are 'liberating' Fallujah. :rolleyes:

[pandora]

Somehow video was released of American marines shooting prisoners who are wounded in a mosque. I am unsure who released the video although it is now playing on CNN, if this is an attempt to open the American public to the idea of killing the prisoners I don't know.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=255357

But goes very closely with the turning back of all male refugees in order to be taken prisoner, and obviously executed.

The Marines have finally commented on bombing the hospital they say it was a "Center of Propaganda" and a primary target because it was spreading "rumors about civilian casualities according to the New York Times

[refuse_resist]

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20041116/mdf757533.jpg



This one's faking he's dead'
'He's dead now'
Fallujah: Video shows US soldier killing wounded insurgent in cold blood
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

16 November 2004

The US Marine Corps launched an investigation into possible war crimes last night after video footage taken inside a mosque in Fallujah apparently showed a Marine shooting dead an unarmed Iraqi insurgent who had been taken prisoner.

The footage showed several Marines with a group of prisoners who were either lying on the floor or propped against a wall of the bombed-out building. One Marine can be heard declaring that one of the prisoners was faking his injuries.

"He's fucking faking he's dead. He faking he's fucking dead," says the Marine. At that point a clatter of gunfire can be heard as one of the Marines shoots the prisoner. Another voice can then be heard saying: "He's dead now."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...sp?story=583322 (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=583322)

[cubist]

sadly it is just another day for the innocent civillians,

here my thoughts

everytime a child is found dead lying in the streets of falluja another west hater is born.
Unfortunately these west haters aren't like You and i they don't want equality. They want revenge they aren't looking for liberation.
They want to rule like sadam did.
They won't help the world.
They won't solve the social injustice,

Everytime a new west hater is born america has a terroist to kill
But they won't kill the terrorist
they will kill more children more civillians ruin more lives just to repeat the cycle.

where will it end, arma"fucking"geddon thats where

[antieverything]

None of these are especially high quality...

http://fallujapictures.blogspot.com/

[pandora]

The newest feedback is that Al Jazeera is being muzzled by US forces. Recent articles do seem more tame, and some are even quoted through the BBC or Reuters.

Any recent news as to the welfare of men aged 15-55 in Falluja, I have heard bad stories which will increase anger and fear throughout Iraq and the Middle East about the occupation.

Anyone have any data for me? :rolleyes: (That hasn't been butchered.)

I was highly distressed when the US military high command finally came out with a reply I read on ABC of all places that the hospital was bombed for inflating the numbers of casulties. ? You kill a whole hospital of doctors and nurses because you claim they lied on some numbers?

[h&s]

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/steve_bell/2004/11/17/stblfal.jpg

[pandora]

Was listening to one of the Iraqi human shields today on radio Pacifica and he was also talking about the "Highway to Hell" which was the highway on which Iraqis fleeing Kuwait had to go, that shooting them according to the marines was like "shooting fish in a barrel"

He talked about going down there and seeing "Go Redhawks" spraypainted on Iraqi vehicles, the occupants slaughtered, and how they killed all the wounded people fleeing. Interesting they wrote "Go Redhawks" as that sports team name has been attacked by Native Americans as derisive, and one of the proponents had an actual totem pole cut down and burned on her front lawn KKK cross style.

So many connections that the participants are unaware of how all these racist attitudes hook up together in the subconscious stifling humanity.

Another soldier who I knew who had done recon in Persian Gulf spoke of the Highway to Hell and how he had to pull other soldiers away from defacing the bodies and beating the wounded to death. He wasn't a "great guy" but even he was horrified at the treatment of the Iraqis by US forces.

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

Here is a short version of the video

http://www.ogrish.com/a/us_marine_fatally_...11-16-2004.html (http://www.ogrish.com/a/us_marine_fatally_shoots_wounded_pow_in_fallujah_m osque-11-16-2004.html)

[redstar2000]

Aid reaches Falluja's citizens

Aid is finally flowing into Falluja, following the heavy US-led offensive that began nearly three weeks ago to wrest the city from rebel control.

The Iraqi Red Crescent told the BBC it was delivering aid on a daily basis.

But a spokesman says it is feared more than 6,000 people could have died in the assault and thousands of families are in critical need of assistance.

Convoys carrying food, water, medicine and blankets are moving around Falluja but there is still no running water or electricity.

According to the Red Crescent, 60 people came out to get assistance in one street alone.

"Bodies can be seen everywhere and people were crying when receiving the food parcels. It is very sad, it is a human disaster," Mr Nuri reportedly said.

No outbreaks of disease have been reported but the destruction is widespread, with at least a third of houses needing rebuilding, reports say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/4047469.stm

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.fightcapitalism.net)
A site about communist ideas

[acg4_9]

commrade hawarameen what do you want from posting these pictures is it to justify what's happenning in falluja. halabjas gas bomb is one of the reasons bush used to invade iraq so don't be a parrot that just repeats what the imperialic media says and focus now on fighting imperialism don't be led by some u.s spies which are called barazani and talbani. many kurds are fighting in the resistance do you know that the last mousel fight was led by a kurdish iraqi and do you know that izat ibrahim -who is the head of the resistance- is half kurdish. most of the people whom are fighting are fighting for iraq not for ba'ath not for zarqawi but for iraq. in my hands now is a message wrote by the iraqi ba'ath party and signed by some islamics, nationalists and left wing groups announcing that the falluja battle isn't the end and all u.s troops with there spies will pay. all the fighters are uniting we are witnessing a holy war done by all free people to libirate iraq and after that all criminals will be punished. lets unite or we'll face a new american state or a new talban in iraq.
believe me i want an INDEPENDENT kurdstan as i want an independent palestine and iraq but i favour the honorable way of abdalla owjlan not forgetting that kurdstan know is filled with americans israelies and iranian is that independence?.

god bless our fredom fighters
god bless our pisoners in all imperialic jails
death for the imperialic troops in all the world.
viva palestine, viva iraq.

[Commie Rat]

i think our friends in Palestine could come chill in AUs we dont have many people and lotsa space

i'd welcome them

:)

[pandora]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2004, 07:24 PM

But a spokesman says it is feared more than 6,000 people could have died in the assault and thousands of families are in critical need of assistance.


"Bodies can be seen everywhere and people were crying when receiving the food parcels. It is very sad, it is a human disaster," Mr Nuri reportedly said.


That was about what I was afraid of, has anyone else read any reports of what Red Cresent found when they finally entered. They tried to enter previously but had to turn back as US forces basically "couldn't guarentee their safety" ie fired upon them.

With bodies on every street it is no wonder.

[Vallegrande]

Yes even the ambulances are being fired at, although they are clearly marked as an ambulance. To a soldier, unfortunately, that life saving machine is a terrorist.

[Sabocat]

Here's a rather repugnant report from a U.S. Marine regarding the killing, use of phosporous bombs and complete destruction of Falluja. This story appeared in today's Socialist Worker online.



Letter from a GI in Falluja:
“This wasn’t a war, it was a massacre”

December 3, 2004 | Page 7

THE FOLLOWING letter from a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq, known as hEkLe, powerfully conveys the terror of the U.S. assault on Falluja. It was published in GI Special, a daily Internet newsletter that gathers news and information helpful to soldiers and military families. You can find an archive of the GI Special updated with each new issue at www.militaryproject.org. hEkLe and several fellow soldiers have a Web log that they regularly update with essays at www.ftssoldier.blogspot.com.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THESE ARE ugly times for the U.S. military in Iraq. It seems everywhere you turn, more and more troops are being killed and maimed in vicious encounters with determined rebel fighters.

The insurgency is mounting incredibly in such places as Baghdad, Mosul and Baquba, using more advanced techniques and weaponry associated with a well-organized guerilla campaign. Even in the massively destroyed city of Falluja, rebel forces are starting to reappear with a callous determination to win or die trying. Many critics and political pundits are starting to realize that this war is, in many aspects, un-winnable.

And why should anyone think that a complete victory is possible? Conventionally, our U.S. forces win territory here or there, killing a plethora of civilians as well as insurgents with each new boundary conquered. However, such as the recent case in Falluja, the rebel fighters have returned like a swarm of angry hornets, attacking with a vicious frenzy.

I was in Falluja during the last two days of the final assault.

My mission was much different from that of the brave and weary infantry and Marines involved in the major fighting.

I was on an escort mission, accompanied by a squad whose task it was to protect a high brass figure in the combat zone.

This particularly arrogant officer went to the last battle in the same spirit of an impartial spectator checking out the fourth quarter of a high school football game.

Once we got to the Marine-occupied Camp Falluja and saw artillery being fired into town, the man suddenly became desperate to play an active role in the battle that would render Falluja to ashes. It was already rumored that all he really wanted was his trigger time, perhaps to prove that he is the toughest cowboy west of the Euphrates.

Guys like him are a dime a dozen in the army: a career soldier who spent the first 20 years of his service patrolling the Berlin Wall or guarding the DMZ between North and South Korea. This sort of brass may have been lucky to serve in the first Gulf War, but in all actuality spent very little time shooting rag heads.

For these trigger-happy tough guys, the last two decades of Cold War hostilities built into a war frenzy of stark emptiness, fizzling out almost completely with the Clinton administration.

But this is the New War, a never-ending, action-packed “Red Scare” in which the communist threat of yesteryear was simply replaced with the white knuckled tension of today’s “war on terrorism.”

The younger soldiers who grew up in relatively peaceful times interpret the mentality of the careerists as one of making up for lost opportunities. To the elder generation of trigger pullers, this is the real deal; the chance to use all the cool toys and high speed training that has been stored away since the ’70s for something tangibly useful...and it’s about goddamn time.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
HOWEVER, UPON reaching the front lines, a safety standard was in effect stating that the urban combat was extremely intense. The lightest armored vehicles allowed in sector were Bradley tanks.

Taking a glance at our armored humvees, this commander insisted that our section would be fine. Even though the armored humvees are very stout and nearly impenetrable against small-arms fire, they usually don’t hold up well against rocket attacks and roadside bombs, like a heavily armored tank will. The reports from within the war zone indicated heavy rocket attacks, with an armed insurgent waiting on every corner for a soft target such as trucks.

In the end, the overzealous officer was urged not to infiltrate into sector with only three trucks, for it would be a death wish during those dangerous twilight hours. It was suggested that in the morning, after the air strikes were complete, he could move in and “inspect the damage.”

Even as the sun was setting over the hazy orange horizon, artillery was pounding away at the remaining 12 percent of the already devastated Falluja.

Many units were pulled out for the evening in preparation of a full-scale air strike that was scheduled to last for up to 12 hours.

Our squad was sitting on top of our parked humvees, manning the crew-served machine guns and scanning the urban landscape for enemy activity. This was supposed to be a secured forward operating area, right on the edge of the combat zone. However, with no barbed wire perimeter set up and only a few scattered tanks serving as protection, one was under the assumption that if someone missed a minor detail while on guard, some serious shit could go down.

One soldier informed me that only two nights prior, an insurgent was caught sneaking around the bullet-ridden houses to our immediate west. He was armed with a rocket-propelled grenade and was laying low on his advance towards the perimeter. One of the tanks spotted him through its night vision and hastily shot him into three pieces. Indeed, though it was safe enough to smoke a cigarette and relax, one had to remain diligently aware of his surroundings if he planned on making it through the night.

As the evening wore on and the artillery continued, a new gruesome roar filled the sky.

The fighter jets were right on time and made their grand appearance with a series of massive air strikes. Between the pernicious bombs and fierce artillery, the sky seemed as though it were on fire for several minutes at a time. First, you would see a blaze of light in the horizon, like lightning hitting a dynamite warehouse, and then hear the massive explosion that would turn your stomach, rattle your eyeballs and compress itself deep within your lungs. Although these massive bombs were being dropped no further than five kilometers away, it felt like it was happening right in front of your face.

At first, it was impossible not to flinch with each unexpected boom, but after scores of intense explosions, your senses became aware and complacent towards them.

At times, the jets would scream menacingly low over the city and open fire with smaller missiles meant for extreme accuracy. This is what Top Gun, in all its glory and silver screen acclaim, seemed to be lacking in the movie’s high budget sound effects.

These air-deployed missiles make a banshee-like squeal, sort of like a bottle rocket fueled with plutonium, and then suddenly would become inaudible. Seconds later, the colossal explosion would rip the sky open and hammer devastatingly into the ground, sending flames and debris pummeling into the air.

And as always, the artillery--some rounds were high explosive, some were illumination rounds, some were reported as being white phosphorus (the modern-day napalm).

Occasionally, on the outskirts of the isolated impact area, you could hear tanks firing machine guns and blazing their cannons. It was amazing that anything could survive this deadly onslaught. Suddenly, a transmission came over the radio approving the request for “bunker-busters.” Apparently, there were a handful of insurgent compounds that were impenetrable by artillery. At the time, I was unaware when these bunker-busters were deployed, but I was told later that the incredibly massive explosions were a direct result of these “final solution”-type missiles.

I continued to watch the final assault on Falluja throughout the night from atop my humvee.

It was interesting to scan the vast skies above with night-vision goggles. Circling continuously overhead throughout the battle was an array of attack helicopters. The most devastating were the Cobras and Apaches with their chain-gun missile launchers.

Through the night vision, I could see them hovering around the carnage, scanning the ground with an infrared spotlight that seemed to reach for miles. Once a target was identified, a rapid series of hollow blasts would echo through the skies, and from the ground came a “rat-a-tatting” of explosions, like a daisy chain of supercharged black cats during a Fourth of July barbeque.

More artillery, more tanks, more machine gun fire, ominous death-dealing fighter planes terminating whole city blocks at a time...this wasn’t a war, it was a massacre!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AS I look back on the air strikes that lasted well into the next morning, I cannot help but be both amazed by our modern technology and disgusted by its means.

It occurred to me many times during the siege that while the Falluja resistance was boldly fighting us with archaic weapons from the Cold War, we were soaring far above their heads, dropping Thor’s fury with a destructive power and precision that may as well been nuclear. It was like the Iraqis were bringing a knife to a tank fight.

And yet, the resistance toiled on, many fighting until their deaths. What determination!

Some soldiers call them stupid for even thinking they have a chance in hell to defeat the strongest military in the world, but I call them brave. It’s not about fighting to win an immediate victory. And what is a conventional victory in a non-conventional war?

It seems overwhelmingly obvious that this is no longer within the United States hands.

We reduced Falluja to rubble. We claimed victory and told the world we held Falluja under total and complete control. Our military claimed very few civilian casualties and listed thousands of insurgents dead. CNN and Fox News harped and cheered on the television that the battle of Falluja would go down in history as a complete success, and a testament to the United States’ supremacy on the modern battlefield.

However, after the dust settled, and generals sat in cozy offices smoking their victory cigars, the front lines in Falluja exploded again with indomitable mortar, rocket, and small-arm attacks on U.S. and coalition forces.

Recent reports indicate that many insurgents have resurfaced in the devastated city of Falluja. We had already claimed the situation under control and were starting to turn our attention to the other problem city of Mosul. Suddenly, we were backtracking our attention to Falluja. Did the Department of Defense and the national press lie to the public and claim another preemptive victory?

Not necessarily so. Conventionally, we won the battle--how could anyone argue that? We destroyed an entire city and killed thousands of its occupants. But the main issue that both the military and public forget to analyze is that this war, beyond any shadow of a doubt, is completely guerrilla.

Sometimes I wonder if the West Point-graduated officers have ever studied the intricate simplicity and effectiveness of guerrilla warfare.

During the course of this war, I have occasionally asked a random lieutenant or a captain if he at any time has even browsed through Che Guevara’s Guerrilla Warfare. Almost half of them admit that they have not. This I find to be amazing! Here we have many years of guerrilla warfare ahead of us, and our military’s leadership seems dangerously unaware of what it all means!

Anyone can tell you that a guerrilla fighter is one who uses hit-and-run techniques to attempt a breakdown of a stronger conventional force.

However, what is more important to a guerrilla campaign are the political forces that drive it. Throughout history, many guerrilla armies have been successful; our own country and its fight for independence cannot be excluded.

We should have learned a lesson in guerrilla fighting with the Vietnam War only 30 years ago, but history has a funny way of repeating itself. The Vietnam War was a perfect example of how quick, deadly assaults on conventional troops over a long period of time can lead to an unpopular public view of the war, thus ending it.

Che Guevara stressed in his book Guerrilla Warfare that the most important factor in a guerrilla campaign is popular support. With that, victory is almost completely assured.

The Iraqis already have many of the main ingredients of a successful insurrection. Not only do they have a seemingly endless supply of munitions and weapons, they have the advantage to blend into their environment, whether that environment is a crowded marketplace or a thickly vegetated palm grove.

The Iraqi insurgent has utilized these advantages to the fullest, but his most important and relevant advantage is the popular support from his own countrymen.

What our military and government needs to realize is that every mistake we make is an advantage to the Iraqi insurrection. Every time an innocent man, woman or child is murdered in a military act, deliberate or not, the insurgent grows stronger.

Even if an innocent civilian is slain at the hands of his or her own freedom fighter, that fighter is still viewed as a warrior of the people, while the occupying force will ultimately be blamed as the responsible perpetrator.

Everything about this war is political...every ambush, every bombing, every death. When a coalition worker or soldier is abducted and executed, this only adds encouragement and justice to the dissident fervor of the Iraq public, while angering and demoralizing the occupier.

Our own media will prove to be our downfall as well. Every time an atrocity is revealed through our news outlets, our grasp on this once secular nation slips away. As America grows increasingly disturbed by the images of carnage and violent death of her own sons in arms, its government loses the justification to continue the bloody debacle.

Since all these traits are the conventional power’s unavoidable mistakes, the guerrilla campaign will surely succeed.

In Iraq’s case, complete destruction of the United States military is impossible, but through perseverance, the insurgency will drive us out. This will prove to be the inevitable outcome of the war.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WE LOST many soldiers in the final battle for Falluja, and many more were seriously wounded. It seems unfair that even after the devastation we wreaked on this city just to contain it, many more troops will die in vain to keep it that way.

I saw the look in the eyes of a reconnaissance scout while I talked to him after the battle. His stories of gore and violent death were unnerving. The sacrifices that he and his whole platoon had made were infinite. They fought every day with little or no sleep, very few breaks and no hot meals.

For obvious reasons, they never could manage to find time to e-mail their mothers to let them know that everything turned out okay.

Some of the members of his platoon will never get the chance to reassure their mothers, because now, those soldiers are dead.

The look in his eyes as he told some of the stories were deep and weary, even perturbed. He described in accurate detail how some enemy combatants were blown to pieces by army-issued bazookas, some had their heads shot off by a 50 caliber bullet, others were run over by tanks as they stood defiantly in the narrow streets, firing an AK-47.

The soldier told me how one of his favorite sergeants died right in front of him. He was taking cover behind an alley wall, and as he emerged to fire his M4 rifle, he was shot through the abdomen with a rocket-propelled grenade.

The grenade itself exploded and sent shrapnel into the narrator’s leg. He showed me where a chunk of burned flesh was torn from his left thigh.

He ended his conversation saying that he was just a dumb kid from California who never thought joining the army would send him straight to hell. He told me he was tired as fuck and wanted a shower. Then he slowly walked away, cradling a rifle under his arm.

Link (http://www.socialistworker.org/2004-2/522/522_07_FromFalluja.shtml)

[leftist resistance]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2004, 07:29 PM
commrade hawarameen what do you want from posting these pictures is it to justify what's happenning in falluja. halabjas gas bomb is one of the reasons bush used to invade iraq so don't be a parrot that just repeats what the imperialic media says and focus now on fighting imperialism don't be led by some u.s spies which are called barazani and talbani. many kurds are fighting in the resistance do you know that the last mousel fight was led by a kurdish iraqi and do you know that izat ibrahim -who is the head of the resistance- is half kurdish. most of the people whom are fighting are fighting for iraq not for ba'ath not for zarqawi but for iraq. in my hands now is a message wrote by the iraqi ba'ath party and signed by some islamics, nationalists and left wing groups announcing that the falluja battle isn't the end and all u.s troops with there spies will pay. all the fighters are uniting we are witnessing a holy war done by all free people to libirate iraq and after that all criminals will be punished. lets unite or we'll face a new american state or a new talban in iraq.
believe me i want an INDEPENDENT kurdstan as i want an independent palestine and iraq but i favour the honorable way of abdalla owjlan not forgetting that kurdstan know is filled with americans israelies and iranian is that independence?.

god bless our fredom fighters
god bless our pisoners in all imperialic jails
death for the imperialic troops in all the world.
viva palestine, viva iraq.
Kudos to them all