[lit-ideas] Falloojeh
- From: JulieReneB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 15:30:00 EDT
I know I post too much of this kind of thing. But this is what is happening
today, and yesterday, in Fallujah -- what is happening that we *don't* see.
Somehow I keep thinking it is important to know....
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
One Year Later - April 9, 2004
April 9, 2004
Today, the day the Iraqi Puppets hail "National Day", will mark the day of
the "Falloojeh Massacre"â?¦ Bremer has called for a truce and ceasefire in
Falloojeh very recently and claimed that the bombing will stop, but the bombing
continues as I write this. Over 300 are dead in Falloojeh and they have taken
to
burying the dead in the town football field because they aren't allowed near
the
cemetery. The bodies are decomposing in the heat and the people are
struggling to bury them as quickly as they arrive. The football field that once
supported running, youthful feet and cheering fans has turned into a mass grave
holding men, women and children.
The people in Falloojeh have been trying to get the women and children out of
the town for the last 48 hours but all the roads out of the city are closed
by the Americans and refugees are being shot at and bombed on a regular
basisâ?¦
we're watching the television and crying. The hospital is overflowing with
victimsâ?¦ those who have lost arms and legsâ?¦ those who have lost loved ones.
There isn't enough medicine or bandagesâ?¦ what are the Americans doing?! This
is
collective punishment â?¦ is this the solution to the chaos we're living in? Is
this the 'hearts and minds' part of the campaign?
A convoy carrying food, medication, blood and doctors left for Falloojeh
yesterday, hoping to get in and help the people in there. Some people from our
neighborhood were gathering bags of flour and rice to take into the town. E.
and
I rummaged the house from top to bottom and came up with a big sack of flour,
a couple of smaller bags of rice, a few kilos of assorted dry lentil,
chickpeas, etc. We were really hoping the trucks could get through to help out
in the
city. Unfortunately, I just spoke with an Iraqi doctor who told me that the
whole convoy was denied entry... it seems that now they are trying to get the
women and children out or at least the very sick and wounded.
The south isn't much betterâ?¦ the casualties are rising and there's looting
and chaos. There's an almost palpable anger in Baghdad. The faces are grim and
sad all at once and there's a feeling of helplessness that can't be described
in words. It's like being held under water and struggling for the unattainable
surface- seeing all this destruction and devastation.
Firdaws Square, the place where the statue was brought down, is off-limits
because the Americans fear angry mobs and demonstrationsâ?¦ but it doesn't
matter
because people are sticking to their homes. The kids haven't been to school
for several days now and even the universities are empty. The situation in
Baghdad feels very unstable and the men in the neighborhood are talking of a
neighborhood watch again- just like the early days of occupation.
Where are the useless Governing Council? Why isn't anyone condemning the
killings in the south and in Falloojeh?! Why aren't they sitting down that fool
Bremer and telling him that this is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong??? If one of
them
were half a man or even half a human, they would threaten to resign their
posts if there isn't an immediate ceasefireâ?¦ the people are enraged. This
latest
situation proves that they aren't Iraqi- they aren't here for the welfare of
the Iraqi people.
The American and European news stations don't show the dying Iraqisâ?¦ they
don't show the women and children bandaged and bleeding- the mother looking for
some sign of her son in the middle of a puddle of blood and dismembered arms
and legsâ?¦ they don't show you the hospitals overflowing with the dead and
dying
because they don't want to hurt American feelingsâ?¦ but people *should* see
it.
You should see the price of your war and occupation- it's unfair that the
Americans are fighting a war thousands of kilometers from home. They get their
dead in neat, tidy caskets draped with a flag and we have to gather and scrape
our dead off of the floors and hope the American shrapnel and bullets left
enough to make a definite identificationâ?¦
One year later, and Bush has achieved what he wanted- this day will go down
in history and in the memory of all Iraqis as one of the bloodiest days ever...
- posted by river @ 4:32 PM
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