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[AddedNote: The US military atrocities in fallujah reportedly
continued. There is certin level of information blackout
on this situation as the media seems to be deselecting
continuing violence in Iraq. This picture -- US troops had
now "defeted insurgents" -- may well fit into the agenda
for a stage managed election to be held in Iraq by January.
All these US military moves in Iraq are to do with controlling
Iraqi Oil Industry, which was nationalised since 1972.
The George Bush Jr. administration continues to plan about
establishing a "legitimate Iraqi government" by January 2005,
following an election. Such an Iraqi government will be vital
apparatus for Anglo-American Oil giants to monopoise Iraqi
oil. The plot thickens. --- U Ne Oo.]
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GREENLEFT WEEKLY AUSTRALIA, 2 DEC 2004.
www.greenleft.org.au
IRAQ: Intense battles continue in Fallujah
Doug Lorimer
A week after US Marine General John Sattler, commander of the 1st
Marine Expeditionary Force, claimed on November 18 that the battle for
Fallujah was over, US troops were still engaged in intense battles
with Iraqi resistance fighters in the bombed-out city.
The November 26 Boston-based Christian Science Monitor reported that
on November 22, four Iraqi fighters, armed only with grenades and
AK-47 assault rifles, locked an entire [US marine] company in
intense battle for hours , resulting in one dead marine and nine
wounded. All four Iraqi fighters were killed, after the marine company
called in an AC-130 gunship, which destroyed four houses used by the
insurgents with 40 Howitzer shells.
According to the Monitor, US commanders say that such costly battles
are taking place across Fallujah, where US Marine and Army units
launched an assault more than two weeks ago in a bid to cut off the
lethal insurgency that has spread across Iraq.
On November 21, China's Xinhua news agency's Baghdad bureau reported
that residents coming out of Fallujah said the city's defenders still
controlled 60% of the city. They said the invaders only controlled the
north-eastern third of the city.
In February, 900 US Army troops were driven out of Fallujah by its
armed residents. In April, 4500 US marines killed at least 700
Fallujah residents in a failed three-week attempt to recapture the
city. After weeks of nightly air strikes, about 10,000 US marines and
army troops, using massive firepower from warplanes, attack
helicopters, tanks and artillery, invaded Fallujah on November 8.
The few Iraqi journalists who remained in the city after the US
invasion began have given harrowing accounts of the brutality of the
US military.
Bilal Hussein, a resident of Fallujah who works as a photographer for
Associated Press, told AP on November 17 how he had escaped from the
fighting: I decided to swim the [Euphrates] river. But I changed my
mind after seeing US helicopters firing and killing people who tried
to cross. I saw a family of five shot dead. I helped bury a man by the
river bank with my own hands.
Hussein had planned to stay in Fallujah to cover the fighting. But he
said he fled after feeling he was in grave danger. US soldiers began
to open fire on the houses, so I decided it was very dangerous to
stay. Destruction was everywhere. I saw people dead in the streets,
the wounded were bleeding and there was no one to help them.
Abdul Rahman, a Fallujah resident working for Xinhua, arrived at the
agency's Baghdad office on November 21, after having spent 12 days in
Fallujah. Rahman said he had witnessed six injured Iraqis being
dragged by several US soldiers to a street and then rolled over by a
tank. He had also met a woman whose husband and two sons were shot
dead in front of her when the family attempted to surrender to US
soldiers.
We had to crawl with bare hands in darkness and hide in houses in
daytime for fear of being shot by American snipers, Rahman told his
Xinhua colleagues. We had only one bottle of water and drank little
each time. As for food, we only had dates.
In the days before the US invasion of Fallujah began, up to 300,000
residents fled to nearby towns or to makeshift refugee camps several
kilometres outside the city. The Iraqi Red Crescent estimated that
about 50,000 residents remained in the city at the start of the US
invasion.
According to the November 18 British Independent: Aid organisations
say 102,000 Fallujah refugees are in Amiriyah, 50,000 are in Baghdad;
about 21,600 are in Karma, 18,000 are in Nieamiyah and 12,000 are in
Habbaniyah. UNICEF and the aid groups say Amiriyah, an industrial
centre, suffers from a serious lack of shelter, and Habbaniyah,
formerly a tourist resort, has a severe shortage of clean water.
General Abdul Qadir Mohan, the commander of the puppet Iraqi troops
supporting the US invasion of Fallujah, admitted to the Independent
that the refugees were living in deplorable conditions. In some
cases, Mohan said, there are seven families living in one room and
sometimes 300 people have to wait in line to use the toilet. Many are
already suffering from diseases.
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
\end
http://netipr.org/~uneoo/ (Burma HR Activity)
http://users.senet.com.au/~netipr/ (Refugee Rights Activity)
emails: uneoo@netipr.org netipr@senet.com.au
POST: Dr U Ne Oo, 18 Shannon Place,Adelaide SA5000,AUSTRALIA
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