>[They made a desert and call it Falluja.]
>
>Vital Signs of a Ruined Falluja Grow Stronger
>
>By ROBERT F. WORTH
>
>Published: March 26, 2005
Further down in the story, we learn:
>Each person received an initial payment equal to 20 percent of the
>cost of the damage as assessed by a group of Iraqi engineers. The
>money comes from the interim Iraqi government.
>
>Ms. Abed, dressed in a full-length black abaya, explained that she
>returned to her home in the city's Andalus district in January to
>find the kitchen and pantry almost totally destroyed, with open sky
>visible through the ceiling. The rest of the house was a relief:
>there were some holes in the walls, nothing more. The refrigerator,
>television and anything else of value were gone.
>
>When her name was called, Ms. Abed went to the front of the room and
>received a check for 2,400,000 dinars, about $1,655. Like many of
>the 30 people who received checks that day, she said it was nowhere
>near enough. Her husband and four of her children are suffering from
>mental illness, she said, and the entire family talks constantly
>about their fears for the future.
>
>Compared with her neighbors, though, she feels lucky.
>
>"When I saw their houses were totally destroyed, I said, 'Thank God,
>we are O.K.; we are better off than the others,' " Ms. Abed said.
Of course, you have to get past a propagandistic headline and 18 paragraphs before you get to that nugget of truth, but that's the NYT for you. But at least you do get the nugget of truth, if you work at it.
Doug