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Falluja a "horror" After US Led Offensive
Topic Started: Dec 1 2004, 12:38 PM (652 Views)
gvok
Unregistered

Falluja a "Horror" After US Led Offensive
Long road ahead for residents of shattered city

From CNN Producer Arwa Damon
Wednesday, December 1, 2004 Posted: 2:38 AM EST (0738 GMT)


FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- Mahmoud Zubari and his family fled their home in Falluja after it was bombed and his 13-year-old son was killed.

Zubari, his wife and their remaining eight children, ages 2 to 16, spent the next 20 days in the house of a friend while the U.S.-led onslaught to drive out insurgents in the city got under way.

Last week, the family was picked up by the Iraqi Red Crescent, under Marine escort, and taken to the humanitarian group's compound in the city. Tuesday, the family returned to the home they took sanctuary in.

"All the wealth will not bring back my son, but now I have to think of the future for the rest of my children," said Zubari's wife, Selma. "What will become of us?"

That is a sentiment shared by many residents of the shattered city, which remains under curfew and where pockets of fighting continue to rage. Some homes in the city have begun posting signs in both Arabic and English that read, "Family inside."

The Red Crescent compound houses more than 100 residents who became stranded there after a 24-hour curfew was put back in place last week by U.S. forces in eastern Falluja. Marine commanders had previously implemented a curfew between 3 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Fuad Kubaysi, one of those staying at the Red Crescent compound, said, "What has happened to Falluja is a horror beyond anything imaginable. We don't want it anymore. Let them have it. Let whomever wants it have it. We cannot ever call this city home again."

Red Crescent volunteer Sabri Abd Almalek said the restrictions imposed by the Marines are hindering their humanitarian efforts to bring relief to families throughout the city.

"We are stuck here," he said. "We came here to help the people, treat the sick, and they won't let us leave -- only when we have permission."

The first Red Crescent convoy arrived in the city Friday and began distributing food and medical supplies. But the round-the-clock curfew has sharply limited those efforts.

Marine Col. Craig Tucker, the commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 7, said the curfew was reimposed because of sporadic fighting throughout the eastern sector of the city and continued security concerns.

What has happened to Falluja is a horror beyond anything imaginable ... We cannot ever call this city home again.
-- Fuad Kubaysi, Falluja resident

The Red Crescent is allowed to work with Marine escort. Marines are escorting and helping the group identify families in need and provide them with food, water and medical supplies. Women and children who want to leave the city are escorted out. Military-age men have to be screened before they are escorted home or out of the city.

Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, a battalion commander with the combat team in charge of northeastern Falluja, said Marines have so far identified 20 families in his sector, but there may be up to 50. He said families and men who passed the screening and wanted to return to their homes in the city would have their homes first searched for weapons and possible insurgents who might have taken sanctuary in them. The homes would then be marked for food and water distribution.

As for Zubari, he has been told he will receive compensation for his home being destroyed. In addition to losing his 13-year-old son, he said, his brother was killed -- and according to men in the neighborhood, he was buried in the garden of a nearby house.

CNN's Jane Arraf contributed to this report.
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Wichita
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The Adminstrator wRench
Quote:
 
US find Fallujah 'slaughterhouses'
(Filed: 10/11/2004)

Iraqi troops involved in the assault on Fallujah have found houses in Iraq where hostages had been held and killed by kidnappers.

Major-General Abdul-Qader Jassim, the provincial military governor said: "We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people and the black clothing that they used to wear to identify themselves."

 
US forces expect to control Fallujah shortly
Maj-Gen Jassim also said "hundreds" of CDs and records with the names of hostages had been found.

The find came shortly before al-Jazeera showed a tape from a militant group claiming to have taken 20 Iraqi soldiers hostage. The video showed men wearing Iraqi uniforms with their backs to camera, while masked men aimed guns and rocket launchers at them.

The Iraqi military has not yet confirmed the capture of the soldiers.

American forces now hold about 70 per cent of the Sunni rebel stronghold of Fallujah with the strongest foothold in the northwest and west of the Iraqi city, US military sources say.

Tank regiments battled their way through to the Euphrates River while American fighters fought insurgents in Fallujah's alleys and streets after a swift advance.

The northwestern neighbuorhood of Jolan, which has been the seen of some fierce fighting, was now "secured and under control," although Marines were expected to continue house-to-house searches for fighters and weapons.

Key civic buildings had been retaken, including Fallujah's mayoral office.

Several mosques, bridges and military buildings have also been secured and several caches of arms and explosives discovered.

"Insurgent-reinforced strongholds in and around the city have been destroyed, including insurgent defensive positions on the outskirts of the city," a statement by the US military said.

Only small pockets of fighters" are still fighting, it added

Residents said US troops appeared to be in control of about 40 per cent of Fallujah, and had only taken part of Jolan.

Eleven US troops and two Iraqi soldiers have been killed, and nine Iraqi troops injured, in the firefight. Military experts expect the city to be under control within two or three days.

More than 70 militants have been killed, the US military said, but no civilian casualty figures were immediately available.

The onslaught follows the announcement of an indefinite curfew on the city two days ago.

Ayad Allawi, the interim Iraq prime minister, imposed a curfew on Mosul today, the country's third largest city after heavy fighting.

In Baghdad, kidnappers abducted two members of Mr Allawi's family - his cousin Ghazi Allawi, 75, and the cousin's daughter-in-law.

They were taken from their home yesterday by armed men, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb said.

A militant group calling itself Ansar al-Jihad claimed on the internet that it had carried out the kidnapping and would behead the hostages within 48 hours unless the siege of Fallujah was lifted and prisoners were freed.

The claim's authenticity could not immediately be verified.



Source

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Hoss
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
I can roll back this thread to the first post and close it if it degenerates again. :evil1:
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gvok
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I would support that. Thanks.
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Hoss
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Don't make me use my bare hands on you.
gvok
Dec 1 2004, 01:21 PM
I would support that. Thanks.

I hope I didn't knock anyone back down from Comodore or something with all that deleting. :lol:

I left wichita's post both because it was relevant and I am scared of her. ;)
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Dandandat
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Time to put something here
gvok
Dec 1 2004, 01:19 PM
If you can't do anything, perhaps you should stay out of it.

First, you brought me into it, so you can only thank your self for that. Second I can defiantly can do "something" you just wont like what I can do. In fact I don’t see AB giving any of the administration a hard time like you like to do, so when something is done about this situation you can bet you will be first on the list.
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Wichita
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The Adminstrator wRench
Quote:
 
Posted on Sun, Nov. 14, 2004
 




Bomb Labs, Hostages Found in Fallujah

EDWARD HARRIS

Associated Press


FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. Marines have found beheading chambers, bomb-making factories and even one Iraqi hostage as they swept through Fallujah - turning up hard evidence of the city's role in the insurgent campaign to drive American forces from Iraq.

Marines on Sunday showed off what they called a bomb-making factory, where insurgents prepared roadside explosives and car bombs that have killed hundreds of Iraqi civilians and U.S. troops.

Wires, cell phones, Motorola handheld radios and a Plastic foam box packed with C4 plastic explosives sat in the dark building down an alley, along with three balaclava-style masks reading: "There is only one god, Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."

"It's all significant because this is not the kind of stuff an average household has," said Lt. Kevin Kimner, 25, of Cincinnati assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. "This is better than Radio Shack."

So far U.S. troops have only found two hostages, one Iraqi and one Syrian. Marines last week found the Iraqi in a room with a black banner bearing the logo of one of Iraq's extremist groups. He was chained to the wall, shackled hand and foot in front of a video camera. The floor was covered with blood.

The rescued Syrian was the driver for two French journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, missing since August. The journalists have not been found, but France maintains they are still alive.

A Marine officer said he found signs that at least one foreign hostage was beheaded in that room. The Marine, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not give details.

The Iraqi hostage, who had been beaten on the back with steel cables, said his tormentors were Syrian and that he thought he was in Syria until the Marines found him, the Marine said. Other militants came and went, but "The Syrians were always in charge," the Marine said.

The hostage was in a room - inside a compound that also had AK-47 rifles, improvised bombs, fake identification cards and shoulder-fired missiles that could down an airliner. Beneath it were tunnels running under the northern Jolan neighborhood.

Marines said weapons depots were strategically placed throughout Jolan. Insurgents marked many of the caches with a piece of brick or rock, suspended from the buildings by a piece of string or wire.

U.S. officials hope that by retaking Fallujah they can deprive the rebels of an important headquarters and boost security in Iraq ahead of elections scheduled for January.

Among the rebels' most-fearsome weapons have been the car bombs and roadside explosives that have targeted military convoys but also churches and other areas where civilians gather.

On Sunday, a hollowed-out plastic foam container about the size of two shoe boxes lay in the bomb lab, packed with plastic explosives and wires. The plastic foam box was covered in cloth to disguise it as an innocuous package.

Scattered on the ground nearby - cell phones, walkie-talkies, Motorola handheld radios - all used as detonators lay tangled in coils of wire. There was a computer without a hard drive and a box full of professional explosives-triggering.

"We've seen better," Kimner said of the detonators. "But they're reliable and they do the job right."

When Marines uncovered the lab in a Saturday sweep, they also found Islamic Jihadist writings. A complete reading of the Koran on cassette tape lay in a box. Among the clutter where two wills, addressed to friends and family in Algeria.

"I will join my friends in heaven," the will read. "Don't cry for me. Celebrate my death."

Source
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gvok
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38957
Dec 1 2004, 01:24 PM
gvok
Dec 1 2004, 01:21 PM
I would support that.  Thanks.

I hope I didn't knock anyone back down from Comodore or something with all that deleting. :lol:

I left wichita's post both because it was relevant and I am scared of her. ;)

For what it's worth,I think you did a satisfactory job.
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Wichita
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The Adminstrator wRench
Personal Response

Anybody have that link to the photo essay on what the Marines found in Fallujah?

Two days ago, I knew where to find it, but don't now.

There's nearly 60 photos so I haven't seen them all.

Certainly "horror" is a word to describe what has gone on in Fallujah for the last 8 months.

Executions were pretty common according to what I've read.

End of Personal Response
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gvok
Unregistered

Wichita
Dec 1 2004, 01:29 PM
Personal Response

Anybody have that link to the photo essay on what the Marines found in Fallujah?

Two days ago, I knew where to find it, but don't now.

There's nearly 60 photos so I haven't seen them all.

Certainly "horror" is a word to describe what has gone on in Fallujah for the last 8 months.

Executions were pretty common according to what I've read.

End of Personal Response

I certainly agree with that. Obiviously now that we invaded Iraq we must now do what it takes to finish the job. I just wonder whether the Bush Administration would have chosen to invade Iraq if they knew what the cost was going to turn out to be.
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Dandandat
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Time to put something here
gvok
Dec 1 2004, 01:34 PM
I certainly agree with that.  Obiviously now that we invaded Iraq we must now do what it takes to finish the job.  I just wonder whether the Bush Administration would have chosen to invade Iraq if they knew what the cost was going to turn out to be.

I would take a guess and say yes they would, I would. And they knew what the cost would be, they never said it would be easy. They infact did say it would be long and hard.
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Wichita
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The Adminstrator wRench
Here's the slideshow I was talking about

A blogger linked it to hopefully speed up access. Click on the arrows not the numbers. It will move faster.
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gvok
Unregistered

Dandandat
Dec 1 2004, 01:36 PM
gvok
Dec 1 2004, 01:34 PM
I certainly agree with that.  Obiviously now that we invaded Iraq we must now do what it takes to finish the job.  I just wonder whether the Bush Administration would have chosen to invade Iraq if they knew what the cost was going to turn out to be.

I would take a guess and say yes they would, I would. And they knew what the cost would be, they never said it would be easy. They infact did say it would be long and hard.

Their rhetoric seems inconsistent with the size and equiptment of the initial invasion force and their initial tactics after the fall of Baghdad.
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Wichita
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The Adminstrator wRench
gvok
Dec 1 2004, 06:34 PM
Wichita
Dec 1 2004, 01:29 PM
Personal Response

Anybody have that link to the photo essay on what the Marines found in Fallujah?

Two days ago, I knew where to find it, but don't now.

There's nearly 60 photos so I haven't seen them all.

Certainly "horror" is a word to describe what has gone on in Fallujah for the last 8 months.

Executions were pretty common according to what I've read.

End of Personal Response

I certainly agree with that. Obiviously now that we invaded Iraq we must now do what it takes to finish the job. I just wonder whether the Bush Administration would have chosen to invade Iraq if they knew what the cost was going to turn out to be.

Personal Response

Now you have me confused, Gvok.

I thought that the point of your thread was to highlight the horrors of Fallujah.

We know from the mass graves found, the personal stories told to human rights groups, and the work of Iraqi citizens themselves to try and list all the people missing during the regime that the horrors existed regardless of the actions of the United States or any other country in the coalition.

Are you now saying that we should simply ignore attempted genocide because it's too "difficult"?

End of Personal Response
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gvok
Unregistered

That happened to be the title of the article I posted.
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