- Only the US forces did not see it coming? Unbelievable.
It's obviously a part of the effort to destabilize Iraq completely...
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- BAGHDAD (IPS) - Everyone
saw it coming, only the U.S. forces did not: humanitarian disaster in Fallujah,
and stronger resistance against U.S. and allied occupying forces all around
Iraq.
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- The real face of the 'success' of the U.S. military assault
in Fallujah is now beginning to present itself. Thousands of families remain
trapped inside Fallujah with no food, clean water or medical assistance.
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- No one can say how many of the 1,200 'rebels' U.S. forces
claim to have killed inside Fallujah are civilians, or whether the death
toll is higher.
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- The Iraqi Red Crescent Society, which is supported by
the Red Cross and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called
the situation in Fallujah a 'big disaster'.
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- The Iraqi Red Crescent has several teams of relief workers
and doctors, and truckloads of food waiting for the authorisation from
the U.S.-backed interim government and the U.S. military, but they have
not been allowed in.
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- The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC)
has expressed grave concern for the civilians left in the city. "All
those taking part in the combat have a responsibility to spare civilians
and give access to the wounded," ICRC spokesman Rana Sidani said in
a statement.
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- U.S. forces have said they will now carry out 'humanitarian'
tasks on their own. It could be too late, going by the people's voices
that are now emerging.
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- Muna Salim who managed to flee the city with her sister
after the rest of their family was killed by U.S. bombs, said Fallujah
had turned from a battlefield to a ghost town in recent days.
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- "Most families stayed inside their houses all the
time," she said after reaching Baghdad. "We were always very
hungry because we didn't want to eat our food or drink all of the water.
We never knew if we would be able to get more, so we tried to be careful.
She could not bring herself to talk of the killings.
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- "The Americans didn't care about us," said
a young refugee who gave his name only as Ahmed. He arrived in Baghdad
with most of his family three days back. "All the medical people left
the city and the only people in the city are Fallujans or from Ramadi or
other cities who came to try to help us."
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- People in Fallujah had been left helpless, he said. "Anyone
who left their house would either be shot by American snipers or recruited
by the Mujahideen," he said. "So we stayed inside most of the
time and prayed. The more the bombs exploded the more we prayed and cried."
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- Ahmed says he did not expect to survive. Every night
we said goodbye to one another because we expected to die," he said.
"You could see areas where all the houses were flattened, there was
just nothing left. We could get water at times, but there was no electricity
ever."
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- U.S. forces had bombed families in their homes, he said.
"Even those of us who do not fight, we are suffering so much because
of the U.S. bombs and tanks. Can't they see this is turning so many people
against them?"
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- Iraqi resistance has taken control of many cities across
Iraq following the U.S. siege of Fallujah. Despite U.S. military claims
of being in control of Mosul in the north, al-Jazeera reported that the
U.S. military, Iraqi police and National Guardsmen have disappeared from
the streets and armed men wearing masks are wandering freely around.
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- A freelance journalist in the city told al-Jazeera on
telephone from the city: "The situation is very bad, there is no security,
only armed resistance groups on the streets, and it seems there is no government
in Mosul." The U.S. military says it has taken back control of Mosul
police stations and other areas. Iraqi rebels are now also in control of
large areas of Ramadi, Samarra, Haditha, Baquba, Hiyt, Qaim, Latifiyah,Taji
and Khaldiyah. Fighting has been reported also in the Shia holy city Kerbala.
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- The uprising has spread across the capital as well. The
districts al-Dora, al-Amiriyah, Abu Ghraib, al-Adhamiya and Khan Dhari
are now largely controlled by resistance fighters.
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- U.S. military vehicles have been damaged and destroyed
near the city Hiyt. Fighting has spread to the normally peaceful town Hilla,
just south of Baghdad.
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- "The security situation there has gone from bad
to worse," Ali Abdulla, a 35-year-old carpenter from Hilla said. "You
can hear the fighting all around the city now, and the resistance is fighting
against the Polish very fiercely."
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- Abdulla said this was the first time there had been fighting
between Polish troops and resistance fighters.
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- ** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
- http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/
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