Dahr Jamail's dispatches <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ** Dahr Jamail's MidEast
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Anger Builds in Fallujah Over Security Crackdown Inter Press Service
Ali al-Fadhily*
FALLUJAH, Jun 4 (IPS) - The city that was mostly destroyed by the U.S.
military operation Phantom Fury in November 2004 has been under curfew for over
two weeks, with no signs of relief.
Located 70 kms west of Baghdad, the city made headlines when four
Blackwater USA security mercenaries were killed and their bodies horrifically
mutilated
on Mar. 31, 2004.
That April the city was attacked by the U.S. military, but resistance
fighters repelled occupation forces. That set the stage for the November siege
which left approximately 70 percent of the city destroyed and turned a quarter
of a million residents into refugees.
A recent spike in attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces in and around the
city has prompted harsh measures by the U.S. military, including imposing
curfews, limiting movement in and out of Fallujah, and setting up more
checkpoints throughout the city -- moves which have greatly angered residents.
On May 19, most of these measures, perceived by many people here as a form of
collective punishment, began to be more strictly enforced.
"Americans and their Iraqi collaborators are blaming us for their failure in
controlling the city and the whole country," Ahmed Alwan of the Sunni religious
group the Muslim Scholars Association told IPS. "This kind of collective
punishment only means slow death to the people of the city and is adding to
their agonies that have continued since April 2003."
Referring to the sieges of Fallujah along with the ongoing checkpoints,
curfews, restrictions and clashes, Alwan added, "The Americans have proved
themselves to be the cruelest human beings ever by such shameful crimes against
humanity."
As the U.S. occupation continues with no end in sight and the level of
violence and chaos increases daily, the disconcerting trend of more people
believing violence against occupation is the solution has become more prevalent.
"Day by day we find more people believe in violence as a best solution to
face American war crimes," a human rights activist in Fallujah, speaking on
condition of anonymity, told IPS. "To impose a curfew in a city that was
already destroyed more than once is indeed a major crime against humanity."
Many people in Fallujah believe the harsh tactics are revenge tactics by U.S.
troops and the George W. Bush administration for the city's attitude against
the occupation.
"We know what they are doing and why they are doing it," a local community
leader, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared U.S.
reprisals, told IPS. "They hate this sacred city because it was the first to
stand against their dirty occupation since it started."
On a side street of Fallujah, a man with his face covered by a kefiyeh scarf,
commonly worn by resistance fighters to hide their identity, stopped an IPS
reporter and said he wanted to "deliver a message to the sleeping world."
"Fallujah City has become a symbol for all Iraqis and all good people in the
world who decided to fight this monstrous American occupation and no siege will
stop the great victorious resistance that represents the voice of all Iraqis
who believe in Allah and in the dignity of Iraq," he said. "We can see the
world is sleeping while America is conducting a dirty plan to enslave all the
human beings on earth."
Residents told IPS how their lives are being affected by the ongoing
U.S.-Iraqi government crackdown.
"They [Iraqi security forces] are dividing the city into sections in a way
that does not allow people to move and make their living," said Jabbar Amir, a
shopkeeper in the main market area. "It takes me four checkpoints to reach my
shop and most of the week I cannot make it there. This new security force is
worse than the Americans -- who give them full support regardless of what they
do to people."
The U.S. military brought in members of the Shi'ite Badr militia and the
Kurdish Peshmerga militia to run patrols and checkpoints throughout the city
after the devastating November 2004 siege. Many residents believe that this was
an act of provocation and an attempt to foment sectarian conflict.
Concrete walls have been set up by the U.S. military to partition the city
into small areas, possibly in advance of a new wave of raids by occupation
forces.
The U.S. military are now supported by an Iraqi security force known as the
"Anbar revolutionary force," which is accused of carrying out dozens of
executions during the past months as well as detaining hundreds of young men
for no obvious reason.
"Human life is worth nothing in Fallujah these days," said Jameel Nassir , a
21-year-old university student. "The government soldiers executed so many young
men, just like what happened in Haditha, and the new security force conducted
massive killings against us while Americans pay both armies millions of dollars
to do the dirty work for them."
This sentiment is common now in Fallujah.
"All army and security forces in Fallujah are monsters," Bilal Ibrahim, a
journalist in training in Fallujah, told IPS. "I watched one of their inhuman
acts today and realised how brutal they really are. A young man jumped in the
river for a swim near the hospital, but he was swept by the current and he was
screaming for help. We were ready to save his life, but soldiers started
shooting at us and they were laughing at the drowning guy until he died."
IPS learned that the young man's name was Mohammed Hikmet and he was a member
of a well-known family in the city.
"They know this will fail in stopping armed attacks against them just like
all their failures, but they want to plant the seed of division among people in
the city and Anbar province," a city councilman, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told IPS. "Now our sons are killing each other in vain while
Americans dream of moments of peace that they will never get as long as they do
not show clear signs of intentions to leave the country for its people."
The man was referring to the numerous attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces
during the curfew. Many U.S. and Iraqi soldiers have been killed by car bombs,
suicide bombers and mortars that appear to underscore the failure of imposing
more drastic security measures.
On May 31, a suicide bomber attacked a police recruiting centre in Fallujah,
killing at least 25 people and wounding 50.
As has become the norm in Fallujah, civilians continue to pay the highest
price despite the security measures that are supposed to be protecting them.
(*Ali, our correspondent in Baghdad, works in close collaboration with Dahr
Jamail, our U.S.-based specialist writer on Iraq who travels extensively in the
region.)
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