2005-06-03

Dahr Jamail

The Failed Siege of Fallujah

AMMAN, Jordan - After two devastating sieges of Fallujah in April andNovember of 2004, which left thousands of Iraqis dead and hundreds ofthousands without homes, the aftermath of the US attempt to rid the cityof resistance fighters in an effort to improve security in the countrycontinues to plague the residents of Fallujah, and Iraq as a whole.

Simmering anger grows with time among Fallujans who, after having mostof their city destroyed by the US military onslaught, have seen promisesof rebuilding by both the US military and Iraqi government remain mostlyunfulfilled.

"There are daily war crimes being committed in Fallujah, even now," saidMohammed Abdulla, the executive director of the Study Center for HumanRights and Democracy in Fallujah (SCHRDF). His organization works withinthe destruction of Fallujah, trying to monitor the plight of residents,bring them reconstruction aid, and document the war crimes and illegalweapons that were used during the November siege.

"Now we have none of the rebuilding which was promised, which peopleneed so desperately in order to get their lives back in order," saidAbdulla during a recent interview with Asia Times Online in Amman.

Doctors working inside the city continue to complain of US and Iraqisecurity forces impeding their medical care. Along with the continuanceof strict US military checkpoints, residents in the city say thetreatment they receive from both the US military and Iraqi securityforces operating inside Fallujah is both degrading and humiliating. Thistreatment is also being perceived by most as intentional.

"The checkpoints are too obstructive," said Dr Amer Ani, who volunteersat Fallujah General Hospital. "Fighting has resumed inside the city,because in the last two weeks there have been man-to-man clashes indifferent districts of the city. This has caused ambulances to havedifficulty entering and exiting the city, especially the main hospital.

"I work in the refugee camp on the border, and because of the checkpointon the outskirts of the city, no patients from that camp can enter thecity," said Ani. "Thus, they are forced to go to another clinic 14kilometers from them, whereas the closest treatment in the city is lessthan one kilometer from them."

Ani went on to add that the main hospital and several primary healthclinics in the city need rebuilding, but the building materials arebeing prevented from entering by US forces.

Dr Riyad al-Obeidy, who works in Ramadi, is also currently volunteeringinside Fallujah. "Previously, the Ministry of Health was delivering aidinto the city, but now this is prohibited, for unknown reasons," hesaid. "Thus, now there are shortages of external fixators, surgical setsfor operations, and trauma equipment. There is really a humanitarianhealth problem. People are living as refugees inside their city, livingin tents - so we have lack of clean water and hygiene, so there isrampant spreading of typhoid. With summer coming, this will all get worse."

Promises made prior to the siege by the Iraqi government and US militaryto assist in reconstruction of the city appear to have fallen flat.

According to SCHRDF's Abdulla, "There is some reconstruction, but thisis only being done by Fallujans and because the government of Iraq isonly helping just a little."

That point was also made by Dr Abrahim Aziz (last name changed toprotect identity), who works as a volunteer inside Fallujah. "There is alittle rebuilding happening now, electric wires are being replaced," hesaid during a phone interview from Fallujah. "But the hospitals andclinics have only been painted and the holes in the walls closed up."

Dr Fawzi, an engineer who owns a cement factory in Fallujah, said thesouthern districts of Fallujah remain closed, and only 10% of thebuildings and homes destroyed have been rebuilt by residents themselves.Fawzi was involved in negotiating compensation for residents of thecity, and presented a figure of US$600 million to the US military, whoagreed to pay the amount. But the Iraqi government did not agree.

"We went to Baghdad but the [then-premier Iyad] Allawi office told us wecould have only $100 million, and they couldn't promise anything becauseeverything would change with the elections [of January]," said Fawzi."We disputed this amount, and the government said they would give us 20%of the $600 million, which we refused because this was not enough. Atthis meeting were Americans, military and civilian both, and members ofthe Iraqi government."

Dr Aziz said that only 10% of the promised compensation had been paidout to date, and added that the health situation was "horrible, we arenow having cholera outbreaks".

Recent drinking water tests performed by SCHRDF found that there was nopotable water available inside Fallujah. "Everybody knows this, and thisis why we are making announcements for people to boil their water for 10minutes," said Abdulla.

According to him, two-thirds of the city lacks electricity because somany electrical wires were cut, and any reconstruction occurring at themoment is only being carried out by the residents of Fallujah, with nooutside help. "There is little financial aid coming from the government,if any at all."

Dr al-Obeidy said the same. "There are some payouts being made, but itis a small amount. But then recently the Iraqi government stopped allthe compensation payments. So now the people are very angry about this,especially because the Americans promised to give each family $500, butthere is nothing until now," he said. "So if a house is completelydestroyed, how can $500 be enough? It cannot."

While it is estimated that 80% of the residents of Fallujah havereturned home, roughly 60% of the houses and buildings inside the citysustained enough damage to make them inhabitable. Most people continueto live in tents, or amid the rubble of their homes. Curfews remain inthe city, with residents not allowed on the streets past 9pm, and entiredistricts remain without power.

Abu Nawaf, a 42-year-old businessman who lives near the Jolan quarter ofthe city, said in a recent phone interview from Fallujah, "There is norebuilding happening here at all and the Americans and Iraqi NationalGuard [ING] are patrolling all the time, even the side streets."

Abdulla commented on the volatile situation: "There is no law in thestreets, and there was a case of an ING killing an Iraqi policeman andpeople asked for an inquiry." He added: "Americans were inside with theING who are peshmerga [members of the Kurdish militia]. The ING insidenow are all peshmerga and Badr forces [Shi'ite militia of the SupremeCouncil for Islamic Revolution] who are doing the same humiliations andbad treatment that the Americans are doing."

The SCHRDF has reported that US soldiers currently occupy seven primaryschools in the city, causing children to study in tents.

Meanwhile, Nawaf continues to look for his three brothers who remainmissing. The US military painted on his home that three bodies werefound there, but Nawaf has been unable to locate them and insists theyremain missing.

Recent clashes and roadside bombs in Fallujah have greatly impeded anyreturn to normalcy within the city, along with ongoing complaints fromresidents of harassment and poor treatment from the security forces.Thus reconstruction, as important as it is for the city, remains in thebackground for residents who continue to testify of alleged war crimesduring the most recent siege, as well as seething resentment over thedestruction and lack of rebuilding in their city.

"There are plenty of women in Fallujah who have testified they wereraped by American soldiers," said Abdulla. "They are nearby thesecondary school for girls inside Fallujah. When people came back toFallujah the first time they found so many girls who were totally nakedand they had been killed."

As Nawaf's situation shows, the number of missing people remains one ofthe larger concerns. "We don't have a total number of people killedbecause so many people are missing ... this makes it impossible for nowto get an accurate count of the dead," said Abdulla.

Another Iraqi doctor who is a member of an Iraqi medical team that alsoinvestigates human-rights issues, reported that his group estimates that60,000 Iraqis are in detention facilities throughout Iraq. During theinterview in Amman, he said the US military had only registered thenames of 17,000 detainees; they are being held without charges and theirwhereabouts unknown, even to their families. Speaking on condition ofanonymity, the doctor said, "Of course this only pushes people moretowards the resistance, because people are eventually left desperateenough to begin fighting the Americans. People can only take so much."

Dr Fawzi, who is also reporting to the SCHRDF, expressed concern aboutthe number of people missing from Fallujah. "For deaths, we counted over750 at first," he commented. "There are so many missing people and it isso difficult to have the figures of dead and detained, even though weknow so many more were killed. People are afraid to admit their sonmight be detained because the Americans might arrest or retaliateagainst the rest of the family."

Thus, the suffering of the residents of Fallujah continues as fightingsimmers once again within the devastated city and the drastic heat ofsummer approaches.

"The Americans have committed a very big massacre to the people ofFallujah. The crime of Fallujah is the greatest crime ever," Abdullasaid sternly. "This will remain as a black spot in American historyforever. Whatever the American people will do, even if they get rid ofthose liars who are in their government, they will need a long time forpeople to forget what they have done in Iraq and in Fallujah in orderfor us to deal with them as a civilized people who have humanity."

Abdulla, like residents of the city, wondered why the US military willnot let unembedded media into Fallujah. "Why have they not let the mediainside Fallujah," he asked. "If America says she is right, then why didshe stop two UN investigators from getting inside Fallujah?"

With the initial justification for the siege of Fallujah being that themilitary operation was conducted in order to bring security andstability for the elections of January 30, it is clear that this goalwas not obtained. Scores of Iraqis died on that day alone, and thesituation throughout Iraq has only continued to deteriorate since.

More recently, since the latest interim government in Iraq was sworn inin April, well over 750 Iraqis have been killed in violence thatcontinues to spread throughout the war-torn country.

Thus, rather than improving security and stability in Fallujah and Iraq,the siege of Fallujah has accomplished nothing more than devastating thecity and spreading the Iraqi resistance into other cities, such as Qaim,Beji, Baquba, Mosul, Ramadi, Latifiya and many areas of Baghdad.

It could easily be argued now that the siege of Fallujah accomplishedthe exact opposite of its stated goals - rather than bringing increasedsecurity and stability, it has inflamed tempers, deepened sectarianrifts and spurred the Iraqi resistance into levels of attack rarely seenprior to the siege.

Abdulla paints a dismal picture with his final comments on the situationin Fallujah: "The mood is that people will never forget what was done tothem and their city. I don't think we'll see the end of this. Peoplewill never forget to have their revenge on the American troops, but theywould like to prepare themselves for another attack. This is what theFallujan negotiators had warned the Americans of. Lack of security,which is ongoing in Iraq now, is one these results."