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http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news14.htm The Jordan Times 31 December 2004 Rage of Fallujah residents boils over FALLUJAH (AFP) — Three-year-old Mustapha stands at the door of his family's torched living room in the devastated Iraqi city of Fallujah. He has not had a hot meal in nearly two months. Residents of the city battered by a massive US-led onslaught against Sunni Muslim rebels are being allowed to gradually return to their homes despite ongoing clashes with some pockets of insurgents. But the US military and the interim Iraqi government are having to confront the rage and despair of many returning residents and the few that lived through the massive assault in November and its aftermath. Mustapha's father, Omar Khalil, 38, moved his family of eight about 10 days ago to a nearby Red Crescent compound because he was told Iraqi and US troops wanted to sweep through homes to make sure no insurgents were hiding there. They came back a week ago and found their home — a living room and one bedroom — destroyed by fire, along with all their contents. "We were heartbroken," said Khalil's wife Thana, 30. "This is worse than the shelling and bombing." The family survived the worst moments of the fighting and did not join the few hundred thousand people that fled the city before the start of the assault and settled in makeshift camps or with relatives. The US military has promised to reopen more sections of Fallujah one week after it started allowing Iraqis to return to three western neigbourhoods. "We take our direction from the Iraqi interim government of Iyad Allawi, we were instructed to let residents in even though some neighbourhoods are unsafe and we continue to combat insurgents," said Major Naomi Hawkins, a civil affairs officer with the Marines. She said troops find weapons caches and defuse roadside bombs daily. Hawkins told Khalil he can go to the mayor's office to file a claim or to Baghdad and receive $100 from reconstruction funds deposited at designated banks to tie him over until his application is processed. But a weary-looking Khalil was not convinced and spoke of the perils of venturing out of his neighbourhood as sporadic blasts echoed in the background. Every single home, shop and shed in Khalil's neighbourhood has a big "x" mark sprayed in red to indicate that US and Iraqi forces have searched it. Some are burnt or simply levelled to the ground. "I saw them burn homes with my own eyes on the 14th (of December), there was no fighting, why?" said an angry Ismail Ibrahim Shaalan, 50. His son was angry at both sides. "Insurgents beheaded people and the Americans destroyed our city, we do not know who to believe now," said Wisam, 14. Another neighbour emptied a pair of shoes and a sweater from inside a paper bag on to the ground, saying this was all he was able to salvage from his destroyed home. "Is this the olive branch that Allawi extended?" said a bitter and tearful Alaa Abdullah, 25, who has just returned to the city. Most are returning to destroyed and looted homes in a city that resembles a disaster zone with no power, heat or running water. Some are finding bodies of relatives that stayed behind. "I buried my father three days ago," said Qisma Diab, 55, as she waited with nine other women at an intersection for a special bus to take them back to a checkpoint through which they entered earlier. The few that stay are setting up tents next to the rubble of their homes and living off rations handed out by US and Iraqi forces. A US Marine admitted that in some cases they were forced to use "alternative means" like torching or bombing homes they believed were being used as sanctuaries for insurgents. "If we could not get in there we had to use alternative means," said Sergeant John Cross. But an Iraqi soldier nearby admitted that in some cases Iraqi troops burnt homes if they found pro-insurgency literature or material. His remarks provoked the anger of a man who overheard him and a scuffle ensued, which is broken up by a passing national guard patrol. In a similar scene of anger and frustration, an argument broke out between an old-man and an official with the Red Crescent handing out blankets and heaters. The humanitarian agency tried to venture Wednesday into some of the worst neighbourhoods of Fallujah to look for bodies, but was told by the US military this work was being done by the health ministry and that it was better off distributing aide to returning residents. It takes about six hours for people to make it through a security checkpoint at the entrance of the city. They are then handed small orange cards that list 13 "new rules of conduct" such as a ban on graffiti and public meetings. "This is an insult," sayd Khalid Ibrahim, 42. "They treat us like Palestinian refugees." _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will be deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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