[lbo-talk] What Fallujah looks like to Iraqis

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Wed Apr 7 06:59:50 PDT 2004


[From the Baghdad Burning blog]

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#108133824770418172

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Now it seems we are almost literally reliving the first few days of

occupation... I woke up to the sound of explosions and gunfire last

night and for one terrible moment I thought someone had warped me back

a whole year and we would have to relive this last year of our life

over and over again...

We haven't sent the kids to school for 3 days. The atmosphere is

charged and the day before yesterday, Baghdad was quiet and empty,

almost... the calm before the storm. The area of A'adhamiya in Baghdad

is seeing street fighting: the resistance and Americans are fighting

out in the streets and Al-Sadr city was bombed by the troops. They say

that dozens were killed and others wounded. They're bringing them in

to hospitals in the center of the city.

Falloojeh has been cut off from the rest of Iraq for the last three

days. It's terrible. They've been bombing it constantly and there are

dozens dead. Yesterday they said that the only functioning hospital in

the city was hit by the Americans and there's no where to take the

wounded except a meager clinic that can hold up to 10 patients at a

time. There are over a hundred wounded and dying and there's nowhere

to bury the dead because the Americans control the area surrounding

the only graveyard in Falloojeh; the bodies are beginning to decompose

in the April heat. The troops won't let anyone out of Falloojeh and

they won't let anyone into it either- the people are going to go

hungry in a matter of days because most of the fresh produce is

brought from outside of the city. We've been trying to call a friend

who lives there for three days and we can't contact him.

This is supposed to be 'retaliation' for what happened last week with

the American contractors- if they were indeed contractors. Whoever

they were, it was gruesome and wrong... I feel for their families. Was

I surprised? Hardly. This is an occupation and for those of you naïve

enough to actually believe Chalabi and the Bush administration when

they said the troops were going to be 'greeted with flowers and candy'

then I can only wish that God will, in the future, grant you wisdom.

This is crazy. This is supposed to be punishment for violence but it's

only going to result in more bloodshed on both sides... people are

outraged everywhere- Sunnis and Shi'a alike. This constant bombing is

only going to make things worse for everyone. Why do Americans think

that people in Baghdad or the south or north aren't going care what

happens in Falloojeh or Ramadi or Nassriyah or Najaf? Would Americans

in New York disregard bombing and killing in California?

<snip>

And as I blog this, all the mosques, Sunni and Shi'a alike, are

calling for Jihad...

Full at: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2004_04_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#108133824770418172



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list