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“BAGHDAD, The U.S. military has used poison gas and other non-conventional weapons against civilians in Fallujah, eyewitnesses report.
”Poisonous gases have been used in Fallujah,” 35-year-old trader from Fallujah Abu Hammad told IPS. ”They used everything — tanks, artillery, infantry, poison gas. Fallujah has been bombed to the ground.”
Hammad is from the Julan district of Fallujah where some of the heaviest fighting occurred. Other residents of that area report the use of illegal weapons.
”They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud,” Abu Sabah, another Fallujah refugee from the Julan area told IPS. ”Then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them.”
He said pieces of these bombs exploded into large fires that burnt the skin even when water was thrown on the burns. Phosphorous weapons as well as napalm are known to cause such effects. ”People suffered so much from these,” he said.”
by Dahr Jamail Baghdad http://dahrjamailiraq.com/
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twenty twenty
Inside Fallujah: One family’s diary of terror by Dahr Jamail
Last week the US launched a major offensive on Fallujah using heavy artillery, bulldozers and tanks.
The target was insurgents, but here one family reveals the horror of being caught in the conflict
She weeps while telling the story. The abaya (tunic) she wears cannot hide the shaking of her body as waves of grief roll through her.
“I cannot get the image out of my mind of her foetus being blown out of her body.”
Muna Salim’s sister, Artica, was seven months’ pregnant when two rockets from US warplanes struck her home in Fallujah on November 1.
“My sister Selma and I only survived because we were staying at our neighbours’ house that night,” Muna continued, unable to reconcile her survival while eight members of her family perished during the pre-assault bombing of Fallujah that had dragged on for weeks.
Khalid, one of their brothers who was also killed in the attack, has left behind a wife and five young children.
“There were no fighters in our area, so I don’t know why they bombed our home,” said Muna.
“When it began there were full assaults from the air and tanks attacking the city, so we left from the eastern side of Fallujah and came to Baghdad.”
Selma, Muna’s 41-year-old sister, told of horrific scenes in the city which has become the centre of resistance in Iraq over the last few months.
She described houses that had been razed by countless US air strikes, where the stench of decaying bodies swirled around the city on the dry, dusty winds.
“The bombed houses had collapsed and covered the bodies, and nobody could get to them because people were too afraid to drive a bulldozer,” she explained, throwing her hands into the air in despair.
“Even for people to walk out of their houses is impossible in Fallujah because of the snipers.”
Both sisters described a nightmarish existence inside the city where fighters controlled many areas, food and medicine were often in short supply, and the thumping concussions of US bombs had become a daily reality.
Water also was often in short supply, and electricity a rarity.
Like many families cowered down inside Fallujah they ran a small generator when they could afford the fuel.
“Even when the bombs were far away, glasses would fall off our shelves and break,” said Muna.
“None of us could sleep as during the night it was worse.”
While going to the market in the middle of the day to find food, the sisters said they felt terrorised by US warplanes, which often roared over the sprawling city.
“The jets flew over so much,” said Selma, “but we never knew when they would strike the city.”
The women described a scene of closed shops, mostly empty streets, and terrorised residents wandering around the city not knowing what to do.
“Fallujah was like a ghost town most of the time,” described Muna.
“Most families stayed inside their houses all the time, only going out for food when they had to.”
Tanks often attacked the outskirts of the city in skirmishes with resistance fighters, adding to the chaos and unrest.
Attack helicopters rattling low over the desert were especially terrifying, criss-crossing over the city and firing rockets into the centre.
While recounting their family’s traumatic experiences over the last few weeks, from their uncle’s home in Baghdad, each of the sisters often paused, staring at the ground as if lost in the images before adding more detail.
Their 65-year-old mother, Hadima, was killed in the bombing, as was their brother Khalid, who was an Iraqi police captain. Their sister Ka’ahla and her 22-year-old son also died.
“Our situation was like so many in Fallujah,” said Selma, continuing, her voice now almost emotionless and matter of fact.
The months of living in terror are etched on her face.
“So many people could not leave because they had nowhere to go, and no money.”
Adhra’a, another of their sisters, and Samr, Artica’s husband, were also among the victims.
Samr had a PhD in religious studies.
Artica and Samr had a four-year-old son, Amorad, who died with his parents and his unborn brother or sister.
The two sisters managed to flee the city from the eastern side, carefully making their way through the US military cordon which, for the most part, encircled the area.
As they left, they witnessed a scene that was full assaults on their city from US warplanes and tanks .
“Why was our family bombed?” pleaded Muna, tears streaming down her cheeks, “There were never any fighters in our area.”
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http://dahrjamailiraq.com/
Macabre accounts of killing of civilians are emerging through the cordon U.S. forces are still maintaining around Fallujah.
”Doctors in Fallujah are reporting to me that there are patients in the hospital there who were forced out by the Americans,” said Mehdi Abdulla, a 33-year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad.
”Some doctors there told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers took the doctors away and left the patient to die.”
Kassem Mohammed Ahmed who escaped from Fallujah a little over a week ago told IPS he witnessed many atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers in the city.
”I watched them roll over wounded people in the street with tanks,” he said.
”This happened so many times.”
Abdul Razaq Ismail who escaped from Fallujah two weeks back said soldiers had used tanks to pull bodies to the soccer stadium to be buried.
”I saw dead bodies on the ground and nobody could bury them because of the American snipers,” he said.
”The Americans were dropping some of the bodies into the Euphrates near Fallujah.”
Abu Hammad said he saw people attempt to swim across the Euphrates to escape the siege.
”The Americans shot them with rifles from the shore,” he said.
”Even if some of them were holding a white flag or white clothes over their heads to show they are not fighters, they were all shot.”
Hammad said he had seen elderly women carrying white flags shot by U.S. soldiers.
”Even the wounded people were killed.
The Americans made announcements for people to come to one mosque if they wanted to leave Fallujah, and even the people who went there carrying white flags were killed.”
Another Fallujah resident Khalil (40) told IPS he saw civilians shot as they held up makeshift white flags.
”They shot women and old men in the streets,” he said.
”Then they shot anyone who tried to get their bodies...Fallujah is suffering too much, it is almost gone now.”
Refugees had moved to another kind of misery now, he said.
”It’s a disaster living here at this camp,” Khalil said.
”We are living like dogs and the kids do not have enough clothes.”
Spokesman for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad Abdel Hamid Salim told IPS that none of their relief teams had been allowed into Fallujah, and that the military had said it would be at least two more weeks before any refugees would be allowed back into the city.
”There is still heavy fighting in Fallujah,” said Salim.
”And the Americans won’t let us in so we can help people.”
In many camps around Fallujah and throughout Baghdad, refugees are living without enough food, clothing and shelter.
Relief groups estimate there are at least 15,000 refugee families in temporary shelters outside Fallujah.
by Dahr Jamail Baghdad Monday 29th November 2004 http://dahrjamailiraq.com/ |
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Friday, 24 December, 2004
Inside Falluja: 'Nothing to come back to' Scenes of widespread destruction have greeted residents allowed back into the Iraqi city of Falluja following the US assault in November.
BBC News spoke to Dr Saleh Hussein Isawi, the acting director of the Falluja general hospital, who accompanied some of the refugees into the city.
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I was there, inside the city — about 60% to 70% of the homes and buildings are completely crushed and damaged, and not ready to inhabit at the moment.
Of the 30% still left standing, I don't think there is a single one that has not been exposed to some damage.
One of my colleagues... went to see his home, and saw that it is almost completely collapsed and everything is burnt inside.
When he went to his neighbours' home, he found a relative of his was dead and a dog had eaten the meat off him.
I think we will see many things like this, because the US forces have cleared the dead people from the streets, but not from inside the homes.
Most of the people are coming back out of the city after seeing that their homes are not ready for living in.
But I saw two families who stayed in Falluja despite their homes being clearly damaged, and one man, who has only a room to live in, has told me he will stay on because he has been living in very bad conditions outside Falluja.
He told me he will bring other members of his family and will live there — he cannot do otherwise.
There is no water, no electricity, no sewage system — there is nothing inside the city, except a very small amount of medical supplies that have come from Falluja hospital by two ambulances.
There is a primary health centre inside the city with two doctors to give people medical supplies and support.
I was in Falluja hospital last night and I heard a lot of fighting and bombing, which continued for about three or four hours.
I head very loud explosions inside the city. 
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| Zaneb, a 13-year-old girl both smiling and serious, watches over the younger children who clamor for the foreigners’ attention. Then the fathers and uncles come to talk, and I cannot keep up with the rapid Arabic full of stories of suffering. Our Iraqi friend translates: Most people have lost their homes in the bombing. Some have lost family members and neighbors. All are angry. After awhile we walk to another room, down the hall from the one bathroom that is shared by 40 families. A young man steps forward. “We did not know the evacuation deadline,” he says. “I left the city by chance on the day the bombs began, and then I could not get back in. “My brother, who is mentally handicapped, was left behind. “When we went back after the attack, he was missing. “I looked on the list of people killed, I asked at prisons, but there was no answer. “The Americans told me to ask the Iraqi National Guard, and I did, but they gave me no answer.” “Please,” he says. “Tell this tragedy all over the world. There are whole families who were buried under the rubble.” |
US used white phosphorus chemical and thermobaric fuel-air weapons War Crimes — Fallujah |
Unspeakable grief and horror
...and the circus of deception killing continues...
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For archive purposes, this article is being stored on TheWE.name website.The purpose is to advance understandings of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues. |
At about 0800 on Friday, the US checkpoint in the west of Falluja agreed that people from the city, especially those who live in the Andalus sector, be allowed inside to see their homes.
