What drives the fighters in flip-flops

[POA]

What drives the fighters in flip-flops

Falluja is not unique. Collective punishment is escalating in Iraq

Haifa Zangana
Wednesday November 17, 2004
The Guardian

In a statement that directly echoed George Bush, Qasim Daoud, Iraq's interim minister of state for national security, told a news conference at the weekend: "Mission accomplished ... Falluja has been liberated". He proudly recited the list of the dead - 1,400 terrorists, foreigners and Saddamists. And what about civilians, the women and children trapped in the fighting zone. Any casualties? He avoided the question.

At the same time, thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in Baghdad, Basra and Heet in support of the people of Falluja. Many were arrested, some were beaten. The US-appointed Allawi regime responded by imposing new curfews. The US military is still struggling to contain a spreading wave of resistance, in Najaf and now Mosul.

Around Falluja, camps have been erected to receive displaced women and children. Men aged 15-50 were not allowed to leave the city, so 150,000 wait in anguish for news of fathers, husbands and sons.

Will they survive the US military's wrath? Many will not. The execution-style killing of the wounded Iraqi inside a mosque by a US marine, captured by NBC television, was one of many, according to an eyewitness interviewed by al-Jazeera television yesterday.

Yet all members of Allawi's regime have greeted the suffering of Iraqi civilians with complete silence. The dignified voice of Firdus al-Abadi, spokeswoman for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad, has haunted us for days. Appealing for relief supplies, she said simply: "Conditions in Falluja are catastrophic." The Red Crescent suggested yesterday that as many as 800 civilians had died during the bombardment.

The plight of the people of Falluja is not unique. Since the nominal handover of sovereignty on June 30, we have witnessed an escalation of Israeli-style collective punishment of Iraqi cities. Civilian carnage, coupled with enormous damage to homes and infrastructure, has became our daily reality.

In Tall Afar, in the north, US troops cut off water for three days last month and blocked food supplies to 150,000 refugees. Then in Samarra, residents cowered in their homes as tanks and warplanes pounded the city. Bodies were strewn in the streets but could not be collected for fear of American snipers. Of the 130 Iraqis killed, most were civilians. Hospital access was denied to the injured. And Qasim Daoud hailed the massacre as a "very clean" operation.

Every day of occupation brings fresh atrocities. But the architects of that occupation claim that it is Iraqis themselves who are beyond the reach of democracy. They are "militants" and "insurgents", bent on terror ising their own people and destroying hopes of reconstruction. Why can't they get involved in the peaceful democratic political process?

But they did, and they continue to do so. Over the last 19 months there have been protests, appeals, initiatives to set up a reasonable programme for elections, the opening of human rights centres, lecturing at universities, even poetry writing. This torrent of activism is still being practised by a broad variety of political parties, groups and individuals who oppose the foreign occupation. And they have been ignored. Newspapers were closed. Editors were arrested. Demonstrators were shot at, arrested, abused and tortured.

On the fourth day of the ground attack on Falluja, last Friday, joint Shia-Sunni prayers were held in the four mosques in Baghdad, and were massively well attended. Inter-communal prayers were the hallmark of the 1920 revolution, revived early this year by the Iraqi National Foundation Congress, a loose umbrella organisation of academics, cross-sectarian clerics and veteran political leaders. Early on, Allawi set the tone for building democracy in the "sovereign" Iraq by insisting: "We will stand up to destroy the terrorists." This language has become the daily currency of the interim ministers, who like children in a school choir echo their instructor, the US military spokesman.

But time after time, it has been shown to be false. Most fighters in Iraq are Iraqis who are outraged to see their country's resources robbed while they live in slums, drink water mixed with sewage and have no say in the political process. Nineteen months after "liberation" they can see how little the liberators have done to ease their suffering. No wonder an increasing number of Iraqis are either joining or supporting the resistance, realising that, as in the past, they must fight on their own.

The overwhelming popular support for the people of Falluja is a salute to young fighters wearing flip-flops, who carry ancient weapons, and yet continue to resist.

Western governments, led by the US and UK, supported Saddam's regime against the will of the Iraqi people for decades. They are committing a similar crime now.

· Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi-born novelist and former prisoner of the Saddam regime

[Moses]

At the same time, thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in Baghdad, Basra and Heet in support of the people of Falluja. Many were arrested, some were beaten. The US-appointed Allawi regime responded by imposing new curfews. The US military is still struggling to contain a spreading wave of resistance, in Najaf and now Mosul.

This surprises me, because it seemed like the US were acting as agents of the Shi-ites to kill Sunis. And also, Basra is in British hands. Where is Heet?

In addition, I thought Najaf had been successfully "pacified"?

[Moses]

The plight of the people of Falluja is not unique. Since the nominal handover of sovereignty on June 30, we have witnessed an escalation of Israeli-style collective punishment of Iraqi cities. Civilian carnage, coupled with enormous damage to homes and infrastructure, has became our daily reality

Yes. the US defense department has been Israelized. And now they are doing the same to CIA and State. In an article in which the Washington Times stated the "Pentagon" was pleased with the CIA purge, details of the Pentagon's "post-9/11" modus operendi, which they were advocating were given, including the right to assasinate suspects.

[karpomrx]

Sort of like the "Phoenix" program in 'Nam.
All the enemies of liberty, including competing drug dealers, your mistress' husband, your annoying brother-in-law, or an uppity "president" that failed to tow the party line,could be "removed" in the interests of Liberty.

[Moses]

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IRAQ:
U.S. Military Resorting to Collective Punishment

Dahr Jamail

The U.S. military is resorting to collective punishment tactics in Iraq similar to those used by Israeli troops in the occupied territories of Palestine, residents say.

BAGHDAD, Jan 18 (IPS) - Military bulldozers have mown down palm groves in the rural al-Dora farming area on the outskirts of Baghdad, residents say. Electricity has been cut, the local fuel station destroyed and the access road blocked.

The U.S. action comes after resistance fighters attacked soldiers from this area several weeks back.

"The Americans were attacked from this field, then they returned and started cutting down all the trees," says Kareem, a local mechanic, pointing to a pile of burnt date palms in a bulldozed field. "None of us knows any fighters, we all know they are coming here from other areas to attack the Americans, but we are the people who suffer from this."

The military action follows a similar round of attacks and retaliation earlier this month.

U.S. Army Brigadier-General Mark Kimmit told reporters then that the military had launched 'Operation Iron Grip' in the area to send "a very clear message to anybody who thinks that they can run around Baghdad without worrying about the consequences of firing RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), firing mortars."

Gen. Kimmit said "there is a capability in the air that can quickly respond against anybody who would want to harm Iraqi citizens or coalition forces." Then as now, local people denied any knowledge of harbouring resistance fighters.

And now, as then, they say they have to pay the price.

"They destroyed our fences, and now there are wolves attacking our animals," said Mohammed, a schoolboy. "They destroyed much of our farming equipment, and the worst is they cut our electricity. They come by here every night and fire their weapons to frighten us."

People need electricity to run pumps to irrigate the farms, he said. "Now we are carrying water in buckets from the river, and this is very difficult for us," Mohammed said. "They say they are going to make things better for us, but they are worse."

Going into fields littered with unexploded mortar shells after the U.S. retaliation has become hazardous now. "We asked them the first time and they said okay, we'll come take care of it," said a farmer who called himself Sharkr. "But they never came."

Other residents say soldiers beat them up during random home raids. "I was beaten by the Americans," said Ihsan, a 17 year-old secondary school student. "They asked me who attacked them, but I do not know. My home was raided, our furniture destroyed, and one of my uncles was arrested."

People in Abu Hishma village in the area spoke of similar experiences earlier. After U.S.. soldiers were attacked, the entire village was encircled with razor wire. Residents were forced to acquire military identity badges and enter through a military controlled checkpoint.

The main farm road was blocked by four large concrete slabs after attacks several weeks ago. Residents used tractors to remove the blocks, but last week they say the military installed four larger blocks.

"They humiliate us when we talk to them," said Hamoud Abid, a 50-year-old farmer. "They would not tell us when they will remove these blocks, so we are all walking now."

A military spokesperson in Baghdad declined to comment on the statements by the people in al-Dora, and declined a request for his name. But he said there were ongoing security operations in al-Dora.

(END/2005)
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